Medicaid For All

Medicaid For All is the MOST fiscally responsible health care policy in the USA political world right now. When I recently demanded my congressman Derek Kilmer explain why he was not more enthusiastically supporting a single-payer system, he responded with a thoughtful explanation of his policy, which included this comment in regards to "Medicare For All":

 "...health providers have raised the concern that putting everyone on Medicare without improving Medicare reimbursement rates would be problematic. Currently, most hospitals lose money on Medicare patients..."

That's EXACTLY why MediCARE For All is better than Obamacare or any privately-held health-insurance, is because it is the only system that actively pushes back against the exponential out of control increases in medical costs. But that's not what I am advocating for here... what I am advocating for here is MediCAID for all.

Why Medicaid instead of Medicare? Because:

1. Medicaid pays even lower rates to health providers than Medicare, pushing back against costs even more!
2. States have more control over their Medicaid policy than their Medicare policy, so that this is far easier to implement on a state by state level.
3. A senior friend of mine was recently forced to transition from Medicaid to Medicare. At least in his case Medicaid was a much better customer experience, with far less paperwork, more comprehensive coverage, and less over all stress in general. 

Some of my thoughtful Libertarian friends have pointed out the real problem here is that private health insurance uses our employers to shield them from our consumer wrath as our health care fees are raised. They point out that making employer-provided health insurance - a victory of organized labor - illegal (probably resulting in a Libertarian-celebrated collapse of private health insurance generally in favor of a pay-in-cash system,) could almost by itself solve the problem of skyrocketing health care costs.

Unfortunately, like so many other Libertarian truisms, this amounts to quaint platitude. Until serious Libertarian politicians make serious health care proposals, this is pure fantasy. Medicaid on the other hand is real:

Medicaid For All is very actionable:

1. Nevada is doing it.
2. California has started a political process that will (for the above mentioned reasons) likely result in it.
3. Vice President Mike Pence (one of my least favorite people) pioneered a conservative version of this in Indiana, where everyone pays an income-adjusted amount to support their medicaid coverage, when other health insurance options won't work for them ("Healthy Indiana Plan 2.0".)

As to just how possible and likely Medicaid For All is, consider this quote from my "Trump Card" post that demonstrates how much leaders of industry are looking to shed the burden of their employee's health care costs:

First, let's take what Trump himself has said on health care in a 1998 NBC interview: 

"...I am a liberal on health care, we have to take care of people that are sick... I like Universal health care, we have to take care, there is nothing else. What is the country all about if we are not going to take care of our sick?" 

Second, let's take the ultimate "evil corporation" by liberal standards, WalMart. In  2007 WalMart actually sided with the notoriously progressive SEIU in calling not for Obamacare, but full blown universal "socialist" health care, just like what Trump was praising in 1998.

Third, even GM Motors CEO Richard Wagoner testified on December 5th, 2008 before the House Financial Services Committee said something along the lines of "universal health care coverage would help us against foreign competition where health care is provided by their governments instead of by our competitors."

And if you are a small business entrepreneur or owner, worrying about the impacts of health care on you, your partners, and or employees doesn't help your bottom line by any stretch of the imagination. Under the Californian proposal mentioned above, studies show small businesses would end up saving more than 10% even with any required tax increases taken into consideration. 

Watch this carefully. Take notes. Watch it a second time to make sure you understand all of its political implications in 2018 and 2020 (because you do NOT want to be a Democrat in 2020 who has failed to make progress on Medicaid For All):