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The problem is not the healthcare, but the power that the government is asking for, and the foolishness in thinking that the power grab will stop at some reason

The problem is not the healthcare, but the power that the government is asking for, and the foolishness in thinking that the power grab will stop at some reasonable point. If Vermont decided to have socialized medicine, I don't really care. But implementing it across the entire US is not going to work out well. I'm not a fan of socialized medicine, but let's say you want to do it. The first thing to do if you want it to be successful is start with a medium-small state, and then take over a part of the system (e.g. emergency care). Show us all how great that is, and slowly expand. Administrators would gain experience, mistakes would be fixable, hard social questions get answered, etc., and if everything goes well maybe the whole country moves over. A big bill for the whole country from someone who thought things in Venezuela were just peachy in 2011 is not a path for success.

nerdponx 6y ago
For one thing, Sanders was not proposing a fully government-run healthcare system. Realistic options would be "a good-quality public option available at the federal level", or "single payer" healthcare where the government becomes the single main insurer, at least for basic preventative care and emergencies, or some other policy that ensures there is a "social safety net" in place that includes access to modern healthcare. Sanders misjudgment about Venezuela is a valid criticism, but let's stop with the Red Scare rhetoric about socializing things. If we were going to socialize something, we would be talking about directly worker-owned enterprises. Ironically, that might actually be much better than just having the government run everything. Also, you have deluded yourself if somehow you don't already think the US government is an abusive beast that exists in large part to create and maintain power for itself. Is healthcare really the straw that broke the camel's back? Is the government really that much worse than a private corporation that has almost no exposure to market forces? I can't exactly vote for the CEO of Aetna. I think many people would be open to something other than "medicare for all", but so far that is the only serious public proposal that achieves the goal of ensuring access to modern, humane healthcare for all Americans.

nerdponx 6y ago

For one thing, Sanders was not proposing a fully government-run healthcare system. Realistic options would be "a good-quality public option available at the federal level", or "single payer" healthcare where the government becomes the single main insurer, at least for basic preventative care and emergencies, or some other policy that ensures there is a "social safety net" in place that includes access to modern healthcare. Sanders misjudgment about Venezuela is a valid criticism, but let's stop with the Red Scare rhetoric about socializing things. If we were going to socialize something, we would be talking about directly worker-owned enterprises. Ironically, that might actually be much better than just having the government run everything. Also, you have deluded yourself if somehow you don't already think the US government is an abusive beast that exists in large part to create and maintain power for itself. Is healthcare really the straw that broke the camel's back? Is the government really that much worse than a private corporation that has almost no exposure to market forces? I can't exactly vote for the CEO of Aetna. I think many people would be open to something other than "medicare for all", but so far that is the only serious public proposal that achieves the goal of ensuring access to modern, humane healthcare for all Americans.