Comments

1

Can't wait to see the price tag on medicare for all and who will end up paying it.

3

@1: I have come to realize that it would be the best thing a capitalist society can do for itself. It can be done. Just think of the entrepreneurism that could result if people could make money the way they want to instead of taking job(s) they hate just to get medical insurance.

Medicare for all is a great symbiotic relationship of socialism and capitalism that will reap great rewards, such as a healthier and happier and wealthier society.

4

@1 As if nobody is paying for medical care now?

Some sort of single payer would reduce the overhead by eliminating the legions of actuaries and other experts who devote their lives to figuring out why they shouldn't pay for your bypass surgery.

5

Cue the welfare queens, such as @1, who only want the welfare that equates to their farm subsidies and disability checks and not to basic health care that every human on earth will require.

It does not even make smart economic sense to oppose universal health care, this is well proven. Since these hayseeds don't get paid by the GOP to rails against the very services they require, I am curious just what satisfaction there is for them? More painful cancer?

7

I supported Brady Walkinshaw at the time, but my goodness, what a spectacular job Pramila Jayapal has done since being elected.

8

Can't wait to see the price tag on the highest healthcare related bankruptcy rate in the developed world and who will end up paying it.

Can't wait to see the price tag on the highest prescription drug prices in the developed world and who will end up paying it.

Can't wait to see the price tag on the most expensive average healthcare premiums for some of the worst outcomes in the developed world and who will end up paying it.

Can't wait to see the price tag on some of the highest the highest infant mortality rates in the developed world and who will end up paying it.

But. MORE TAX CUTS FOR BILLIONAIRES!! Whoop! Whoop!

9

@6 Exactly right. This eejit lament of “but... I’m not paying for someone else’s __” betrays an astonishing ignorance of how ALL insurance and ALL risk pool spending works.

Do they believe they’ll never get sick? Fun fact: most healthcare related bankruptcy in the US happens to people WITH insurance. This makes your healthcare infinitely more expensive. The pittance you’d pay in taxes for it pales in comparison to the eventual social good and the benefit you’d get on the other end. This is a settled fact in every other developed nation on earth.

Who will pay? Everyone. Just like funding defense and fire departments and roads and police.

To people like @1 have no clue what kind of entitled world they live in.

It’s like: Why should I pay taxes for fire departments or police? My house isn’t on fire. I’m not being robbed.

Do they actually believe all that should be privatized? Or is it they think there is a treasure vault with thier name on it where alllll the tax money they pay goes and it’s just for them.

How expensive is a murder or kid napping investigation? Well. It’s a fuck ton more than what most people pay in taxes for police individually over their life times. So I guess we should privatize that?

And yet goobers like this are a perfectly okay with the worlds largest socialist institution- the US military.

10

Pramila Jayapal is a rock star.
Best politician to come out of Washington State this millennium.

11

The current for profit system is both inefficient and amoral. The rest of the civilized world uses some form of national healthcare/single payer program and it costs less money and produces better outcomes than our current. system. A single payer system covers everyone and saves us a tremendous amount of money.

To those saying it will cost more money in taxes - don't forget a medicare for all system would also get rid of co-pays. It would also give Americans the freedom to move and change jobs without having to worry about losing health coverage. It's a win win system, highly popular in polls and it's inevitable. Either get on board or move aside!

12

Has that Screaming nimrod EVER come back to address those folks who point out his shit-brained idiocy in a comment thread? Say what you will about the 8 zillion iterations of the destroying_your_narrative fool, he at least has the decency to engage in a narrative.

13

There is a difference between trying to pass legislation in the house this week versus 6 month before the election to set a benchmark faced by anyone running (i.e. no more pretending to be what they clearly aren't while campaigning). Pay-Go wouldn't allow either, in addition to reinforcing the austerity/deficit conservative claptrap.

15

@14,
The reason we've got such a problem funding social security and health care is because we've always been socialist in those programs but have never enforced it as such.

Every other modern country in the world figured it out years ago. It's not in testing mode, it's established fact. Universal health care, paid for with progressive income taxes, is the best health care insurance system out there. Feel free to try proving otherwise because I already know you can't.

17

I'm with @7 and @10. Jayapal is outstanding! The days of Bagdad Jim are gone (although I liked him as well).

18

"We are already facing a massive disaster in funding social security and existing medicare/medicaid obligations."

No. No we are not.

Here are the facts from that notorious eeeeevil socialist Wall Street investor and analyst Matthew Frankel at Motley Fool:
https://www.fool.com/retirement/2017/07/24/5-social-security-myths-debunked.aspx

What we are facing is the on going deliberate sabotage of those social systems.

Otherwise there is plenty of money in this country to fund both social security and medicare for all.

19

Pramila is a profile in courage.

20

@18 Wins the internet, everyone else go away.

21

The United States does not have to be paying twice as much as any developed nation to get poor results. We are not some super special snowflake country. We are spending a shit-ton of money and we could do a lot better with the same dollars. Like everybody else on the planet.

23

@6,

Seriously!

I've long that one of the most sadly hilarious aspects of the whole Trump shitshow was his proud and confident declarations that he was going to implement a healthcare system that'd be comprehensive, cover everyone and all pre-existing conditions, and be cheap, to boot. Like, I just love seeing him tell all his bean-brained supporters that nonsense and watching them eat it up with a spoon, cheering wildly. I'm sure they were all congratulating one another and asking why no other politician had thought to offer such coverage previously, completely ignorant of the fundamental notion that such services are you know, costly.

@1 has got to be in the running for the biggest idiot on the entire blog these days.

24

@23:

I don't know - there's so much competition for that title around here.

25

@7, @10, @17: Agreed and fourthed. Go, Pramila Jayapal, GO!!
@9 ProfessorHistory: Right you are. I am walking, talking, living, breathing proof of someone who had to cancel my health insurance because I could no longer afford monthly premiums. I was handing over my life savings for no coverage, ridiculous copays, and additional surprise bills for that 0 coverage at the end of every month. Health insurance companies are among the scum of the earth.
@18 ProfessorHistory for the Win (I second @20's nomination)!
@22: I know, right? It's delightful to watch!

26

This is journalism? Expletives everywhere. Socialism doesn't work! Nationalising an industry and fixing prices (healthcare) are the quickest ways to lead to shortages.
Look at Venezuela and the history of communism. Despite what people like Bernie Sanders say "bread lines" and lack of competition are not a good thing. Healthcare is not a right like the freedom of speech and the right to protect yourself. Something can't be a right if it requires someone else to provide something or if it violates someone else's rights. Market capitalism and competition as opposed to the crony capitalism and over regulation of healthcare are the answers to our healthcare problems. Capitalism has led to the greatest increase in the standard of living of humanity than any other system. Socialism and communism has only led to death and suffering. I don't understand why we can't learn from history. At some point you run out of other people's money. Capitalism may lead to a unequal share of bounty but socialism only leads to an equal share of suffering.

27

"The rich" Socialism. The religion that teaches you to covet thy neighbors property and to have envy.

28

@26: The sooner you realize that socialism and capitalism are not mutually exclusive, and in fact enable prosperity because of their symbiotic relationship - you'll have a better understanding of economics. Yes, health care is not a constitutional right - but it is something everybody requires so lets socialize it so we can concentrate on our private capitalistic businesses and jobs.

30

There's a lot of simple-minded people out there - mostly toadies for the insurance companies, who are afraid for their standard of living - who shudder at the thought of single payer healthcare. That makes them nasty and aggressive, but that doesn't mean they have a point. Really, it's the only way for us to move forward.

As for Social Security, the solution is simple: Remove the cap on earnings and include earnings from capital gains, and then lower the percentage that everyone has to contribute. The rich don't need that extra money (and probably won't notice it's gone) and we give the working people an effective raise in their take home pay by taking out less. They system is solvent, the drama is over. Whatever will the conservatives do without their drama? That, and constantly being a victim, is what they thrive on.

31

@30: I'm afraid you're wrong on capital gains. First, there isn't a huge revenue stream from it and the investors who are selling assets have already paid FICA from their salaries (or even as self-employed).

32

Raindrop dear, there may not be a huge revenue stream from people like you and I, but I assure you there are wealthy people who make quite a good deal of money off of capital gains. Maybe we can have an exception on the 500k per year or so.

33

@29,
The cost of everyone's health care is already paid for by all. It's just inefficient and wasteful right now.

If you're going to continue to pretend we don't already have socialized health care in the united states I'm going to stop replying to you.

34

Health expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product in selected countries in 2016

United States 17.2%
Switzerland 12.4%
Germany 11.3%
Sweden 11%
France 11%
Japan 10.9%
Canada 10.6
United Kingdom 9.7

The Statistics Portal

We are clearly doing it wrong.

35

"We are clearly doing it [Health "care"] wrong." --Machiavelli was framed

UNLESS -- you just happen to be a for-profit Profiteer!
Then, you put some serious Meaning into "Making a Killing."
Every. fucking. Day.

R e l a X, America!
It's just Business.

36

Rep. Jayapal was interviewed Sunday on 'AM Joy' on MSNBC.

39

"What we have now is a broken system for people on the bottom rungs."

You mean, those 30,000,000 -- 40,000,000 un- and under-insured?

Quitchyur whining -- we have THE MOST BILLIONAIRES on the Planet.

Feel Better now?

Transaction Tax on Wall Street Trades will Pay for Medicare for all.

Removing the Cap on Earnings will make Social Security Solvent for the next hundred years.

But, you'll never ever hear any Talk like that on Rupert "Uncle Snoopy" Murdoch's FOX.
Or wholly-corps-owned Mass Media.

SAD

40

39, (partially) edited:

But, you'll never ever hear any Talk like that on Rupert "Uncle Snoopy" Murdoch's FOX TeeVee.

Or on 'OUR' wholly-corps-owned Mass Media.

[Take Back OUR Airwaves]

Or Bust.
SAD

42

@41 -- "Why not just include the 30 or 40 million in Medicare rather than destroy the entire system?"

Gosh, Mistrial, that's an excellent place to start.
Thanks!

Oh, and regards any 'simple Simon facts-free aproach' you may percieve,
I happily attribute to our very own Dear Leader, Herr Trumpfy.

It's quite Catching...

43

@38, "Fine by me, just leave me the option to buy private insurance or a supplemental policy so I can see a doctor and get normal medical care."

Shit, that'd be fine by me too! I thought you were against medicare for all though?

Also, as much as Canadians or Europeans complain about their health care/health insurance programs, if you ask them if they'd rather have the American version, practically no one will say yes.


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