Clinton Democrats Claim To Support Health Care As A Right, But Oppose Universal Healthcare

[Scuba]

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/06/29/clinton-democrats-claim-support-health-care-right-oppose-universal-healthcare

Clinton Democrats Claim To Support Health Care As A Right, But Oppose Universal Healthcare In Platform

A major nurses union condemned Democrats on the Democratic National Convention Platform Committee, who blocked an amendment in support of a single-payer health care system. During proceedings in St. Louis on June 24, James Zogby of the Arab-American Institute introduced an amendment, which declared, “It is the policy of the Democratic Party that we will put people before profits by fighting for a Medicare For All single-payer health care system to guarantee health care as a right, not as a privilege, to everyone in this country. Working together, we will end the greed of health insurance companies.”

...

The amendment was defeated by Democrats appointed to the committee by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton—American Federation of State, County, and Muncipal Employees executive assistant to the president, Paul Booth; former White House Energy and Climate Change Policy director and lobbyist for Albright Stonebridge Group, Carol Browner; Ohio State Representative Alicia Reece; former State Department official and lobbyist for Albright Stonebridge Group, Wendy Sherman; and Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden.

The message of those who voted against the amendment was that the government should focus on building on the Affordable Care Act and pursuing a Medicare For All system might somehow forsake a political accomplishment achieved by Democrats and President Barack Obama’s administration.

National Nurses United, the largest union of registered nurses in the United States, which has supported the Sanders campaign, told Shadowproof, “The Affordable Care Act, while an improvement, is not good enough, it is structurally deficient, leaves healthcare as a system based on profit and ability to pay rather than patient need.” It still means tens of millions of American have no “health coverage or ‘insurance'” because they cannot afford “high out of pocket costs.” Plus, the law has systemic problems which undermine quality of care, and it is easy for the health care industry to game the system.

Damned difficult for me to understand why my Party is no longer fighting for Medicare for All and instead is trying to protect the Heritage Foundation insurance model.

We need health care, not health coverage.

[TCJ70]

1. Well...it was "HillaryCare" before it was "ObamaCare"...

...remember?

[JRLeft]

37. No it was the heritage foundation care first, until Mutt Romney got it passed in Massachusetts.

Nixon tried to nationalize heritage foundation care first.

[dsc]

2. Single payer doesn't equal universal care

they aren't the same thing. The fact that those nurses apparently don't know that makes me fear for their patients. France, Germany, Belgium, Finland, and a whole host of other nations have universal health care without single payer. This isn't some state secret or unintelligible text. It is a well known, simple fact.

[Scuba]

6. Who said it did?

[dsc]

8. the op and those nurses for some

the vote that Hillary's delegates cast was to not have single payer yet the headline and the text of the statement say she opposed universal health care. Either the op and the nurses are ignorant of the fact they aren't the same thing or they are liars in either case, they shouldn't be listened to. Again, this isn't a hard to discern point.

[Scuba]

17. No, they don't say that. You're inferring that and seem to be trying to discredit the nurses.

Good luck with that.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/180260/americans-rate-nurses-highest-honesty-ethical-standards.aspx

Americans Rate Nurses Highest on Honesty, Ethical Standards
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In 2014, Americans say nurses have the highest honesty and ethical standards. Members of Congress and car salespeople were given the worst ratings among the 11 professions included in this year's poll. Eighty percent of Americans say nurses have "very high" or "high" standards of honesty and ethics, compared with a 7% rating for members of Congress and 8% for car salespeople.

Americans have been asked to rate the honesty and ethics of various professions annually since 1990, and periodically since 1976. Nurses have topped the list each year since they were first included in 1999, with the exception of 2001 when firefighters were included in response to their work during and after the 9/11 attacks. Since 2005, at least 80% of Americans have said nurses have high ethics and honesty. Two other medical professions -- medical doctors and pharmacists -- tie this year for second place at 65%, with police officers and clergy approaching 50%.

[dsc]

20. they say she voted AGAINST UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

those are THEIR WORDS. the fact is she didn't. She did vote against single payer which is their preferred way of getting there. they are either ignorant or liars.

[Scuba]

22. Where do they say Hillary voted against universal health care? Please provide a link.

[dsc]

27. the headlline of your own OP

Clinton Democrats Claim To Support Health Care As A Right, But Oppose Universal Healthcare In Platform

Do I really have to link that for you?

[Scuba]

29. That's the headline writer at CommonDreams. What they voted against is ...

“It is the policy of the Democratic Party that we will put people before profits by fighting for a Medicare For All single-payer health care system to guarantee health care as a right, not as a privilege, to everyone in this country. Working together, we will end the greed of health insurance companies.”

Try reading the post before using pedantry to try to discredit the OP.

[JaneyVee]

33. ITS IN THE HEADLINE.

[George II]

48. I sometimes wonder if people who advocate for "single payer" really know what it is.

[Lord Magus]

45. Who said it did? You did!

Or did you not even read your own OP?

[Scuba]

47. I did not write the headline, which is the only incidence of "universal healthcare" being used.

The committee rejected a position using the term "Medicare for All" as the content of the article clearly states.

[tk2kewl]

3. EVERYTHING *must* have a market solution

it's the [div style="display:inline;text-decoration:line-through"]only Third Way

[lostnfound]

12. Bingo nt

[Chathamization]

4. It's going to happen at the state level. Colorado is voting an a single-payer referendum in November

There's no reason why states that have a population that supports it shouldn't begin enacting it.

[DanTex]

5. Hillary is, and always has been, in favor of universal healthcare. This whole article is a lie.

[Scuba]

7. So the Clinton delegates actually voted FOR universal healthcare in the platform?

Source please.

[DanTex]

21. The very article you posted points out that the platform endorses health care as a right.

Apparently, whoever wrote the article doesn't understand that "single payer" and "universal healthcare" are not the same thing. Which is a very basic mistake, and betrays a total ignorance of healthcare policy. With that level of reporting, it's no wonder Common Dreams is going broke.

[Scuba]

23. So it's not an assault rifle, just a semi-automatic. Got it.

[DanTex]

26. What are you talking about?

[Scuba]

28. "Single-payer," "universal healthcare" and "Medicare for All" are used interchangably by ...

... many who advocate for the concept.

To be pedantic and try to discredit those who do not differentiate between these terms is a tactic taken straight from the NRA's playbook.

Fact is, the term "universal healthcare" was not in the amendment that Hillary's delegates defeated ...

“It is the policy of the Democratic Party that we will put people before profits by fighting for a Medicare For All single-payer health care system to guarantee health care as a right, not as a privilege, to everyone in this country. Working together, we will end the greed of health insurance companies.”

... but was used by the headline writer at CommonDreams.

[DanTex]

36. Nobody with a clue uses "single-payer" and "universal healthcare" interchangeably. Nobody.

They mean different things. It's not being pedantic to use accurate terminology. It's dishonest to intentionally use inaccurate terminology. Holland has universal coverage without single payer. So does Germany. Switzerland. France. The list goes on. Anyone who studies healthcare policy knows that single payer and universal coverage are not the same.

And you are right, "universal healthcare" was not in the amendment. The amendment said "Medicare For All single-payer." That's what was defeated. Universal healthcare was not defeated. The reason that the ignorant/dishonest author of the article used the term "universal healthcare" is in order to imply that Hillary doesn't actually believe in healthcare for all. This is a lie. She does. She just doesn't think that the single payer approach is the best way to get there.

[Lord Magus]

38. They may be used interchangeably by many, but they're not actually interchangeable.

Universal healthcare and single-payer are not the same thing and many nations have achieved universal healthcare by other means than single-payer.

[Orsino]

9. We are a long way from health care as a right...

...and enormous amounts of money are arrayed against us in this fight by the profiteers, with whom our candidates are much too cozy.

I am not willing to settle for less, but I will applaud the president, Congress and electorate that in the meantime move us significantly closer.

[Mass]

10. The title is misleading but the general idea is correct

The Clinton campaign does not oppose universal healthcare. What they oppose is real competition between private and public sector when it comes to healthcare insurance.

Medicaid and Medicare are currently reserved to specific portions of the population who either would not be able to pay for care or that private healthcare company do not want as customers at a reasonable price.

Just like the public option, Medicare for All would allow people to buy in the Medicare system before they are 66 (or whatever is Medicare age now). While Medicare for all would not be free (most likely paid by taxes that would somewhat increase for the middle class or a fixed fee), it would be more affordable for most of us. So, it is difficult to get why the Democratic platform did not endorse it.

[Scuba]

42. Best reply. Thank you.

[Her Sister]

11. Bee-Ess article! People voted for HRC's Platform on Healthcare to build on Obamacare

This:

The message of those who voted against the amendment was that the government should focus on building on the Affordable Care Act and pursuing a Medicare For All system might somehow forsake a political accomplishment achieved by Democrats and President Barack Obama’s administration.

That!

[CrowCityDem]

13. We can get universal coverage without single-payer. It's a false dichotomy.

[Scuba]

15. We don't need universal coverage. We need universal care.

[arcane1]

41. Coverage is not the same thing as care. It's a lie told all too often.

I have coverage.

If I can't afford the copay, I don't get the care.

[deathrind]

14. Seriously?

"pursuing a Medicare For All system might somehow forsake a political accomplishment achieved by Democrats and President Barack Obama’s administration."

Well....we would not want to "forsake" a political accomplishment.

SMH

[My Good Babushka]

16. The idea that we should build on Obamacare

is often repeated, but I don't see how that would be accomplished. What is the next step in "building on Obamacare"? People still cannot afford it and insurance companies are leaving the exchanges. How do you improve a system that has all its carefully balanced pieces put in place to keep insurance companies as the foremost concern and beneficiary?

[Scuba]

18. I've never heard anyone articulate what "building on Obamacare" is supposed to mean.

[dsc]

24. then you apparently haven't been paying attention

Here is a short version found in one, count it one, google search. I used the highly hard to discern terms hillary clinton on health care who could have thought of doing that.

https://www.google.com/search?site=&source=hp&q=hillary+on+health+care&oq=hillary+on+health+care&gs_l=hp.3..0j0i22i30l4.105.3996.0.4381.22.20.0.2.2.0.428.2581.14j4j0j1j1.20.0....0...1c.1.64.hp..0.22.2587...46j0i131j0i46j0i10j0i3j0i22i10i30.ZPzL8812U4U#eob=m.0d06m5//short

I can't cut and paste so you will have to go there. You will have to copy and paste as I can't get the link to post as one line no matter what I try. or you can go to Google and type in hillary clinton on health care.

[dawg]

35. Adding a public option;

increasing the subsidies so it's more affordable; fixing the loopholes that allow red states to shaft the working poor; simplifying the type and number of plans insurers are allowed to offer; passing new regulations to prevent overly-limited provider networks; reducing out-of-network costs; simplification of the sign-up process; elimination or reduction of the claw-back provisions that penalize some taxpayers who mis-estimated their incomes when they signed up; eliminating some of the more wasteful filing requirements and fees - there are hundreds of things that could be done to build upon this system in order to make it better.

[LuvLoogie]

19. And casual Fridays. We're against casual Fridays, too.

[frazzled]

25. Single payer, not universal

They're not rejecting universal health care. At least get your terms right if you're going to make arguments. The ACA is close to universal (and theoretically achieves the goal of being universal). It is not single payer. Single payer is what is at issue here, not universality.

[Scuba]

43. Not my headline. See post #10 ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12512227048#post10

[dmosh42]

30. I agree, but it comes down to "for profit" healthcare vs single payer

[JoePhilly]

31. More from CommonNonsense.

[MohRokTah]

32. .

[JaneyVee]

34. Single payer and universal healthcare are not necessarily the same.

[George II]

39. You "fight" for what can be accomplished, and win more often than not. If you fight for the....

....impossible you don't win at all.

[jalan48]

40. Isn't Obamacare the insurance industry choice?

[Scuba]

44. Ka-ching! We have a winner!

[Lord Magus]

46. So that's why the insurance industry so vehemently opposes it?

Because it's their choice?