A Top Progressive On The Correct Response If SCOTUS Nixes ‘Obamacare’,expanding Medicare

A veteran of the long ideological fight between liberals and conservatives over popular safety net programs thinks President Obama and Democrats will have to turn to expanding Medicare if the Supreme Court throws out big parts or all of the Affordable Care Act.

In so doing, he becomes the latest high-profile progressive and reform advocate to conclude that an adverse Court decision will leave the party little choice but to move back to the left on the issue of health care.

“If they throw out major portions of the reform the most important thing for Dems to talk about right now is how Republicans and the Court are leaving us to the mercy of the private insurance companies,” said Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future, in a phone interview. “And that’s not just the Supreme Court decision, but it’s the Ryan budget. … Republicans are trying to impose austerity because they say that Medicare is bankrupting the country, and Dems should point out that Republicans want to dismantle the one functioning part of our health care system — Medicare — that actually works for people, that actually controls cost. And what they’re proposing is incredibly unpopular with the voters.”

Hickey has been prescient in the past. In 2005, he influenced the strategy Democrats ultimately adopted to thwart President Bush’s attempt to privatize Social Security. Then in 2009, in a break with single-payer backers, he joined the coalition supporting President Obama’s push to overhaul the country’s health care system.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/supreme-court-medicare-single-payer-obamacare-roger-hickey.php?ref=fpa

(Thom Hartmann said the same thing yesterday)