Many of my family members (not myself) are retired or active military. They have served or are serving their country bravely. This is how we corner the GOP and corporate blue dogs on this issue. We offer the general public a structured plan as TRICARE. How would they be able to argue that TRICARE is substandard unless our soldiers and retired military personel are being cheated with substandard healthcare....
My Inlaws love their TRICARE. The only downside they have with the plan is that sometimes it takes a few weeks to get an appointment with the primary doctor. I have Presbyterian (Big HMO in New Mexico) and it often takes me a couple of weeks to get in to my primary unless it's urgent. My inlaws pay about $1 per prescription drug, while I pay about $5 up to $25 for mine depending on the drug and if they have it in generic form.
Take a look at the TRICARE structure here
Not bad, take a look at what it costs for out of pocket expenses. I pay about $500 per month while my in laws pay less than that per year...
Here is the bottom line. I don't expect to pay $500 a year for healtcare but I also don't expect to pay $500-$1500 per month (which is what most other people outside of the military pay) with a 10% to 30% increase every year. How about if I just pay per month ($300) to get comprable insurance that my inlaws get. How about at least offering this same insurance to our teachers who get paid too little, our police officers, our firefighters etc?
Don't tell me it won't work!! It seems to be working just fine in the military!!
Finally, if we get fifty million more people on a public option, won't that create millions of American jobs? Wouldn't that stimulate more of the economy?
Tax the top 1% roll back the Bush tax cuts. I'm sorry if they won't be able to stimulate the economy by not purchasing one more yacht, one more private jet! You can be that their money won't trickle down given the last 30 years of NeoConservative economic policy....