Message to Warren and Sanders: haven’t you heard, don’t you realize that the majority of Americans would like to see healthcare for all implemented in this country but they simply won’t support a system that takes away their current medical insurance?
You are racing down a road leading to nowhere, i.e., if you disregard the strong opinions of most Americans on this matter and try to push through your public option-less plan then your chances of becoming the Democratic nominee in 2020 will become slight, if at all.
Biden, who is still the Democratic front runner, is a strong supporter of a Medicare-type system but with a public option, as is Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, all of whom will benefit from that stance. Warren and Sanders will have to spend a great deal of valuable time explaining their plans to the many who will question their worth. Biden and the others won’t have that problem.
Those who favor the public option say that everyone should have a choice. They can either opt for the new system or they can keep what they have. That’s the key to getting the needed support for a universal healthcare system.
There is no question but that a very comprehensive plan to cover every single American should be the ultimate objective, but it is too complex to try to implement the entire system to cover everyone right from the start.
Anyone who has taken part in the creation, development, and implementation of an ambitious project knows that it is imperative, at least in most complex systems, to phase it in over a period of time. One way to do it is to create a model and then install that model’s functions in one section or area after another.
It is typically necessary to go through a process in which variations and improvements have to be made and bugs are eliminated. Perhaps some systems can be implemented in all sections or areas at once but that will never work with Medicare for All which should take some years to fully implement.
It didn’t take long at all for Warren’s fellow candidates to pounce on her plan. Check out what this article which talks about their highly critical opinions relative to the problems they believe her system has. This is just the beginning of a raft of criticisms that will come from all quarters and cause Warren to spend tons of time trying to convince others that her plan is workable and good for the American people.
More and more Americans would likely, over time, gravitate to a Medicare for All system until it became America’s standard and only system. They would be motivated to make a change when they became aware that their friends and co-workers were not weighed down with constant, increasing premiums, co-pays, and deductibles.
When Warren considers all these factors I think that, to save her candidacy from tanking, she will see the light alter her plan to include some type of public option. She is a highly intelligent person who will not severely damage her campaign by being stubborn and refusing to make a significant change when it is entirely necessary.
Then maybe her review will generate new ideas that will allow her to come up with something unique that Biden and a few others aren’t even thinking about. That could help to increase her ratings considerably.
Now we have Bernie Sanders, who I really like. He will never even consider altering his full-blown plan and will have a very difficult time when his ratings stay more or less the same. Bernie is making a big mistake by talking about a full-blown plan but is not explaining in detail how it would work and what it would cost.
These two strong candidates are never going to convince the unions and their members to give up the medical insurance that they fought so hard to obtain. And their refusal to back either Warren or Sanders would be a terrible setback for these two senators.
Now for those in this government or our society that think that a system that covers every American is nothing more than a pipe dream, all that can be said for them is that they are those who still live in the past and have no real vision for the future. Most of these people concentrate on their own welfare and don’t care a hoot for that of their fellow Americans.
There is no way that America can continue to maintain the current extremely costly system that, in reality, is not one but five separate ones that operate independently, with little to no connection or coordination between them. Most Americans don’t realize that, in this country, we have private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, and the VA (veterans) system. How in the world did that ever happen?
Final message to Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders: it’s time for change, it’s time for you to change and understand that your proposed systems are unacceptable to most Americans in their current form. You need to get together with your key advisers on this issue and figure out how your plan can work with a public option.
If you do that successfully then this would attract far more Americans to your side and would greatly improve your chances to become the Democratic candidate in 2020. But, if you simply will not budge and will not change when the handwriting is on the wall then you will have erected a huge obstacle that stands between you and your chances of winning.
Think deeply and then do what you know in your heart is the right thing to do. You cannot go up against the majority of Americans and expect to win.
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