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| Source:Common Dreams- Blogger Heather Digby Parton. |
Source:The New Democrat
"When Capitalism: A Love Story came out I was lucky enough to be at a screening with Michael Moore present and there was, as you might imagine, quite a bit of discussion about the Health Care Reform that was ending its way through congress since Moore was so influential in raising the public consciousness about the horrors of the system with his previous film Sicko. He was, at the time, very positive about President Obama and optimistic about the eventual outcome.
But he's been watching the law unfold with clear eyes and is unsparing about the shortcomings of the new program. In an op-ed in the NY Times he pointed some of them out including this one:
For many people, the “affordable” part of the Affordable Care Act risks being a cruel joke. The cheapest plan available to a 60-year-old couple making $65,000 a year in Hartford, Conn., will cost $11,800 in annual premiums. And their deductible will be $12,600. If both become seriously ill, they might have to pay almost $25,000 in a single year. (Pre-Obamacare, they could have bought insurance that was cheaper but much worse, potentially with unlimited out-of-pocket costs.)"
You can read the rest of Heather Digby's article at Our Future
"In Vermont, incumbent Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin has nearly been unseated in a shocking upset. In a process unique to Vermont, projections now show the governor’s race will be decided by the state Legislature after neither Shumlin nor his Republican challenger reached the necessary threshold of 50 percent. The state Legislature remains solidly Democratic, so Shumlin will likely keep his seat. But Shumlin was not considered a vulnerable candidate before last night, and Scott Milne, his challenger, was a relative unknown. The election is seen as a possible referendum on healthcare reform after Shumlin has vowed to make Vermont the first state with a single-payer healthcare system. The state’s embattled health insurance exchange implemented under Obamacare has been down since September."
Heather Digby, who is no one's centrist or conservative, is making the case for federalism when it comes to health care and health insurance in America. She's saying that blue states should offer the health care plans that they want, including a public option and that if red states continue to decide to leave millions of their own people without affordable health care, then that's on them. And perhaps democracy will take care of that for them.
For all of you so-called Progressives out there (Democratic Socialists, in actuality) or people who define your politics as progressive (even if you are not vert progressive) who may read this post: federalism is not about centralizing more power with the Federal Government and having less for the states, locals, and individuals. The opposite is true.
But for you leftists (Democratic Socialists or Social Democrats) who like to see some type of public healthcare system available to all Americans, whether it be single payer or something else, federalism is the route you should be looking at. Because it could actually accomplish your goal, instead of you running to the Federal Government and holding protests and rallies at Congress and the White House and other places demanding that they pass Medicare For All single payer. Just so we clear that up.
One of the public option proposals that I’ve seen that I’m in favor of comes from perhaps the two least federalist members of Congress. From Senator Bernie Sanders (Democratic Socialist, Socialist Republic of Vermont and Representative Jim McDermott (Democrat, State of Washington) two of the most leftist members of Congress, that leftist hippie could possibly dream of, on his best marijuana high.
Senator Sanders and Representative McDermott have a different Medicare For All proposal. What they do is to say: “We’ll allow each state to set up their own Medicare plan and system that would have to meet basic federal standards. But each state would be able to run their own Medicare system and manage their health insurance system themselves coming from Medicare.” Instead of the Federal Government running the health care system for everyone in the country on their own.
Most of the single payer proposals have been Medicare For All run completely by the Federal Government. But the Sanders-McDermott plan would be a federalist, Medicare For All, single payer plan and each state would have their own Medicare system. Which is probably the only way we’ll ever get Medicare for all. Meaning no other form of health insurance in this country private or public. We are already seeing states trying to pass something like this like in Vermont and California.
Vermont and California (to name a couple of states) are trying to set up their own public option plans, that I’m in favor of, that I mentioned last night, would be done with a federalist system. Meaning the states would be able to run their own Medicare public option. And this is how you get a country behind you. Instead of trying to force things down their throats, you give them choices and options and the freedom to manage their own affairs.
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