Originally published at http://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/04/20/ady-barkan-takes-medicare-all-fight-california-prove-single-payer-healthcare-works
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Just as Canadian single payer originated in one province (Saskatchewan) and spread one by one to other provinces, single payer will never be approved by the US Congress…it will need to start in one state and spread state to state.
Now that so many Americans have gotten Covid vaccinations without experiencing the usual pre-approval hoops, network conundrums, myriad of paperwork, and other time consuming, expensive hoops, popular support for single payer should be at an all time high.
Yes, I know that in 21st century America that popular support plus three bucks (probably more in CA) buys a cup of coffee, but maybe, just maybe California can lead the way this time.
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I don’t know enough about how Canada handles provincial budgets and whether they are allowed to run a deficit, but not being able to run them in a state in the US is a very big issue for any state trying to get this started.
The other problem I worry about, which is sick people flocking to the first state that tries this I suppose could have been an issue in Saskatchewan in 1962, so one of these days I should look into it - it obviously wasn’t that big of an issue then, though the US and the times are different now.
I’m overall very skeptical we can succeed in state level fights and never want to let up on the gas for the national fight.
I should add, that I vote in CA and would certainly vote to give it a try if it ever becomes a referendum. But I’m even more skeptical my state would be the first.
Finally old news, but I’ll never understand Ady’s decision to back Warren over Sanders in the campaign. She clearly was more willing to sell out M4A. Bernie wasn’t/isn’t perfect, but he was by far the best M4A advocate among the mostly lousy choices we always get.
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You would probably see more small business startups in the early adopter states seeing how a huge obstacle to starting a small business in the US is lacking the economy of scale to get affordable insurance for the owners and employees compared to what gubmit agencies and corporations can get.
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“But I’m even more skeptical my state would be the first.”
As Ady Barkan knows, and all of us know, California has to lead the way.
“If we can show that single-payer is possible in our nation’s most populous, most racially and economically diverse state, we can prove that Medicare for All can be reality nationwide,” Barkan said.
Iowa? You and others really can’t believe how awful the ( R ) politicians are out here. Joni Ernst went berserk in rants during her debates prior to the 2020 election, and she was re-elected! Kim Reynolds, governor? She shows that she’s all about gun rights, suppressing voter rights, charter schools, and mishandling the COVID crisis. All sycophants of the trump, and fairness in health acre coverage is the furthest issue in the minds of Iowa ( R ) politicians.
On this most important issue, California leads the way.
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The problem I worry about with a state by state roll-out of EIM4A is those of us in bright red states will be denied it’s passage. The governor of this state just turned down an offer from the feds for almost a 100% payment to expand the ACA, it might help poc and the poor, and we can’t have that.
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I’ll give my state the credit on stricter emissions standards which did help the Northeast piggy back on to clean up their air somewhat as well. I only moved to CA in 2000 and so I wasn’t here in the horrendous 80s and early 90s years of air pollution where you couldn’t even see the mountains that were a few miles away when you were in Pasadena (I had a friend that got accepted to Caltech and when he drove there from Colorado and saw the filthy air, he turned around the same day and went back to Colorado and enrolled in CU instead). But we’ve already floundered on state level M4A at least once (I think more than once) and that is part of my pessimism I guess. That is a stupid way to think though - so I just read:
~https://pnhp.org/news/how-states-can-get-close-to-a-single-payer-system/
from Public Citizen in 2013. I suppose it is giving my a bit more optimism, but the hurdles laid out there are non-trivial. @KC2669 often talks about supreme court challenges and it looks like there is one in the 1974 Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). This would not be an issue if the federal government were to do it since the act refers to states not getting in the way. The work around is not described well enough in the summary for me to believe it will work (it may have enough detail in the 20 page PDF which I will try to read later).
If you read the comment by Don McCanne, I’m more or less on that page. This was written before Vermont’s effort failed.
I’ll attempt to be better informed on CA’s effort before the next time this comes up.
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Ady should have thought of the repercussions, before backing the pathological liar Warren and going along with the deluded effort to sheep herd people into supporting the other proven compulsive liar, right wing, corrupt, racist authoritarian now in office. Biden has made it clear that no matter what most in the US want and even if both houses do pass such a bill, he will veto it.
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Not sure about at its inception, but in Canada now each system is provincial, if you moved from Ontario to Quebec you’d need to re-register and get a new card
There are several things about Canada’s system I’d like to see changed before I’d want to have the system here and that is one of them. I want better prescription drug coverage too.
Gov Reynolds in Iowa rejects the same federal aid, to score political points. She gained notoriety 2 weeks ago in publicly declaring that Iowa would not assist the federal government in placing refugee children with families. She pronounced on WHO Radio, “This is not our problem.”
Iowa is the most backward state up north. We used to scoff at the states of Mississippi and Alabama and their low rankings on quality of life issues, and now we’re at their level.
Reynolds’ meanness has many older Iowans recalling the Republican with a heart, Bob Ray, who served as governor, 1969 until 1983. What a contrast these two are. From his Wikipedia bio:
“Ray’s tenure in office was notable for his humanitarianism on behalf of Southeast Asian Tai Dam refugees. Ray agreed to bring the group to the United States by creating his own refugee resettlement program. Ray announced that the state of Iowa would accept 1,500 additional refugees in January 1979. Ray wrote letters to President Jimmy Carter and other governors asking them to support greater admissions of boat people. Opinion polls from the period demonstrated Ray’s refugee resettlement and relief efforts were very controversial. Many feared competition for jobs, diversion of funds from needy native Iowans, and racial mixing.” Footnotes accompany this article.
Many of the Tai Dam settled in Storm Lake, and over the years they have built an impressive Buddhist temple, to celebrate culture and religion. Storm Lake along with Dubuque have many migrants from Mexico and Central America, who will welcome these children at the border, with or without the state’s help.
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True.
We know from experience that the Red States will do everything they can to sabotage the startup of MFA in any form. I think success means that it have to be Federal, federally controlled, and all at once.
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Under the current Court makeup, we are going to be lucky if the ACA lasts. No way will this Court accept completely federalized control of healthcare. They didn’t accept it for Medicaid expansion, which is why each state gets to choose whether or not to participate, after all.
If you read about the New Deal, the last time this country had a Court this conservative, the Roosevelt administration had to twist programs around to avoid Court challenges. One reason it centered Social Security as a property right, not a humanitarian one, is some feared the Court would see it as a “federal insurance scheme to provide annuities for the elderly” (quoting Thomas Eliot). A contributory and regressive payroll tax, which Francis Perkins initially opposed, was the result. But both politics (mostly politics) and legal concerns dictated that outcome, unfortunately. Quoting Perkins: “the thing had been chiseled down to the conservative pattern.”
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It’s a terrible realism that we face in pushing ahead with MFA.
Stunning that the Court could / would prevent this.
Family members have health insurance with ACA, and as you note, its existence is in doubt.
The Court will decide before June 30, when its term ends.
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