Reply #338: But as Howard Dean said, the public option basically was the compromise.

[Selatius]

A more expansive system like Medicare For All or a national health service system was the starting point. From there, we move to the right by clipping it down so that there is just a vestigial system set up to compete with private insurance, not push them out of business entirely. If that option is removed, I would submit to you that you got less than half of what you bargained for. You got a quarter, is what I'm saying.

I'm not saying it's worse than nothing, but the grim reality of the situation is that if we get a quarter instead of a half or even a whole dollar, a lot of people will die unnecessarily as a result.