Barack Obama Endorses "Medicare for All"

[babylonsister]

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/09/obama-medicare-for-all-is-good.html

Barack Obama Endorses “Medicare for All”
By Ben Mathis-Lilley
Sept 07, 2018
3:24 PM


One of the biggest ideas animating the left wing of the Democratic Party’s progress in primary elections this year is “Medicare for All.” It’s an ambiguous term that is used to refer to policies that vary in their details, but one thing it always indicates is that its user supports a health care plan that’s more ambitious than the current federal system, in which the government subsidizes private insurance for individuals who would otherwise have trouble affording it but aren’t eligible for Medicaid or Medicare. Another name for that current system, of course, is Obamacare—and, on Friday, we learned Barack Obama himself also thinks that improving on Obamacare is a good idea. Here’s what the former president said about the subject in a University of Illinois speech that marked the launch of his efforts to campaign for Democrats in the midterm elections:

Link to tweet

As you can see, the ex-POTUS didn’t define what he believes Medicare for All to be; it’s still significant, though, that the person who cautiously chose not to propose a directly government-funded universal coverage plan in 2009 is now endorsing the idea of Medicare—a.k.a. government coverage—”for all.” And he followed it up with an approving allusion to Elizabeth Warren’s plan to give workers seats on corporate boards. Everyone’s a socialist these days!

[leftstreet]

1. DURec

[Fred Sanders]

2. WE can define and embrace democratic socialism and Medicare for all is a firm plank to build in.

Are you with Obama or against him?

I am a democratic socialist! Canada, Shitler hates you because you are too!

[fountainofyouth]

8. Universal healthcare isn't unique to democratic socialism

It was part of a liberal platform as early as 1947 under Truman!

[appalachiablue]

12. +1 Why don't more people know this!

[jalan48]

3. We're going to give workers seats on corporate boards to "reverse the most egregious corporate

tax cuts"? That will take some principle and spine on the part of those corporate board workers. Is this a new, non-union approach to worker/corporate relations?

[ZX86]

4. Is Nancy Pelosi on board yet?

We need Nancy Pelosi to aggressively advocate and legislate for Medicare for All.

[Skidmore]

6. We need a majority

in Congress to vote for it.

[ZX86]

7. You don't need a majority to advocate for anything.

But the question is moot regardless. The majority of Americans want Medicare for All.

[Skidmore]

5. What he was working toward

before Koch rolled out the Tea Baggers and McConnell shifted the obstruction train into full throttle.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

9. current health insurance is scam

Car insurance spreads the risk among those who have cars. If you have no car, you have no need to buy car insurance.

Home insurance spreads the risk among those who have homes. If you do not own a home, you don't need that insurance.

Who gets excluded from health insurance? Everyone is at risk, yet those who are excluded are those who can't help pay for executive vacation homes and the rest of the immense overhead called the "health insurance industry". We who can afford the premiums already pay all the costs. We just need to trim a few Ferraris from the bill.

Socialized health care makes as much sense as socialized defense. Everyone needs it, so it's a national matter.

[Hekate]

10. Wonderful to see my Prez returning to his idea that the GOP crushed.Obama, Hillary & Bill Clinton...

...Lyndon Baines Johnson, Harry Truman...

It isn't "socialist," kids -- it's been a solid Democratic idea for decades, crushed again and again by the GOP, who love to smear it as a "socialist" idea. You know, the way they turned "liberal" into a smear?

So you (plural, general) can go ahead and keep trying to use the word "socialist" if you want to and waste a lot of time explaining your intentions -- or you can proudly claim and reclaim what is ours, as Democrats.

[workinclasszero]

11. K&R

Thank you Mr President!