My healthcare plan.

[DanTex]

Step 1: add a public option to Obamacare.
Step 2: merge the public option, medicare, and medicaid into a single entity.
Step 3: make enrollment in the public option the default, and the premiums are paid on your tax returns (so if you qualify for medicaid/medicare, then this premium is $0). But you can opt out if you have private coverage or employer based coverage, in which case you don't pay the public option premium tax.

This way everyone gets to keep their current coverage if they want (65% of Americans like their coverage). There is no sudden big tax increase or massive disruptive overhaul which could cause hospitals to go out of business, etc. The private healthcare industry would shrink gradually, but not disappear entirely. And in the end we have universal coverage in a public-private hybrid system.

And it can be done incrementally, over the course of decades if necessary, rather than one big all-or-nothing shot. Whenever we have a friendly congress and a Dem president, we take another step forward.

[Hoyt]

1. Good Plan. If Public Option is as good as we think, people will gravitate to it.

But, it gives those who are absolutely opposed to single payer a place to waste their money. In addition to 65% who like their coverage, there are like 42% who are totally opposed to a government program. We can spend years fighting their stupidity -- while running the risk the GOPers repeal ACA and give us a crappy voucher system -- or we can go for something attainable now that the major lifting has been done by enacting the ACA.

Of course, there still has to be efforts to remove the profit motive (as much as possible) out of the system, make sure people are not burdened by unreasonable coinsurance/deductibles, and more.

[Vinca]

2. I'm sure that's the kind of plan Bernie has in mind.

He has never proposed immediately doing away with what is currently in place. My only thought would be Step 3 of your plan. If people can opt out it will be inadequately funded and won't work. Everyone should have the default and if you want extra insurance to make up for any perceived difference you can then buy it.

[DanTex]

3. Actually, no that's not what he has in mind. He has in mind a total overhaul and imposition of

single payer. What I am describing is an incremental approach, like Hillary's.

[Vinca]

4. Bernie has also used the word incremental.

He has stated he has no desire to suddenly take everyone's healthcare away. Quite frankly, the plan you described is more like Bernie than Hillary.

[DanTex]

5. His plan is in writing, and it is not incremental. It is a massive overhaul.

No more private insurance, big tax hikes, everyone covered by the government.

Hillary is in favor of adding a public option to Obamacare, which is precisely the right thing to do right now.

[Vinca]

6. There is a simple test to determine whether what you posted is Hillary inspired or

Bernie inspired. Will big insurance be happy with the plan you posted? No. It's much more Bernie than Hillary.

[Orsino]

7. We also need an employment plan...

...that begins to migrate private insurance workers toward careers in ensuring medical staff and hospitals get paid.

[anotherproletariat]

8. Here's the problem...

Both of my parents are doctors, so we've had the discussion many times. Most doctors don't want to take Medicaid because the reimbursements are not adequate to cover costs. My parents are in different practices, and both take a small percentage of Medicaid patients (they are pediatricians, so Medicare is not applicable to their patient populations) in order to serve the local populations, but take a loss on these patients.

If there were a huge influx of low-reimbursement patients, the government would have to subsidize physicians (and other caregivers) salaries. Most doctors will not accept a huge decrease in pay, and if this is the case, it will be nearly impossible to get people to devote a significant part of their life to training just to get a mediocre income. (In the cases of my parents, it was 7 and 10 years after college...and for many specialties it is far more.) The only other possibility, is to offer free medical education, so that young doctors graduate with no debt. This would be a very large governmental expense, and might do away entirely with private medical (and dental, and pharmaceutical, and physical therapy, etc.) education.