Why Moveon endorsed Bernie Sanders

It’s strange that either way you slice it, a stronger Bernie Sanders campaign is a stronger Democratic Party and a stronger America.

Even in potential failure, he’ll do good things.

…time to dump what’s left of my holiday bonus in his hands. :slight_smile:

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I called you a troll because of the tired “Obama hasn’t done anything” talking point, and the ridiculous assertions made about Obamacare (made here as well) without any backup.
And you did it again in this post with an “I understand economics hurr durr” line as well.

Because costs have been lowered, and medical spending as a % of GDP is projected way way down for the next ten years (as in the citations I linked and you failed to read)

So yeah, troll.

Uh, all of us, because the “exactly the same” system that you seem fine with is, and has been, criminally overpriced for a long time now. Yeah, you’ve noticed no change to your specific benefits, so you’re fine with the whole deal. Great. But take one look at a typical doctor’s check up bill and try and figure out what all the charges are for. You went in, spend 20 minutes getting your pulse checked, maybe peed into a cup, and that’s what costs hundreds of dollars? Or a quick visit to the ER? An x-ray? My daughter went in the other day because she couldn’t shake off a cold. They checked and cleaned her ears, recommended sudafed, and sent her off. The bill? Around $600 for bizarrely-named charges.

This is nothing new. People complain about this all the time. You’re okay with that? Because Obamacare did nothing to change it. Even the staunchest Obamacare supporter has to admit the inherent lack of logic in our system; Doctors send out a ridiculous bill which then insurance agents fight, adjust, negotiate back with the doctor, and so on until an agreement is made. All that time and paperwork processing costs money, as does the ludicrous salaries generated in the insurance business.

Before ACA, I could simply pay my own way, which was significantly cheaper than a forced monthly bill. Before ACA, individuals could band together and create a pool of money used to cover anyone in the pool that got sick. This was basically insurance without the official title, but also without the bloated overhead and cost members significantly less per month than “real insurance” did.

Now, that’s all gone. Just because it doesn’t affect you and your engineer friends doesn’t mean it’s not real. And if you don’t qualify for a subsidy, which many middle class folks do NOT, then you’re being forced to support a fundamentally corrupt system that only favors the rich. Like I said, I’m glad poor people are getting coverage and I’m glad you can’t be turned away for a prior medical issue, but this is a far cry from what we should have. Anyone who chalks Obamacare up as a “victory” has a strange sense of what a victory is. It’s like getting raped 9 times instead of your customary 10 times. “You should be glad it wasn’t 10!” says mister rapist, and you agree.

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I read you as implying that everything got more expensive for the majority of folks after the ACA went into effect. I pointed out that corporate types that I know certainly didn’t have a change in costs on them. We get health coverage through our jobs and that didn’t change for most folks that have such coverage, which is a huge swath of America.

Your rant about the overall inflated costs od US healthcare is misdirected because I wasn’t talking about that. Nor was I calling the ACA a “victory.” I was addressing your “majority” remark, which doesn’t seem to be backed up.

Maybe “majority of people who had no coverage before the ACA?”

Anyway, feel free to reply to what I said instead of using it as the instigator for a much more generalized rant on how you hate the ACA.

Here’s the thing. The ACA isn’t perfect (absolutely nobody is claiming that it is), and it’s far meeker in scope than what I think a lot of us would like to have seen get passed. It doesn’t do enough to control expansion in the cost of care, it doesn’t fundamentally change the structure of our insurance system the way it needs to be, and I don’t think it’s been remotely effective in clamping down on ballooning annual deductibles. That said, the key is the trend line, not just individual data points. No, you’re not paying less for insurance than you were last year (neither is virtually anyone), but 1) that was already the ongoing case year after year after year (after year after year after year) before the ACA passed, and 2) the rate of the increase in both insurance and care have declined compared to the years leading up to its passage.

I would much rather see us move toward a Medicare-for-all system that replaces all for-profit insurance, and a lot of work still has to be done to address the absurd billing practices that lead to $50 Tylenols and $600 doctor’s appointments. But the ACA is a first step. It’s not remotely perfect or sufficient, but it is a start. This country has talked about reforming health care for decades, and there’s finally been some progress. The ACA is actually succeeding at its objectives. The scope of the problem is far larger, and the work needs to continue, but that doesn’t make the ACA any less of an accomplishment.

Now, if only Republicans would stop trying to tear down what was basically their own damn plan because Obama put his name on it, we might be able to get a little farther.

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They don’t add up like a million here and a million there do. I know the one dollar here and five dollars there sounds all warm and fuzzy and populist, but the math just doesn’t work, because the other guy is also getting all those little contributions, plus all the big PAC money.

To date, Sanders has raised $41.5 million, compared to $101 million for Clinton, according to the latest FEC filing, via http://www.insidegov.com/.

Lets see, maybe because he’s not an utterly corrupt shill for the oligarchs?

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That reminds me, gotta go get a Powerball ticket.

[if I win I will max out my contribution to Bernie]
[and O’Malley too, love that scrappy guy]

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I’ll do the same, if I win. As in WIN win. Not if I get $3. Only if I get 5 or 6 balls. But let math prevail. Only one thing is certain, if I don’t buy a lottery ticket, I have ZERO chance of winning. If I buy a ticket, my chances are slim to none, but not zero.

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Another O’Malley fan I see :wink:

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If I win, I’m entering the race.

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He’s all right. He’d make a great VP.

I would vote for you!

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I briefly considered giving all 1.5 billion or whatever to Trump if he would sign a legally binding contract to drop out and never run for President again.

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I’d vote for you too. Happy Mutant Party for the win!

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How. Far. Out?

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A guy can dream.

There are an awful lot of people on this thread who are painfully eager to reduce the cost of healthcare.

One of the few sectors of our economy that still provides millions of stable middle class jobs with good pay and benefits.

Go figure.

That right there is the Glazier’s Fallacy writ large.

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