Single-payer: not a bat’s chance?
The pundits and many Democrats wrote off the single-payer option from the get-go. This changed the dynamic of healthcare reform from the start. It allowed conservatives and Republicans to frame the debate as the public option equals far left position. This, of course, was not true. The far left position, the sensible position, had to do with the single-payer option in which the government handles your health insurance. Putting it another way, Medicare for all. The political insiders within the Obama White House knew this wouldn’t fly.
Back in 1995, a group of super rich folks got together and decided they had to do something about the estate tax. They simply didn’t want to pay any more. They had accumulated enormous sums of money and wanted to be a little pass on their wealth. To put it another way, they wanted to establish a class of elites who never had to work again. They hired a lobbying firm and they went to Capitol Hill. They were laughed out of Senators’ offices. They were not deterred. They refashioned their message. They cranked up campaign donations and they continue to push. Soon, they got the message right. Gradually, we heard nothing about estate tax and we began to hear about death taxes. We heard nothing about uber-wealthy families like the DuPonts or the Waltons; instead, we heard about the poor family farmers who would lose their farm under this “unfair tax.” Mainstream conservatives picked up the cause. In 2001, the dream of the Carnegies and the Waltons came true as the estate tax was temporarily repealed.
Progressives can take a lesson from the death tax crusade. Slow and steady pressure with intelligent framing is needed in order to make great changes. The single-payer system saves us an enormous amount of money. Some estimates soar to more than $350 billion per year. We roll Medicare and Medicaid and other state and federally funded health care programs into the single-payer. No extra taxes. None. Eliminate or change private health insurance forever. This industry will not die with the single payer option but will need to change to providing high-end coverage for the wealthy. Suddenly, small business does not have to worry about how they are going to cover their employees. Medium-sized businesses don’t have to worry about how much money they’re going to chip in and they don’t have to pay employees to figure out which plan works for their companies. This can free up millions, if not billions, of dollars for companies to invest in new equipment and into increasing salaries to their loyal employees. Large corporations don’t have to worry about the biggest sticking point in union negotiations — healthcare.
More later.
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