I’m going to make some people mad here but it needs to be said.
The supporters of Sanders (and, to some degree, Warren) who think they’ll deliver #MedicareForAll are being just as gullible as the Trump voters who thought he would build a wall that would stop immigration & drugs.
The supporters of Sanders (and, to some degree, Warren) who think they’ll deliver #MedicareForAll are being just as gullible as the Trump voters who thought he would build a wall that would stop immigration & drugs.
Why? Let’s start with the composition of Congress.
In 2010, Obama had the benefit of a US Senate that had 57 Democrats in it - the largest number of Dems that had been in the Senate since 1981. Yet the ACA, a much less radical change to the health care system, barely passed.
In 2010, Obama had the benefit of a US Senate that had 57 Democrats in it - the largest number of Dems that had been in the Senate since 1981. Yet the ACA, a much less radical change to the health care system, barely passed.
If a Democrat wins the White House in November, they’re not going to have 57 Democratic Senators. It’s not even clear that they’d have a Democratic majority at all. And not even all Democrats support Medicare For All. Are people thinking the POTUS can flip a switch and make law?
Then there’s the cost. An estimated $34 trillion over 10 years. Or, as you cool kids have already figured out, $3.4 trillion a year.
Can we talk?
Does anybody have the slightest freaking idea how much money $3.4 trillion a year is?
Can we talk?
Does anybody have the slightest freaking idea how much money $3.4 trillion a year is?
$3.4 trillion is roughly the amount of money the whole government brings in each year. We spend all of it along with a trillion dollars more than that, which ends up being added to our huge IOU, the National Debt. Which we already owe $23.25 trillion on.
$3.4 trillion is nearly five times what we spend each year on the US military. It’s more than three times what we spend on Social Security. It’s more than eight times what we pay in interest on our National Debt. And sigh of without M4A, we’ll still need to pay all of these.
Some will think “no problem! We’ll just take the money from billionaires.” Sounds easy.
But, as of 2016, not even the combined worth of all of America’s billionaires could pay for even one year of M4A. They all combined for a total of only $2.4 trillion of net worth together.
But, as of 2016, not even the combined worth of all of America’s billionaires could pay for even one year of M4A. They all combined for a total of only $2.4 trillion of net worth together.
And, of course, being billionaires, they’re not going to just sit still while somebody tries to take all their money. They’re billionaires. They can afford to leave and take their money with them. Which would make it even harder to pay for that $3.4 trillion.
Which brings us to a third point. The whole M4A thing involves doing away with private health insurance. Not only will many of those who have private insurance not like it. The companies would likely take legal action to prevent the government from taking their business away.
When Trump talked about his glorious border wall, he completely ignored details like the fact that people could climb over or under it. That drug dealers have tunnels and that most drugs come through border checkpoints. That people own land on the border. And will sue to keep it.
None of this logic mattered to the people Trump touted his wall to. Because THEY WANTED TO BELIEVE IT. The wall was “doing something.” They couldn’t see it was never going to do what Trump promised it would do.
The same thing is true for those who believe that someone they will vote for in 2020 will make M4A into a reality. They won’t. It sounds good to you and you really want to believe it. Just like the Wall did for those who are voting for the guy with the funny hairdo.
* with or without
