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1/ I think the most important policy goal is to get every American covered, at the lowest cost. Now, I'm not a health care expert and I'm not even an expert on the array of Medicare options I have as a senior. So, my head is on a swivel. Second, Lawrence O'Donnell points out that
2/ two committees, House Ways & Means and Senate Finance are going to write the health care bills. Every affected industry and entity is going to weigh-in. Here is the AFL-CIO in 2017, when I Googled "AFL-CIO" "Medicare For All." A) MFA is aspirational. We head towards universal 
3/ coverage at the lowest costs. The AFL-CIO wants to protect its private insurance plans gained through collective bargaining.
4/ Here is a very recent Think Progress article on where the unions are. There is no real consensus. But, they want universal coverage at the lowest price. It is not clear. What I do know is that I lived in Finland for 5 years. That was single-payer, and, it had supplemental
5/ private health insurance plans to cover some hospital expenses that were not covered by the national health system. The UK also has a National Health Service and private health insurance for those who want private coverage. I don't see why private health insurance is the
6/ litmus test. Germany's health insurance system is heavily regulated. Surely, we can get there. But, very few Democrats have even mentioned, and certainly not in great depth, the real difference between every Democrat and Trump/GOP. How many votes did the GOP House & Senate
7/ take to repeal Obamacare, pre-existing conditions, etc? Not one Democrat has quoted from a DOJ brief calling to end Obamacare or pre-existing conditions. The stark difference is that Democrats want universal health care and the lowest cost (multiple ways of getting there) and
8/ the GOP wants no health care insurance for tens of million of people, wants insurance companies not to cover pre-existing conditions. But, you'd never know that from the debates. They don't talk about how their plans would expand rural hospitals and rural psychiatric services,
9/ or how they would improve health care in major cities. They don't really talk about how their health care plans cut costs for corporations, making them more competitive, while possibly increasing wages for workers. And much of this is the fault of the debate format which is
10/ ridiculous. Explain how you will alter 1/6 of the US economy affecting 300+ million people in 60 seconds. But, some of it are unforced errors in presentation. Here's what unions think about Medicare for All thinkprogress.org/what-unions-th… via @thinkprogress
