Daily Kos member Spartacist today blogged about how a Pro Hillary Clinton PAC, Correct the Record, unleashed a torrent of GOP styled talking points to discredit Senator Sanders and undermine progressivism. Part of the attack was centered on making single payer healthcare a boogeyman to democrats - a vital reform that could have given me a month of my life back.
An e-mail (right out of the 'crazy uncle' GOP playbook') links Sanders to 'failed progressives' in the UK and the late Hugo Chavez while depicting single payer healthcare as a 'radical' idea that the country can't afford. It came within 24 hours of a Wall Street Journal editorial that coincidentally seizes on the same premise. Spartacist said it best:
"They cite Gerald Friedman, a left wing heterodox Economist from the Mecca of heterodox economics in the United States the University of Amherst, to justify this figure. The previous sentence might read as ironic, but it's not. I really respect Amherst and the economic tradition that comes out of it. The problem is that the WSJ took one figure from Friedman's report without actually reading it..."
In this case, selectively citing an opinion in order to cynically dismiss ideas that could make lives better (for the sake of supporting a preferred 'progressive' candidate) is a bridge too far. I've had some required reading recently: a denial letter for a prescription drug pre-authorization from Blue Cross to treat an acute autoimmune disease. It took 30-days to be told that I could file an appeal, which could take up to another 60 for an opinion - either way.
That wait is impossible for me, given the copious amounts of prednisone and painkillers have been necessary while I've been essentially untreated. I've missed worked, missed over a month of exercise, and have had little to no social life. Netflix is my best friend.
Single payer healthcare is significantly more fair to people who are chronically ill than our current system, which is clearly rigged against the patient to save the insurance companies money. I don't take democrats trashing single payer lightly; this PAC is aligned with the GOP in making it a talking point against a fellow democrat. It's a shameful, harmful assault on progressivism, and indirectly myself. I'm sorry to see Hillary's surrogates stooping so low against our own.