Two of my favorite bold ideas are ending the use of fossil fuels in the next 15 years and a national healthcare system that resembles those found in many other countries. Climate change is the most pressing issue of our time. That should be any new President’s first priority.
I am not sure why Warren and Sanders keep promising to implement Medicare For All. I am a very positive guy, I would love it. I want it. It ain’t happening in the next administration. Whoever wins this election is going to have their hands full just trying to put the government institutions like the State Department, EPA and DOJ back in order, repair America’s place in the world and win back trust from the public that this thing we call a Republic can actually work any more. Not to mention a looming recession that Democrats will be blamed for if they don’t communicate what caused it to happen, the Republican tax cut.
In any case a President doesn’t make that decision, it will require the US Congress, with the approval of the Congressional Budget Office. Presidential candidates often box themselves in and set the stage for voter disappointment when they over promise things out of their control. Neither Bernie Sanders nor Elizabeth Warren will be able to overhaul the healthcare system as an executive order. That will be left to Congress with no certainty they will even will bring it for a vote.
It would need the votes of vulnerable congressional members who might possibly lose their seats. Most Democrats in Congress oppose it as this piece out today in HuffPost explains.
I have seen first hand the nefarious tactics used by insurance companies. I’ve worked around healthcare for 37 years, most of it directly with Medicare, private insurance and Medicaid billing. I owned a home healthcare company for 12 years and we would bill all insurances. Later I founded a company that sold Electronic Medical Record Software which interfaced with a billing module. We started a medical billing company to allow doctors and hospitals to use our outsourced service to create claims and collect monies for our client’s practices. I closed that company in 2018 after16 years. I have more knowledge on this topic than either of these candidates. There is a reason they can’t explain the process when asked by the media. They don’t appear to know how to create the logistics for such a daunting project.
I hope people will be realistic as to how complicated a change it will be to overhaul the status quo and replace it with a national healthcare program like Medicare For All. I have difficulty with Sanders/Warren’s “all in” approach. As someone who worked in this industry, I would equate it with something like pulling up all the nations highways and putting down new ones. To be clear, I am totally against for profit healthcare, yet a staged approach starting with the public option would be less disruptive and have a better chance of getting passed and getting the public behind it.
I am a proponent of bold ideas and action, yet pragmatic enough to understand how deep and wide the tentacles our current healthcare system run. It will be difficult if not impossible to get all the stakeholders that will be required to participate onboard.
While we may passionately desire change for something better, concurrently human beings are uncomfortable with too much all at once. Revolutions rarely involve a single event, rather they evolve out of a series of smaller ones.