Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 02:07 pm
Republicans have long sought to scare Americans into thinking that the U.S. health care system must put profits above people.
Their efforts to prevent the passage of the Affordable Care Act and their more recent attempts to undermine and repeal the law, which has given coverage to millions, provide ample evidence of this.
As Democrats now look to build upon Obamacare with a new proposal to create a single-payer, Medicare-for-all system, it’s likely the GOP effort to scare people into opposing it will again kick into high gear.
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On Wednesday’s edition of All In with Chris Hayes, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders – fresh off of proposing his own Medicare-for-all plan – dismantled the Republican arguments against the new proposal in the span of a minute.
Video:
Bernie Sanders Completely Dismantles GOP Opposition To Single Payer In 60 Seconds #MSNBC pic.twitter.com/6zaDhLeVkP
— Sean Colarossi (@SeanColarossi) September 14, 2017
Sanders said:
It is screwed up when thousands of people die each year because they can’t get to the doctor when they need to get to the doctor. It is screwed up when we are spending $10,000 per person on health care – almost 18 percent of the GDP – and the projection is if we don’t make real changes, we’re going to spend $49 trillion over the next ten years, 20 percent of our GDP, which will have very negative impacts on our economy. So you’ve got a screwed up system now. The point to be made – and I know that there will be a lot of disinformation getting out there – but the point to be made is that this is is not a government takeover of your health care system. We have a Medicare system right now. It is a good system. … Let’s expand that program to every man, woman, and child. It’s not a scary proposition.Â
The Vermont senator is correct on two fronts.
Not only does the current health care system have too many flaws that put too many Americans at risk of going bankrupt or not getting the care they need, but the program that Sanders and other Democrats are now putting forward is not a radical or sinister idea.
It puts people ahead of profits, and in the long term would be far more cost effective than the system we currently have. It’s simply expanding an already-existing and popular program that millions of Americans already enjoy: Medicare.
The Affordable Care Act was a substantial and historic step in the right direction, but it’s time to fight Republican efforts and go the rest of the way in guaranteeing health care to every American.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
