I feel like I am beating a "dead horse" about a single payer system, but i just can't give it up. No matter what conservatives and Tea Party crazies say about a single-payer system financing of health care, perhaps this is the time when we are really down and out with the employment situation that there could be a better response from the public-at-large.
First of all, millions of Republicans are on Medicare and I am sure they love it just as much as Democrats do. I am sure that there are Tea Party crazies that love it just as much. And it is a single payer system paid for by the government.
And our biggest problem at this time is unemployment. Those companies that provide health insurance to their employees have to pay a benefit which could be as much as 30% of their overall compensation to the employee. And a lot of this health insurance is crap with high deductibles which squeezes out other spending an employee would do thus lowering the GDP overall.
Thus companies are reluctant to hire full-time employees if they have to provide health care insurance. Private health care insurance, even under Obamacare, is still a "job killer" and this could have been a rallying cry during the summer of 2009 when health care reform was up for an ugly debate.
Obamacare was never a winner and it might be a "goner" if the Republicans take over the White House.
The "hostage takers" during the deficit debate want to see an end to entitlements which means Medicare and Social Security but there should be resistance to this by Medicare recepients of the conservative variety. If we want to keep Medicare as it is, we need more money and a larger pool of healthy people paying into the system. Otherwise, Medicare will continue to be very contentious through the next 10-20 years leading to more battles over the governmental budget which could lead to another downgrade.
The sane rational approach would be Medicare For All. A Federal Government approach to health care which is already in place. However, this would be fought viciously by the right.
Another approach would be a GSE like the Tennessee Valley Authority which would take Medicare and Medicaid out of the governmental budget. A progressive 5% tax on all citizens could be instituted without a cap. This would be enough monies to insure health care for all.
Yes, the millionaires and billionaires would get hit hard but they would more than make up for this by a rise in the GDP and the Stock Market. The federal government would have enough money in the budget to invest in America at all levels to renew the country from the ground up. The adminstration of this GSE corporation, single-payer system would be at the state level and not at the federal level and all the feds would do is collect the taxes. Private health care insurance would cease to exist and good riddance, I say.
Economically, the federal government would be stronger while doing the "right thing" by making sure all have health care. Those who stay at a job because of health care would then be able to make better choices as in a different job or better schooling instead of being yoked to a job because it offers health care.
I wish we could do a "mulligan" on Obamacare. I guess it is too late, but it is a shame.