FDR created Social Security out of nothing, in 1935, during a depression. From day one it began delivering for seniors (albeit with some egregious exceptions). America found a way to do it.
LBJ created Medicare in 1965, because millions of seniors over the age of 65 could not afford private health insurance. When it was created it was a part of Social Security, and from day one every eligible senior was covered. We found a way to do it. Then it stopped.
Which brings us to Medicare for All.
We are not starting from nothing, and all of the money needed is already in our health care economy.
We can do this. America can truly have the best health care for all of its citizens. The obstacles to our success are the same arguments and the same motives that opposed Social Security and Medicare so long ago. Those arguments were quickly proven wrong, and those motives boil down to greed and indifference to the fates of others.
America used to do big things to meet the needs of its people. Conservatives do not believe that to be the role of government, and they are in fact hostile to that very concept. In his rallying cry: “Government is the problem!”, Reagan was swept into office to impose a more fiscally restrained, business-oriented management of our government, one whose entire economic forecasting was based on supply-side economics. Huge tax cuts for the rich, prosperity for all, and eliminating the deficit in 4 years.
It did not take even a year to know it was all a lie, a failure, all smoke and mirrors per Reagan’s budget director David Stockman. But conservatives nevertheless declared it to be the truth, never wavered, and remained focused on the long game – the roll back of FDR and LBJ’s social programs, even it takes drowning our government in the bathtub. Conservatives never seem to speak or admit to the public that their goal is the elimination of these programs in order to return the money spent on them back to the rich, those job creators.
W. Bush did exactly the same thing as Reagan, why not, promising that his tax cuts would fuel the economy, end the deficits, create vast surpluses, create millions of jobs and pay off the National Debt, all in 10 years. All of which was a lie, and his tax cuts pretty much had only the exact opposite effect.
But Conservatives and Republicans know their promises are bullshit. They say what they need to say in order to get elected and then do what their richest donors tell them to do.
Prior to FDR and LBJ creating these awesome, essential programs the Federal Government was spending zero. In both cases the Conservative thinkers opposed them, preferring that old people would live in poverty and die as they had for generations before, and arguing that it was not the function of our federal government to take on those issues.
The Conservative arguments have not changed. They were wrong then; they are wrong today still.
It is particularly disheartening to have Biden and others parroting language intended to convince people that Medicare for All would cost $30 trillion IN ADDITION TO what is already being spent in our economy. Is Biden really that stupid?? Or is it his way of saying what Hillary did, that it’s never, ever going to happen BECAUSE THAT IS NOT HOW WASHINGTON WORKS.
But how would Biden have advised FDR? Or LBJ? I am sure Biden’s ego would have him believe that he would have been right there with LBJ in pushing for one of the greatest government programs in the history of nation, whipping up votes. But that would be Biden trying to have it both ways. The dire circumstances so many of our senior population faced in the ‘60’s is tame compared to what faces our country today.
America’s health care system’s primary purpose, in how it actually functions, is to make people money. Not that long ago, in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, most hospitals were non-profits, most with religious affiliations, as were the largest insurers like Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Many towns and cities still operated municipal hospitals. Those days ended, not coincidentally with the rise of Reagan and conservatives.
Health care in America is not just a financial problem, it is a social problem, a quality of life problem, and a constant threat to most Americans’ financial security. The ACA did not fix that, and it will never fix that. Medicare was created and designed with the objective of delivering health care to those in need. Not for making a profit; not for making people running it billionaires.
Today our private health care system is controlled by people whose appetite for money is insatiable. It is controlled by people who every day choose profits over lives. They do not care.
FDR cared, as did LBJ, and with their leadership America delivered.
Money is not the problem to Medicare for All, the power of the rich is.
We can do this. Telling people we can’t afford it is a lie. We need leaders that care about people first, and those least in need, the powerful and rich, last.