Medicare for All a Vote Loser in 2018 U.S. House Elections

[thesquanderer]

24. Medicare and ACA are BOTH reasonable models to consider.

Building on ACA advantages: Less government involvement (which many people, especially non-Dems, see as an advantage). Lower amount of money the government must bring in to pay for it. Less disruptive to the health care industry. People can kinda keep the private insurance plan they have... though as Obama found out, that's not really a promise anyone can make. Many of us over many years of private insurance have run into times when we have not been able to keep the insurance we had (i.e. because the insurance companies themselves discontinue a plan, or because we change jobs, or because our employer changes the plans available to its employees, or because a premium increase forces us to find another plan)... and ACA does not change any of that... which is why much of the argument about whether people can keep their private plans is kind of bogus, as there is never any assurance that we can really keep our private plans, there never has been. However, there is an advantage with ACA over MFA in that it is *likely* you will be able to keep your current private plan, at least for *some* amount of time, as opposed to definitely phasing it out.

Advantages of MFA: Covers everyone, and covers virtually every healthcare need, neither of which are things that any existing "build on ACA" plan does. Removes the layer of expense which is created by the insurance companies, whose primary goal is not health care, but rather to return profits to their shareholders. Removes the administration expense/complication of medical facilities dealing with tons of different forms/procedures/requirements from different insurance companies, instead they only need to deal with the one (i.e. the government system, as opposed to what they do today which is the government system for medicare plus a ton of others). The idea behind these last couple is that more of the money being put into the system is actually being used to provide health care.

To your other point, MFA is not "starting from scratch," it is still building on an existing Medicare system whose administrative procedures are in place and familiar to providers. But it will cover more things, for more people. Please also see my post #23.

However, whether such a plan can actually pass, and if not, the prospect of it being better to settle for half a loaf than none, are reasonable concerns. My feeling is that a President Warren or President Sanders would indeed settle for the half a loaf if they had to. That is, if the best Congress could bring to their desk was an improved ACA with some nods toward any progress at all toward something like MFA, they would sign it rather than veto it. But even those small nods toward MFA would more likely be absent if our president hadn't campaigned in support of any kind of MFA in the first place.