Whatever happened to universal health care?
In the desperate desire to get a bill, some progressives and many Democrats in D.C. have completely forgotten the stated goal of the Democratic Party. That goal was "universal" health care.
Now, that's not the same as "universal" health insurance. It's certainly not the same as universal taxes and mandates to buy health insurance from private corporations. The goal of universal health care has always been maximum coverage of medical needs at minimum costs.
The bill before Congresss is not the "Democratic Dream" I ever voted for. It's not a liberal plan. It's neither universal, nor a guarantee of care. Instead, it's a hodgepodge of handouts to private corporations for a few special interest groups.
Some say this is the march to single payer... pointing out the few who could buyin to Medicare or would receive Medicaid. But single payer is not just about government-subsidized insurance: it's about a shared social commitment to guarantee health care (not health care insurance, and not subsidies) to everyone by virtue of being an American.
Some who would benefit from this plan are trying to bully other progressives to fall in line because they would be better off. But why are we playing special interest politics with this issue? On an issue like this, everyone should get something. There's room enough in the existing health care spending to ensure a fairer result for all.
Instead anyone that honestly looks at this bill has to realize that only a few groups would be better off... and the great majority of the middle class worse off, from the taxes and 10% hike in insurance premiums this bill would push. It doesn't have to be like this: a public option open to all (unlike Medicaid or Medicare) was the key selling point to make this deal look anything like "universal" health care reform.
It was a simple formula: Medicaid for the poor, Medicare for the elderly, group health insurance to those whose employer's could afford it, and a public option for everyone in between that wanted an alternative to private insurance. Something for everybody. It wasn't universal health care, nor universal health insurance, but it was at least "universal" in its purported benefits.
Now the wheels have come off the reform racecar, and it's an unbalanced proposition before the Senate. There's no serious employer mandate, but a relatively strong individual mandate. There's no public option, but even more generous benefits for (some) near-retirees. There's taxes on those with good health insurance, to incentivize them to switch to cheaper (less comprehensive) health insurance. Essentially, the vast majority of the middle is left out from the benefits of this deal, and we're no closer to "universal health care" than we were in the last decade (when at least we had far more extensive employer coverage).
No one should underestimate the indirect economic and political benefits of having anything that looked like a Medicare for all (even if restricted to the uninsured).
Does anyone remember the dream of "universal" health care at this point? Or is it all about the money now? Who gets how much while the money lasts?