I don't want universal health care. Why? I grew up with it. Fu*king nightmare of shortages, waitlists and mediocre care. I get much better healthcare in the US.

Signed,
Lived Experience Matters

I really like my employer mandated health care (universally required, but not what Americans think of as socialized medicine).
I pay a lot for it based on my salary but my employer pays their half.
And when things go sideways, I don't have to worry about paying for it. And things go sideways more often than not.
Do I have to wait in a waiting room for care, yes. But everyone does it, I don't expect anything special. Do I get specialist care when required, yes, I do.
The US does have the best care in the world. But it is horribly distributed and costs an arm and a leg, or your house and savings. Employer mandated or socialized medicine is not as stellar, but the results speak for themselves. You live longer, on average, if you live in a country with either mandatory or socialized health care.
My experience has been brain surgery on short notice with a copay of 100 local currency units for 10 overnights and the partner getting medicine that costs 20,000 local currency units annually on the 'free' market for nothing because it is considered essential.

I'm sorry your parents were halfwits that were unable to navigate the healthcare system of whatever country you came from Simon dear. That must have been difficult for a wan and unhealthy child who needed a lot of care.

I wish you good health if you are living here in the US, because you're going to need it.

"So, if everyone loves universal healthcare and all the politicians involved say they do too, why the hell didn’t it get a hearing?"

Same reasons as always: everybody loves universal healthcare in the abstract, and then they hate it when you get specific about how to implement it. The article just sorta glosses over the fact that the plan to pay for it is an income tax -- which lost 36/64 when on the ballot in 2010, with every county in the state voting no. King County voted 54% no!

The devil is in the details. It does no one any good to pretend otherwise.

"[Insulin] now belongs to
three massive pharmaceutical
companies and costs $300 a vial.

It costs them $2 to make that vial.

If we lived in a just society,
the price-fixing ghouls
who have created this
reality would face
consequences."

but we live
in a Sociopath-
Controlled world.

a world where Half the
Citizenry is (a) considered
chattel (women)* or (b) here
solely for sociopaths to farm, strip-
mine and\or Harvest till any sense of
Humanity's been removed and we see
each other as profit centers or leeches or
kings or Gods or Whateverthefuck to Rule
Us howsoever THEY may Happen to see fit.

there ARE
Better
Mod-
els.

*thanks,
Patriarchy!
women don't
'need' any Agency

that's why the
Menfolk're
Here -- to
tell 'em

What
to Do.

@3

if
wishes
were horses
there'd be a Stampede

kristofarian dear, we had thirty dollar insulin under “Genocide Joe”. But our purity voters put an end to that.

Speaking of that, it looks like trump and Netenyahu are forging ahead with clearing land (and people) in Gaza to build our generation’s Beirut Holiday Inn.

@7 Bingo.

@6 "it's all the voters' fault" excuse is a sure way to lose the next election

Ta-Nehisi Coates: "If Democrats can’t draw the Line at Genocide, they can’t Draw the Line at Democracy"
https://www.juancole.com/2025/02/democrats-genocide-democracy.html

"Coates said he was convinced that there was some way in which the Democratic Party’s support for the Gaza genocide cost it the election — not, he said, necessarily in a demographic sense, but in a moral sense.

I think he was implying that the party did not seem to stand for anything. He said he attended the Democratic Party Convention last year, and noted the praise heaped on prominent African-American leaders of the past and present. But, he said, everybody knew that one group would be excluded from these paeans. "

@our ever-Delighful Catalina:

& dancing
on their Graves
will soon be A Thing.

Dems EXPECT Votes
their Entitlement
knowing no
bounds

rushing to the Center
trying to Keep Up's
gonna Doom
the USofA

but
fuck
Yeah
Blame
Progressives.

owning the Media
capturing the Lingo*
weaponizing culture issues +
Citizens Fucking United has End-
ed our little Experiment in Democracy

and they've got us
at each other's
throats.

*see also:
Wormtongue

Before this completely swerves into another discussion about how the D's would have won if only they had embraced a terrorist organization let's circle back to the main plot. @4 has it correct but I'd take it a step further. While universal care may be better in aggregate the other issue you have is you are going to ask those that have great care right now via their employers (think Microsoft et al) to reduce the standard of care they are receiving today while paying more for it so that those at the lower end of the spectrum will have enhanced coverage. That's noble but it goes against everything we know about human nature. Beyond that I don't believe the cost calculations are correct either. The author is assuming demand for care will be the same as it is today which will not be the case. Today care is triaged via cost so when people can't afford care they don't seek it. If you remove the cost the demand for care will skyrocket as will the costs to provide such care. I understand in the long run it may reduce the overall costs of care by preventing issues early but the fact remains in the first decade or so the costs of establishing universal health care will be enormous.

AverageBob dear, am I running for office, or have I been appointed to some position of leadership in the Democratic Party? If not, I don’t see how Little Me expressing my opinion is going to lose any elections.

"another
discussion about how
the D's would have won if
only they had embraced a terrorist organization"

fuck
You you
dishonest
piece of shite.

Israel's
raining
Terror right
fucking Now
on Palestinians.

on
OUR
tax dollars!

@12 As it were, the Democratic party should advocate policies agreed upon by its base, like universal healthcare or no unconditional support for Israel or ... (ad infinitum), but the people in charge decided otherwise.

democratic
in name
Only.

@6 "we had thirty dollar insulin under “Genocide Joe”. But our purity voters put an end to that."

No "we" didn't, only people who got it through Medicare parts B or D. So only a subset of people over 65. You probably just assumed that Biden and the Dems had secured $30 insulin for everyone because that would be the moral, and widely popular, thing to do. But they didn't.

Canadians have it good health care, and they can come to the US for quicker treatment if needed.

You’re correct, thirteen12 dear. I remembered that after I posted it.

But now no one has thirty dollar insulin. Let’s hear it for equality!

@20 no, that's also not correct, all the same people still have $35 insulin:

https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/insulin-cap-medicare-unaffected-by-trump-order-prescription-drug-costs-2025-01-28/

@1 How much did you pay out of pocket for those 'nightmares'? The US has all those nightmares too but we have the privilege of going broke when we seek care.

That better care you're receiving in the US? Don't count on it. You're just as susceptible to a denial or exorbitant change as anyone else. I have no idea why you'd feel smug about the quality of care here.

But hey, if you love what you've got lol, keep it. The rest of us prefer not to enrich a parasitic industry that provides no service whatsoever.

Single payer polls great when it is generically presented as "free" healthcare for all, but when the details of implementation are revealed support collapses. There is no better illustration of this than the failure 10 years ago of single payer in Bernie's home state of Vermont, which should serve as a cautionary tale for anybody still pushing this idea. Here's a good look at that effort, and how it all fell apart, from WaPo:

"Why Vermont’s single-payer effort failed and what Democrats can learn from it"
https://wapo.st/3XZrKIN
(this link should get by the paywall for those who don't subscribe)

They should enjoy the inexpensive insulin while they still can. I’m sure Elon will not be feeling the need for it.

@4, @11, @23 get it.
People’s opinions about universal healthcare are highly contextual. You’ll find that many of the truths they cling to depend greatly on their point of view. Survey questions are tailored to create a context that gets the desired response.
As you move out of those abstract survey questions and into the real trade offs and costs of switching, support breaks down. Now add to that risk calculus the possibility of a future R governor with his own mini Elon and WADOGE with the ability to fuck with everyone’s healthcare…
The widespread support just really isn’t there, and the advocates are getting played by the progressive politicians because the advocates got on the wrong side of the issue that most determines their vote.

@18, 21 -- your commitment to supporting Donald Trump and trashing anything the Democratic Party does continues unabated.

Bax dear, some people never move beyond the Angry Undergraduate phase.

District13, I believe the original intent of Medicare was to gradually lower the eligibility over the course of several decades (open it to sixty and older, then fifty-five and older, etc). That was to help smooth the transition pains that you describe, but the insurance companies and the AMA screamed bloody murder so that never came to fruition.

"In this case, I think anger is very appropriate. I think we should all be very, very angry that anyone allows this insane, criminal system (profiteering off the Citizenry's Lives) to continue."

This is what we get
when we allow a 'citizens
united' decision to overule
our Democracy: corporate rule.

oh & a djt.

Sure.
When the business and capital gains taxes prove to be inadequate, the left wingers will be begging for a property tax increase.
Washington has poured billions into the homeless industry and has very little show for it. Why would anyone think they could successfully and efficiently manage healthcare.

"Why would anyone think
they (we) could successfully
and efficiently manage healthcare."

bingo. if only We
were as Smart as
the Civilized World.

This is single payer healthcare, WA’s already has an ecosystem after Medicaid expansion in ACA with close to universal healthcare availability, You either get it through work, or if you don’t can go through the incredibly easy Apple care enrollment process, or you have Medicare, or if you’re in a unique situation where you’re a contractor and make below many income thresholds you can buy your own in the exchange with government subsidies. The only real slip throughs left are high income independent contractors or high income self-employed who don’t qualify for exchange subsidization.

District13, your idea of "triage" - where people just don't seek treatment unless they really need it naturally leading to less money being spent on healthcare - may seem to be the case until untreated symptoms result in Emergency Room visits. Untreated medical issues can result in higher treatment costs in a lot less than a decade, as you seem to infer. Also savings can be found by cutting out the profit-sucking insurance industry. United Healthcare for one had profits of about $90 Billion last year.
As stated in the article, not enacting universal healthcare is the fiscally irresponsible choice. For more information on how it would be funded, check out https://wholewashington.org/how-we-pay-for-it/

We could get rid of gatekeepers, for-profit insurance administration, and having to stay "in-network." Most of the developed world's countries are doing it. The US spends more per capita for healthcare with worse outcomes for us all. It is beyond disappointing that some of our state's politicians can't seem to understand that and take action.

@30
It’s awfully generous to think the people of Washington are smarter or even as smart as the rest of the world.
Homelessness runs rampant, despite having poured billions into it.
Crime runs rampant, but some genius wants to see child murderers get out of jail as long as they kill 2 or less people.
Deaths due to opioids runs rampant, but the state decriminalized drug use, then pretended to be shocked when people kept dying.
Nearly a third of high school graduates don’t read above a 3rd grade level
Washington isn’t as smart as it thinks it is.

"provide comprehensive coverage to all residents of Washington State at low or no cost."

Awwww... but that's not how it actually works. It's not low or no cost; the cost is just shoved onto your taxes. That's not low or no cost at all.

Hmmm...
"Our state’s bills would do exactly what has made universal healthcare such a popular idea: provide comprehensive coverage to all residents of Washington State at low or no cost."

No, it's not coverage for low or no cost. It's paid for through each resident's taxes. That's not "low or no cost".

sigh So apparently caching is a little aggressive on this website...

@4 But this is offset because the employer doesn't have to pay for insurance which is far more expensive.

It's not only reducing costs because of the preventive aspects, @11, but the treatable aspects as well, along with the point that you're taking the profit motive out of the equation. Our own non-partisan CBO has repeatedly found that a national single payer health care plan would be the most cost-effective way to provide quality health care to every American. So it's just not true what you're asserting.

When the U.S. started out on its current disastrous course under Nixon, Canada was starting single payer, and at that time, our nations were health care twins. Yet in only the 35 years, the Canadians were greatly outpacing us in terms of costs and health care outcomes.

https://shorturl.at/OM4hi

Also, when we were trying to get single payer in 2008-2009, and we got the ACA instead, at that time, we ranked an abysmal 37th. Now after 16 years of the ACA, we are an abysmal 69th. Plus the death rates because of under or uninsurance have risen from about 68,000 annually to over 100,000; and annual bankruptcies because of medical bills go anywhere from 600,000-800,000 per year. It's a leading cause of homelessness, too.

And now we have the Luigi Mangione case - a man who is presumed innocent, IMO - but even if he didn't do it, he is widely perceived as a Robin Hood of sorts - heroic, instead of criminal - because so many Americans view these insurance CEOs as the real criminals, extortionists and racketeers, mass murderers, and the real death panels in our society.

Health care is a human right and it should not be treated as a commodity. It's long past time we joined most other 21st C nations and guaranteed health care for all.

1 in 5 Americans, at present, would like to secede to Canada. How much you want to bet it has a lot to do with their excellent single payer system which is soon adding dental, as well.

And one of the Canadian officials - partly on provocation by Trump - actually invited, basically, the entire west coast from California through Washington, to come and become part of Canada. . . which they themselves said, would include their single payer system.