I think part of the problem is that the haves (and I use haves rather loosely – and we can say it’s “those with health insurance” who you’d “look at” and think “they’re middle class”) and the have-nots are all but segregated. I live in the suburbs. It’s a middle class or maybe even upper middle class community with some people close to upper class or maybe even in it, and some on the other end. There are 17 foreclosures within a mile of me.
The day to day lives we lead give my children the impression that we all live lives like this. My oldest got involved with a local church and has gone on a couple mission trips. One was to inner city Baltimore and she came back with a newfound appreciation for what we have, and more importantly a desire to help others.
Until you are face-to-face with people telling stories of why they are where they are it’s easy to either think they don’t exist – at least not to any real degree – or to assume if they just tried harder they’d be in a better position.
This is what I figure the biggest block to single payer healthcare is. I don’t see it happening till the big employers go fuck this, costs too much, we punt, here take extra pay and get your own insurance.
In the UK at least, national insurance is partially paid by the employer, partially by the employee.
I think it would have to be something similar in the US - but a fixed payroll tax would have to be better than negotiation with unions and insurers, surely?
Its the insurance companies that are really going to block meaningful reform, they are after all setting themselves up to receive money anyway they can. You have to do away with the paradigm of insurance as your basis for getting treatment.
Insurance, at its very core is a gamble for all involved, people pay for it hoping they won’t need to use it and insurance companies profit if you don’t use it. That’s the thing you need to get away from.
Biggest issue with NHS dentists is finding one. Dentists don’t much like the NHS contract - with some good reasons, they are expected to see an awful lot of patients per day so it all gets a bit rushed. The dentists prefer to just go private and make the same money for seeing a lot fewer patients.
Insurance for dentistry doesn’t really work though, because pretty much everyone needs work. There isn’t a pool of people paying in and not taking out to cover the costs.
That said, I’ve paid insane costs for dental work in the US. When I was in the US but working for a UK company, our health care coverage was pretty good, but the dental cover was utterly dire. Basically it was all out of pocket - we were meant to only be there short term, so dental work wasn’t expected to be needed. After three years, that didn’t work out too well.
I just hate being dependent on my employer for health care.
It’s annoying as fuck; I can get really cheap cover through my union for dental, but not for pre-existing conditions like ‘I swallowed my crown cos it came out. Again’. Bah.
The only way I see us getting there in our lifetime is if Bernie Sanders wins the White House and the grassroots movements that get him there follow our plan to unseat obstructionists afterwards.
There’s no room for failure, both scenarios must transpire. The insurance lobby is one of the largest, most pervasive and corrupt lobbying groups in the nation.
That said, we’ve taken on groups like this before and won. I personally will fight these evil fuckers until the day I die in hopes that at least future generations of Americans will finally have single payer.
“The GOP, by contrast, has basically two perfectly plausible plans for moving its agenda forward. One is to basically change nothing and just hope for slightly better luck from the economic fundamentals or in terms of Democratic Party scandals. The other is to shift left on immigration and gain some Latino votes while retaining the core of the party’s commitments. Neither of these plans is exactly brilliant, innovative, or foolproof. But neither one is crazy.”
Then in the very next paragraph, writes:
“Winning a presidential election would give Republicans the overwhelming preponderance of political power in the United States — a level of dominance not achieved since the Democrats during the Great Depression, but with a much more ideologically coherent coalition.”
Which is talking out of both sides of the mouth and is total utter drivel. Two non-brilliant, non-innovative plans are more ideologically coherent than the Democrats who are united around at least the issue of civil rights and maybe more? The author has not been paying attention to Donald Trump’s tribulations with the rest of the party and the clown car that is busy driving around terrorizing the country.
There is one way I know Bernie is doing things right: he makes their blood boil and causes them to diverge into irrationality with regularity and alacrity. He’s the anti-Coulter. It’s a beautiful thing.
Thanks for sharing that. More people need to know about this. When we have decent insurance, we just don’t even think about it, and when we don’t we’re too busy otherwise.
I agree with quite a lot of it, especially the point that statewide elections, etc. are vital. However, I think Matthew Yglesias radically underestimates the grassroots movements surrounding Sanders. We’re vastly more powerful, widespread and strategic-minded than the establishment media knows (and/or wants to research/report) and we’re only getting more powerful/dynamic over time.
The plan to unseat obstructionists (local and statewide) beyond electing Bernie is common knowledge among most supporters. Go to any rally or meeting and ask around – it’s the plan.
Bernie repeats it like a mantra and it’s taken to heart by most supporters.
The public school system is in a shambles. We pay the second most per student and are low on the list of developed countries in academic achievement. Many people are against the current system and want to return education to the local level, not the federal level. Do not believe that the public generally accepts the current top down educational system, and would live to reform it. What we do not want is another part of our lives controlled by a large bureaucracy and delivering little in performance.
Since fire departments are local responses to local problems you are illustrating why there is opposition to iess control. Local communities are the response, not an overarching federal system.
