The Medicare For All Battle will start soon
I should start by saying I was wrong and Bernie Sanders was right: waiting for the repeal Obamacare battle to finish before introducing a Medicare For All bill was a good move.
Why? Just look at how public opinion on health care shifted this year.
A new poll suggests the country may be shifting left on this core issue, with 62 percent saying it’s the federal government’s responsibility to make sure that all Americans have health care coverage, while 37 percent say it is not.
The survey findings from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicate a change in public attitudes over the past few months, as concerns mounted about GOP legislation estimated to leave tens of millions without coverage.
...As recently as March, the AP-NORC poll had found Americans more ambivalent about the federal government’s role, with a slim 52 percent majority saying health coverage is a federal responsibility, and 47 percent saying it is not.
That's a massive swing in a short period of time in the opposite direction of what Republicans had in mind.
It isn't just the general public. Doctors have joined nurses in coming around to the idea of single-payer as well.
A new analysis shows more than half of U.S. physicians support a single payer healthcare system with 42% “strongly” in favor and another 14% "somewhat" supportive, according to a new survey of more than 1,000 doctors by MerrittHawkins, a nationwide healthcare staffing firm. “Physicians appear to have evolved on single payer,” MerrittHawkins senior vice president Travis Singleton said of the poll.
Bernie says he will introduce his Medicare For All bill next month. Speculation says the bill will include a "slow transition" to universal health care, but the article was light on actual facts.
Bernie admits that the bill stands very little chance of passing, but the shift in public opinion may give it a chance for legitimate debate.
Trump rode the wave of anger and hostility towards the status quo into the White House. But TrumpCare hurts the people who supported Trump. A bold remedy for fundamental change in the ailing healthcare system would help position the Democratic Party as the party of change and reform and help win back working families who jumped ship in 2016 to support the GOP presidential candidate.
The corporate Democrats are still talking about defending Obamacare, but that's increasingly becoming an untenable position.
Premiums for Obamacare in Iowa will rise more than 50% next year. In Illinois Obamacare premiums will rise between 23% to 43%.
Those are unsustainable increases.
Despite an obviously broken health care system in a state of gradual collapse, TPTB will try to convince us that universal health care is impossible.
For instance, did you know that Canadians want to privatize their health care system like the United States?
In a last-ditch effort to convince Canadians that their public health care system should be privatized, Canadian Medical Association (CMA) President Robert Ouellet has promised to “pull out all the stops” during the association’s annual meeting next week. Trouble is, Ouellet’s mission to lead the change to privatization is exactly the opposite of what 86 percent of Canadians want.
A new poll conducted by the Toronto-based Nanos Research points to overwhelming support — 86.2 percent — for strengthening public health care rather than expanding for-profit services.
“With more than 8 in 10 Canadians supporting public solutions to make public health care stronger, there is compelling evidence that Canadians across all demographics would prefer a public over a for-profit health care system,” said Nik Nanos, president of Nanos Research.
...
Meanwhile, Canada’s government just released a report titled “Healthy Canadians — A Federal Report on Comparable Health Indicators 2008.” Its findings almost identically mirror the CHC polling results. In that report, a leading indicator points to the fact that “Most Canadians (85.2 percent) aged 15 years and older reported being ‘very satisfied’ or ‘somewhat satisfied’ with the way overall health care services were provided, unchanged from 2005.”
Oh wait. I meant don't want to privatize their health care system.
President Trump calls Canadian health care "catastrophic", yet a majority of Canadian support tax increases to expand the current public system.
Most Americans are unaware that Mexico, a developing nation, transitioned to a single-payer health care system five years ago.
Despite periods of economic downturns and crisis, Mexico recently achieved a significant milestone – enrolling 52.6 million previously uninsured Mexicans in public medical insurance programs and thereby achieving universal health coverage in less than a decade.
This effort began in 2004 and occurred in a country of approximately 100 million people.
Before you are tempted to ridicule Mexico's health care system, consider that Americans are going to Mexico for health care by the hundreds of thousands.
One important point that single-payer advocates should be emphasizing, but seem to be overlooking, is that a universal health care system would really help the economy. It would help domestic employment in particular.
If you want to pinpoint a primary reason why U.S. enterprises shift jobs overseas, you have to start with skyrocketing healthcare costs.
According to a report by the St. Louis Federal Reserve, real (adjusted for official inflation) wages have risen a mere 3% since 1970. (No wonder wage earners don't feel wealthier; if we use a more realistic measure of inflation, we haven't gained 3%--we've lost ground.)
But if we look at total compensation costs paid by the employer (health insurance, workers' compensation, employer's share of Social Security, etc.) we find that these costs have soared 60%. In other words, if these labor overhead costs had remained stable (i.e. gone up only as much as inflation), employers could have distributed the difference as raises to employees.
These labor overhead costs are the reason why wages have been stagnant for 46 years, and the dominant overhead expense is healthcare insurance.
So how will the greedy leeches that are bleeding the nation dry under the current system fight back? With lies, distortions, and half-truths.
Here’s Medicare for All: Long Wait Times, Fewer Doctors, and Huge Tax Hikes
Comments
Fantastic Article!
Outstanding summary as usual gjohnsit. Glad to see Bernie picking the healthcare ball up and running with it. Bernie is playing a Dem insider small ball game. Any forward progress is good.
I sure am looking forward to seeing how many Dems support Bernie and which ones. Also who the "whip" will be.
Is there a designated whip for the Senate? My understanding is that each piece of major legislation has a different whip. No idea how the roll of whip is designated.
V.P. Biden was whipping legislation for Obama on occasion. Who's the resident expert (or experts) on nuts and bolts around here? Clarification would be genuinely appreciated.
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
Will it matter how many democrats sign on to mfa?
The democrats know that there isn't a chance for it to pass because the republicans are in control of congress.
This reminds me of Rockefeller. For years or decades, he wanted single payer, but once the democrats had the chance to pass it through reconciliation, he said that "the time isn't right to pass it".
This has been the democrats' game for over 3 decades. They tell us that if we put them in control of congress, all kinds of good things will happen, but once they get it, there is always an excuse for them not doing anything.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Heh.
.
1
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
gj: you are the Cyber Energizer Bunny!!
How do you do it with daily multiple excellent posts?? Do you ever see bobswern posted anywhere? Let me know if so!
If I was running for office right now, I would figure out a way to work in Tricky Prick's signing of the 1973 HMO Act. It opened the floodgates to this immoral making coin off life and death in this country. I don't think what passes for the majority of the Dimocrapic Party get it. Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
He is a member here, as is
Dallas Doc, OPOL and some others. Unfortunately, we don't see any of them much. Miss them all. gjohnsit does a mighty job.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Well that's nice.
How are the nice single-payer advocates going to get past Kodos and Kang without a party to back them up?
“One of the things I love about the American people is that we can hold many thoughts at once” - Kamala Harris
Here's a link to a PDF version of Bernie's MFA brochure,
from his Presidential run.
In it, he lays out how MFA would be paid for, so I'm left baffled that his staff is writing a bill that doesn't address funding. After all, even regular folks, not to mention so-called stakeholders, will need this info in order to assess how they would be affected.
I'm looking forward to reading it, though. And thanks for keeping folks abreast of the status of his proposal.
Mollie
“I believe in the redemptive powers of a dog’s love. It is in recognition of each dog’s potential to lift the human spirit, and therefore, to change society for the better, that I fight to make sure every street dog has its day.”
--Stasha Wong, Secretary, Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
How We Pay For It
Here's The PDF Breakdown:
Good, but kind of problematic. The National Nurses Union was proposing a 1% transaction tax on all Wall Street trades. Much simpler and raises plenty of money.
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
Both taxes together might be able to do some real
investment in the infrastructure as well.
Higher taxes for MFA can be sold
if it is explained that the same money you pay in private health insurance will now go to taxes, so you won't actually pay more money.
It doesn't even have to be cast as taxes.
It could be cast as an insurance premium, just one that is lower than private insurance and whose increases are in the control of elected government officials, not the for profit companies which no one can control.
Medicare recipients pay a small premium that is deducted from their social security checks. Granted, it is nowhere near enough. But, as part of Medicare for All, even that could be adjusted on a sliding scale. Granted, there is no collection problem when you are deducting from a government check, and collection issues would have to be addressed. But, they have to be addressed with taxes, too.
For Sure!
The PDF of Bernie's plan that Mollie linked to points out $6 Trillion in savings. So why worry about "paying" for it?
I made a comment recently that we can pay for it the same way Obama/Trump's Trillion dollar nuclear armament modernization plan is paid for. Or Trump's Trillion dollar wall or $650 Billion military
budgetslush fund is paid for."They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
That is complicated.
People will not listen long enough, and if they do, they won't get it anyway.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
You don't know what you've got til it is gone.
One thing the ACA did in the short term was show people having health care was possible, the thought of losing it is unpleasant. It was a stop gap as with 45 million uninsured and growing something had to be done and saying a universal health care system provided by the state was impossible their biggest lie. Now maybe the time, but they lost power by being cowardly.
La Fem they are beyond cowardly imo.
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
I feel bad for John Conyers, who
has introduced a Medicare for All Bill, HR 676, every year or two for many years, including the year of Zerobamacare. Pelosi and others have refused to bring it to the floor. At one point, Wiener made her promise to bring it to the floor. However, she reneged to give Obama a chance to produce a bill. And the rest is history. For some reason, though, Sanders and Warren don't mention Conyers. The fundraising emails make it seem as though it's a brand new initiative--theirs.
Of course, Democrats should have passed HR 676 in 2006. But, they don't really want us to have it. It's kabuki. Which brings me to this bill.
Are we to believe that a Republican House and a Republican Senate, who want to make Obamacare even worse than it is, will pass Sanders' bill? This seems to me like time-dishonored Democratic tactics: liberal when Republicans hold the power; neoliberal when Democrats hold the power. So, don't hold your breath.
Of course not
I addressed that.
No one is under any other impression.
What this bill does is start the post-2018 momentum toward universal health care.
It fleshes out political stands and gives the Dems an opportunity to be something other than anti-Trump.
The battle has to start somewhere, and this is that time.
Of course, I hope you're right. I thought 2009 was the time,
though. And there was no reason it should not have been. So, I'm more cynical than I was then. "We'll see" is about the best I can do these days.
I felt betrayed in 2009 too
But I still hold out some hope because the world has changed.
Popular opinion has shifted a great deal and progressives are far more motivated.
Of course, I hope you're right.
It's. been there correct time
since 1945 when Truman proposed:
"The most controversial aspect of the plan was the proposed national health insurance plan. In his November 19, 1945 address, President Truman called for the creation of a national health insurance fund to be run by the federal government. This fund would be open to all Americans, but would remain optional. Participants would pay monthly fees into the plan, which would cover the cost of any and all medical expenses that arose in a time of need. The government would pay for the cost of services rendered by any doctor who chose to join the program. In addition, the insurance plan would give a cash balance to the policy holder to replace wages lost due to illness or injury."
This was before Medicare; importantly his plan included building hospitals and attracting doctors to areas without care.
Screw it. Let's have wars forever everywhere instead.
Orwell: Where's the omelette?
Thanks. I'm not sure I knew about Truman. I knew
that Teddy Roosevelt had mentioned a national plan was needed, but did not do anything.
Believe it or not, the first health insurers were not for profit companies.
If they wanted to reintroduce it, they should have brought
Conyes along. WTF is the matter with people.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
One would have thought.
The fundraising emails I got from Bernie mentioned only him and Warren, though. They did a couple of rallies a little while back, starting in Massachusetts, where she is up for re-election and there was talk of people challenging her for her seat, complaining she'd done nothing while there.
Essentially true, if you don't count on camera speeches. Like Hillary (who was there longer), Warren has not written a single piece of legislation, bill or amendment, that became law. True, Republicans had the House during her years in the Senate. However, one party or the other has control 100% of the time, yet bills and amendments do become law.
Thing is, when you introduce legislation, you get all kinds of great publicity, but, when your bill dies in committee, no one hears about it. So, she gets all kinds of props for introducing something about student loans or post office banking. I bet if you ask the average person, they'll say she's been very effective.
God, how quickly she became corrupt
Her books about middle-class bankruptcy were awesome. When she was fighting for the CFPB, she was terrific. Then she became a Senator and WTF?
Gonna be blunt and gore a few SJW oxen but IDGAF. She is unbelievably typical of aging Boomer neoliberal women in Boston. They are convinced their vajayjays are a free pass to being on the right side of every issue. Meanwhile they own a $2 million house they paid $70K for back in the day, and they think smoking maryjane in student-occupied Harvard administrative offices in 1969 totally justifies economically ass-raping the lower-level employees who have hunched outside their glass-walled senior executive offices lo these past 40 years. We are such strong independent women, aren't we? they ask over glasses of Cotes-du-Rhine at Les Sablon
Excuse me, need to retch now.
Bernie is apparently joining a Conyers town hall
see my comment below.
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
So here's my problem.
If Bernie quit before, how do we know he won't do it again? Assange says he and/or Jane were physically assaulted/threatened. How do we know he won't quit again?
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
would you give a reference, please?
I too
would like that.
I'm not worldly so I may have missed what Assange said or wrote about that.
Please pass on a link dkmich.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
I Checked Snopes
The Julian Assange story was a hoax. Totally false:
Not exactly the same story, but close. More details here:
http://www.snopes.com/julian-assange-bernie-sanders-was-threatened/
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
Snopes? That sank their credibility for HER
during the 2016 campaign? We should trust them NOW because...?
Too bad, so sad, they ruined their own brand and got nothing for it.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Whether or not Bernie
"quit" is subject to interpretation. You said yourself Assange believes he was "threatened" at the very least. I believe too. Something about a black eye at the convention. Regardless, Bernie is going to do what Bernie does. What difference does it make if he "quits" again? It ain't up to Bernie.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Bernie did what he's done since he hit Congress in 1991:
he endorsed and otherwise supported the Democratic candidate. He has also long spoken negatively about "spoiler candidates." From his conduct and statements for almost 30 years, I can conclude only that he wants Democrats to win elections. https://caucus99percent.com/content/spoiler-candidates-and-protest-votes... His "revolution" says nothing different. Sure, he may want them to be less centrist Democrats. However, he'll take what he can get, like Jean Shaheen.
If he or his family been threatened, he would have done something about it: go the police, or hire private security, or retire from politics after the November election, something. I wouldn't just trust that people who threatened to hurt me or my family members would act honorably if I do what they say, nor would I continue simply to leave myself open to further threats. I doubt Bernie would. He is too smart for that.
http://www.inquisitr.com/3495608/julian-assange-makes-claims-that-hillar...
The story is long on weasel words and short on facts. Which date is Assange supposed to have made this announcement? A legit story usually includes something like a date or a day. Did Assange make this announcement verbally or in writing? To whom did he make it? This story does not even cite an anonymous source. What ever happened to the evidence from the Kremlin? And, assuming Assange did say what this story says he announced, "if you ask me" signals that Assange is only stating his opinion anyway. And, contrary to the rest of the story, the quote attributed to Assange says nothing at all about Jane Sanders
As you have already guessed, I don't think this story is much of a story or very credible.
Doesn't matter. Something happened
after CA for Bernie to change course. Hell, disappear for a couple weeks! This, after running a solid campaign and bringing along tons of new voters to the election cycle. Why would he do that without some form of outside pressure from somewhere? Or, maybe he just needed a vacation (without telling supporters he was taking one). Dunno, but it was a very weird two weeks after CA, and I don't think it was about an unannounced vacation. I suspect Bernie was "leaned on" by someone (from Bubba's security maybe). I, too, suspect Bernie was trying to figure out what to do next, knowing full well he'd been totally fucked by DWS and her DNC, the party, and Hillary. The obvious conclusion, for him at least, was to play nice with TPTB and try to remain politically viable. He did more than that. He played Hillary and the DNC like a fiddle, pretending to -ahem- "support" Her Highness on the GE campaign trail, all the while delivering his own stump speech along the way. "We all know Her Highness, ~err Hillary, is in favor of a $15 minimum wage." LOL. That had to frost her granny panties. Love him or despise him Bernie remains the most popular politician in America. And one who knows how to play the game. And his political opponents know it. Just ask Hillary.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
I don't think
Sanders withdrew the push for medicare for all due to bad timing, but more likely due to pressure from the dem party that did not want to be put on the spot for medicare for all when they were trying to work the pretense that "saving" obamacare made them healthcare crusaders. It is only because that attempt failed miserably (see the town halls, etc.) that they are now likely to embrace medicare for all- just so long as a vote on it is impossible. The Dems have no intent to renege on the sale they made to the insurance companies. This is all just cheap summer stock theater.
It doesn't need to be pressure, I suppose. He has one vote. The
have more. If they don't want to pass Medicare for All, they won't. However, as long as Republicans are in power, it's all kabuki anyway.
The National Nurses Union was
I'm in favor of a Wall Street transaction tax, but I think we need aware that revenue will be unstable for a number of years, as Wall Street thumbs through a book of tricks to avoid it.
Just wondering: can we cut off their thumbs?
Let's say, for now, figuratively speaking.
Or is this a lobbyist's write the laws kind of thing?
Doesn't take that much.
Only takes 35¢ per transaction. But as soon as Wall Street heard the proposal they were crying poverty. 35¢, are you crazy? That will kill Wall Street! If only. A hundred transactions /day would cost traders $35 /day. The cost of lunch for many of them. Or, simply the cost of doing business.
For the rest of America it pays for much of their Health Care.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Didn't we have to bail out the poor dears not even ten
year ago? And, you want their lunch money? Have a heart, willya!
And the penalties would amount to a slap on the wrist--
far cheaper to pay and consider a cost of doing business than to comply. I remember a few years back, Jamie Dimon's bank got fined and the stock spiked upward. Conclusion: Fine was much lower than the market expected. The fines almost always seem too low to me anyway.
Good info. But I think you really know that this 'war' is
is well under way. Krugman has shilled. Frigging Dean has jumped on board the fight against. The Nation carried a hit piece, but they did allow a rebuttal from Physicians for a National Health Program.
But yeah, it will likely get worse.
Good to see Bernie is said to join the Conyers Town Hall !!!!
o
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Make an example of the shills
I think a good hack or leak of, say, the Nation's emails would reveal the, um, influences on their opinions. Make it a shocker, a scandle, a revenue killer. In other words, make an example out of them.
This is part of the necessary work ahead that I'm not positive Bernie is up for.
I don't know that
Bernie would be up for hacking, but I'm pretty sure he's down for the fight.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Damned alt-leftists
Trying to destroy yet another revenue stream to Dem leadership.
Btw, completely surprised by the Mexico news. No clue this has happened -- this was in Mass Media and I just missed it?
Orwell: Where's the omelette?
Re: Mexico
I only ran across it recently. I had no idea about it while it was happening.
Mexico is a damn good example to use against those who defend the status quo (i.e. if single-payer is so bad, then why do tens of thousands off Americans run to Mexico every year for medical care?)
Apparently, the premiums for the Medicare at 55
Act will be set by a different metric than for premiums for seniors age 65 and older.
Here's the rough formula, and a link to the piece,
Sounds like there will be a subsidy based upon the ACA subsidy formula. Can't recall the income cut-off--up to 400% FPL, I believe.
Also, the piece states,
Yeah, but as I've posted in the past, WJC's proposal called for unsubsidized buy-ins. And, FSC wouldn't say whether hers would, or would not be, when she was running for Prez.
The most current CBO estimates (that I've seen) indicated that 'unsubsidized' premiums would be approximately $650-700 monthly, per beneficiary.
Mollie
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."--Lao Tzu
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart."--Helen Keller
"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."--Old English Proverb
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
So, my pay raises
over the last 25 years have gone to insurance company profiits.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
I'm with Assange. n/t
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
I'm with Assange too.
Nice little grandson you have there . . .
Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.
MfA in a totally corrupt system is not "winning"
This is like food for hamsters in my view, to keep the wheels spinning. "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit."
Ds in Congress have no power at all to pass any law, wtf are they talking about? Moar Ds for 2018? 2020? Because so much has changed? Pre-nope, been there done that. Why not get real and face the facts, Bernie is recruiting people in to a totally corrupt bribery system, hoping they will not become corrupt too. If he's saying he's gonna change the corrupt bribery system with MfA, how? I don't get it. Smoking the hopium pipe no worky. Incremental bullshit is simply busy work, post Citizens United. As the world burns. "That's the system. We try to mitigate that."
Mitigation failure alert! Burn down plutocracy, that's what I say. Boycott it until it collapses. Divert the money time and energy to local sustainability, build something different. Safety nets first, they are all shredded. If you are still working and have not grown older things might seem okay, but once you stop working and needing services it's a whole different world. Broken bad. Gentrification means homelessness in California to someone on fixed or low income, who cares? Nobody, because growth is the capitalist's dream. Grow or die, there is no sustaining with Chamber of Commerce.
If bubba Bernie and the Ds would start couching every healthcare expense in war dollars, maybe more people would "smell the coffee". It would have to come through the TV screens to penetrate, oligarchs own all the TV screens. Oligarchs own everything, including the politicians and most of the voting machines too. There are no benevolent billionaires. Oligarchs also own most of the "alternative" social media, in case you didn't notice.
I love Bernie and Jane, but they are in the millionaire's club where the insulation is quite thick. The consultants they pay are wealthy neoliberal bastards from hell. No way they could possibly represent my needs, or wants. No millionaire knows the daily struggle to stay alive, the collapse of the mental health system, the pain of homelessness, or hunger from corrupt food distribution. Bankruptcy for a millionaire is not equivalent to bankruptcy for a starving student. They might remember some other time that was hard for them, but they will never know it unless they are living it. The world needs compassion, Bernie said that's how he wants to be remembered. Please proceed, Senator.
good luck running the MfA wheels, it could be worse
One, MFA is a helluva
lot better than what we got now. Which is virtually zero health care. And, two, it ain't a bad gateway to Single Payer. And, granted, the "MFA" version they're looking at is a watered down version of the actual, Insurance companies still involved, but it still is a step toward Single Payer. It will take a Dem congress to pass Single Payer, and even then it's a crap shoot, those spineless bastids scared to death to vote aye.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
The fact that the Nation hired Joan Walsh LAST YEAR
....when it became apparent that the only defining characteristic of her "journalism" is relentless Clinton promotion is the thing that kept me from subscribing after they put up their pay wall. I'll happily live with their six article limit before I send even a fraction of a cent towards her left-baiting pocket.
the employee-ization of physicians, more and more of
whom are now just wage-slaves like the rest of us, staring at their 7-figure student loan debt and wondering why they went to all this trouble, must inevitably result in more and more of them favoring single-payer. the insanity of the insurance system, which simultaneously prevents them from treating people who need treatment, while driving them out of independent practice because they cannot manage the overheads of the paperwork, leaves them with no particular reason to object to teh sociamalized medicine. if they're working for someone else, what they fuck do they care whether the services are publicly or privately funded, or even whether the system is full-blown socialism, like the NHS (or the VA hospital system)?
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.