Bernie Sanders Wants to Spend $18 Trillion: So What?

[portlander23]

Bernie Sanders Wants to Spend $18 Trillion: So What?

At the end of the day, what matters isn’t the amount of money that the federal government spends for health care. What matters is the amount of money that the American people spend for health care. The government is just a device that we use to provide certain services that are better handled collectively than individually. If the government can provide equivalent service at lower prices, then the gross dollar amount involved doesn’t matter.

Bingo.

[Skwmom]

1. The 18 trillion has been debunked as a lie as pointed out in the article.

[99Forever]

2. I smell shill.

[portlander23]

3. Did you read this?

There's a deeper point being made here. Conservatives use the "cost" of programs or the "size" of government as if these were meaningful metrics. When we collectively do things that are natural monopolies or managing the commons, arguing overt the price or the size is a meaningless distraction.

Health care is is one of the things that government does both more efficiently and with better outcomes than the private sector. Yes we should debunk the price tag the WSJ was peddling, but if you leave it just at the level of arguing over the figure, you're missing the deeper fight which his arguing over the particular cost of a needed social program or the size of the government apparatus required to deliver it is meaningless if the government is the best way to deliver that program.

Bernie gets it. If you want single payer, we have to engage people in a way that completely changes the parameters of the discussion.

[99Forever]

4. I don't believe for one second that you support Bernie.

[portlander23]

6. Ok

OK, that's fine. Putting that aside, do you think this article is negative against Mr. Sanders? Read it again.

[SonderWoman]

5. Quick question about single payer...

Does it force all doctors to become govt employees?

[portlander23]

7. It depends

It depends on how you implement things. England has the National Health Service, and in their model almost all doctors and hospitals work for the state. In the Canadian model doctors and hospitals don't work for the states, but the Government does set standards and is the entity that insures the population and pays the bills.

Right now we have two institutions in the United States that operate like both of these models. The VA system is more like the English model where the government directly employs doctors. Medicare is closer to the Canadian model (leaving out the carve outs made by conservatives for privatizing certain functions) where it simply pays the bills.

Bernie I believe has been on the record numerous times supporting a Medicare for all Canadian style model.

I'm open to the discussion, but I'm more on the Bernie side of things that a Medicare for all will probably be the best option for the United States.