Vice-President Biden’s victory in the presidential election is cause for huge relief and celebration, though the number of people who voted for Trump should give us pause. What it means and how best to move our nation forward will be a subject of research and conversation for some time. What’s no surprise is that many people who voted for Trump support government-run health care, just as they overwhelmingly support Medicare and Social Security.
A new Fox News poll finds that 72 percent of voters favor “changing to a government-run health care plan.” Of course, they do. They need health care, and they increasingly cannot afford it, even with private insurance.
Unfortunately, many Democrats in Congress who ran for the first time for Senate and House seats, refused to take a bold stand on health care affordability, let alone Medicare for all. They lost. What’s noteworthy is that Democratic candidates in swing states who supported Medicare for all won. And, all 109 Democratic House candidates who co-sponsored Medicare for all were elected or re-elected.
Even still, centrist Democrats refuse to admit that their failure to support Medicare for All is what cost them seats in the House and Senate. Majority Whip James Clyburn wrongly conflated Medicare for all–private health care paid for directly through the government–with socialized medicine–public health care provided by the government. And, he advised candidates to stay away from supporting Medicare for all.
Clyburn receives a lot of support from the health care industry. Like his fellow Democrats in Congress who depend on the health care industry for support, he won’t concede that the cost of care with private health insurance is forcing tens of millions of Americans to forego needed care.
Centrist Democrats appear to believe that the Affordable Care Act is a solution to the crisis in our health care system. But, only 20 million Americans benefit from coverage through state health care exchanges. And, though they get coverage, the deductibles and copays too often force them to go without care.
Fox News reports that nearly two in three voters in Georgia want the choice of public health insurance. Both Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, two Democratic Senate candidates who face runoff elections in Georgia in January, support the public health insurance option for anyone who wants it. And, that’s what Americans support.
But, if the centrist Democrats have their way, they will try to limit access to the public option to people with low-incomes only. That might please their corporate backers from the health care industry, but it would not address the need to decouple health care from employment and give every American access to public health insurance.
Almost every working American risks losing a job and, with it, health insurance. Every working American deserves the protection of reliable government-administered public health insurance if they want it. If modeled on traditional Medicare, as the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force proposes, with an out-of-pocket cap, the public option would ensure people have good health insurance. If public health insurance covered care from virtually every doctor and hospital in the country, as traditional Medicare does, and benefited from Medicare’s negotiated provider rates, Americans would have access to lower-cost health insurance and health care from the doctors and hospitals they want to use.
Democrats in Congress should recognize that progressive activists organized voters in key communities and helped Biden win the presidential election. And, no one should disregard the fact that House candidates who backed Medicare for all, won reelection, even in swing states.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- Medicare Open Enrollment in 2020
- If you want easy health care access and good quality care, you probably want traditional Medicare
- Poll shows most Americans want more than incremental health reforms
- Improve your health with a buddy
- What’s a durable power of attorney?
