In his July 22, 2019 column in the NY Times, Paul Klugman calls out Sanders and Biden for what he sees as engaging in a “bad-faith” debate over health care coverage. www.nytimes.com/…
But right now, two of the major contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, are having an ugly argument about health care that could hurt the party’s chances. There are real, important differences between the two men’s policy proposals, and it’s fine to point that out. What’s not fine is the name-calling and false assertions. Both men are behaving badly. And for their party’s sake, and their country’s, they need to stop it.
Klugman lays out the two major universal Health care options, a Single Payer, such as Canada and Britain use, and systems which include a large role for private insurers, such as Switzerland and the Netherlands.
… the clean little secret of health care is that both approaches work when countries try to make them work.
Bernie Sanders is running on Medicare For All. Klugman says, sure it could work, and he finds there are some valid criticisms
1. It means higher taxes. Lower premiums for some would help offset the tax increase, but even with the increased taxes “independent estimates say the revenue they’d generate would fall far short of what his (Sander’s) plan would cost.”
2. Americans would have to give up their current private insurance and replace it with a different plan. There is good reason to believe the resistance from voters to giving up their current insurance makes this an “electoral loser”
Biden, would expand the ACA, bringing it close to the standards of the successful European systems .
1. A public option, with increases in funding
2. Would preserve the “crazy quilt” current system with private insurers, where it’s easier to fall through the cracks
Both plans could work. They have worked. Both plans have plusses and room for valid criticisms.
Instead, Sanders is arguing that only single-payer can purge “corporate greed” from the system — an assertion belied by European experience — and broadly hinting that Biden is in the pocket of corporate interests. ..It’s not a fair criticism of a health plan that’s actually pretty good, and which most people would have considered radical just a few years ago.
AND
Biden is declaring that the Sanders’ plan would undermine Medicare. In fact, it would enhance current recipients’ benefits. And it’s a bad sign that Biden, who poses as Obamacare’s great defender, is using a G.O.P. scare tactic familiar from the utterly dishonest campaign against the A.C.A. No Democrat should be stooping to that level.
Klugman points out that presently in America we already have experience with a single payer program (Medicare/Medicaid) and a public private options, The Affordable Care Act. Both have improved American’s citizens access to health care.
Whether the next step for us is single payer or public option are grounds for a valid debate. Democratic candidates that use fear, innuendo, and misrepresentation against other candidates run the risk of doing damage to someone who may end of being the nominee. Stick to the facts boys, just the facts. Accept valid criticism for your proposal and leave the rest to us.