A Stern Warning

Today in the New York times there appeared a column by Harold Pollack warning the Democrats that if they really want to improve Healthcare in this country, they had better start working on it RIGHT NOW, and that, "unlike the the Republicans, Democrats should put in the hard work to create a smart bill they actually intend to pass, one that commands broad public support."

His article is really worth reading: Here's a link to it: https://nyti.ms/2Dsxnqz  As you can see, Professor Pollack is an incrementalist. Though he fully believes that Single Payer would save a lot of money, he deems it politically unrealistic to expect it to pass any time soon. So he proposes approaches like a public "buy-in" to Medicare -- for folks who are sick of the price-gouging manipulations of Big Insurance -- coupled  with an expansion of Medicaid. This would be, he thinks, a big improvement.

Doubtless it would. At this sad ebb of public policy, almost anything would.

But things can change.  Personally, I can't forget the delighted amazement I felt when I saw the preponderant attitude of the country had softened toward the LGBTQ community. This was a development that, in my youth, I had supposed impossible. Now here it was, seeming to happen overnight! Could not the public attitude about Single Payer change as well?"

To tell you the truth, I don't believe many people object to saving money. And the fact is that the vast majority of them would be paying far less for healthcare -- taxes included. Of course, the one or two percent paying more would scream bloody murder. And in this country, money doesn't merely talk, it shouts aloud with lies,distortions, even threats, aimed at persuading the people to vote against their own interests. That's what they met to plan in Troy, NY a few days ago.

Still it would be wrong to suppose that  public attitudes must always be immutable. Look how just a few years ago, Obamacare seemed to be hated by very many conservatives, yet the Democrats won the midterms mainly focusing  on pre-existing conditions! What had changed? Two things -- the advent of Trump, and the people beginning to see to see that Obamacare could not only be life saving, but a good source of employment in communities fallen on hard times.

And have you checked out the responses to Pollack's column (also included in the link)? Many of them were full of outrage against Trump, and full of withering sarcasm against Pollack's incrementalist approach! 

If the Democrats are smart, they'll see that they have their work cut out for them, and that  they had better get to it.

We had better make sure they do.

Dio

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