What’s Next for Progressives?
Moving to single-payer would mean taking away this coverage and imposing new taxes; to make it fly politically you’d have to convince most of these people both
that they would save more in premiums than they pay in additional taxes, and that their new coverage would be just as good as the old.
C.A., not replace it, although I would strongly support reintroducing some form of public option
— a way for people to buy into public insurance — that could eventually lead to single-payer.
Other countries provide new parents with extensive paid leave, provide high-quality, subsidized day care for children with working parents
and make pre-K available to everyone or almost everyone; we do none of these things.
A commitment to universal health coverage — bringing in the people currently falling through Obamacare’s cracks — should definitely be a litmus test.
It’s not just about paying off the insurance industry, although getting insurers
to buy in to health reform wasn’t foolish, and arguably helped save the A. C.A.
Britain has true socialized medicine: The government provides health care directly through the National Health Service.
Australia has a single-payer system, basically Medicare for All — it’s even called Medicare.
A far more important consideration is minimizing disruption to the 156 million people who currently
get insurance through their employers, and are largely satisfied with their coverage.
Meanwhile, progressives should move beyond health care and focus on other holes in the U. S. safety net.
