Hillary Clinton came out with guns blazing as the polls tighten up in Iowa and nationally. And as Bernie Sanders’ lead in New Hampshire continued to grow, she opted to mislead Americans about single-payer health care — a.k.a. Medicare for all.
Now today, Bernie Sanders just released his Medicare for All plan — just hours before the 4th Democratic debate tonight. (Live streamed here from NBC on YouTube — starting at 6 p.m. PT)
Western Illinois University has held 3 mock presidential elections since 1975 — and for each election they’ve accurately predicted the winner, even though Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama were surprises. The last one they did showed Bernie Sanders winning by a landslide. See their prediction in the map below, and compare it to FDR's four consecutive landslide elections below that.
The Noble prize-winning economist Paul Krugman (whom Clinton cited during the debate) says that it is implausible that we could get the sort of political force necessary to implement a universal Medicare system that Bernie proposes.
ReplyDeleteRead Paul Krugman's full post here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/18/opinion/health-reform-realities.html
Dean Baker, another well-known economist and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, weighs in on Paul Krugman's remarks:
"Getting universal Medicare would require overcoming opposition not only from insurers and drug companies, but doctors and hospital administrators, both of whom are paid at levels two to three times higher than their counterparts in other wealthy countries. There would also be opposition from a massive web of health-related industries, including everything from manufacturers of medical equipment and diagnostic tools to pharmacy benefit managers who survive by intermediating between insurers and drug companies. Krugman is largely right, but I would make two major qualifications to his argument ... [He makes his arguments and concludes] ... Even if this may not get us to universal Medicare in one big leap, it will create a political environment in which we can move forward rather than backward."
Read Dean Baker's full post here:
http://econospeak.blogspot.com/2016/01/paul-krugman-bernie-sanders-and.html
Bernie Sanders' healthcare plan is being critisized for a lack of details. But so does Hillary Clinton's. It’s nothing more than a bunch of “I believe” statements. Here's her plan:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/health-care/
What they both have are two different visions.
“There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?” ― Robert F. Kennedy
UPDATE -- Another great post by Dean Baker...
ReplyDeletePaul Krugman, Bernie Sanders and Medicare for All
https://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/paul-krugman-bernie-sanders-and-medicare-for-all.html