Bernie Sanders proposes canceling $81 bln U.S. medical debt

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

WASHINGTON, Aug 31 (Reuters) - U.S. presidential contender Bernie Sanders proposed a plan on Saturday to cancel $81 billion in existing past-due medical debt for Americans, but offered no details on how it would be financed.

Sanders, an independent U.S. senator from Vermont, said in a statement that under his plan, the government would negotiate and pay off past-due medical bills that have been reported to credit agencies. The proposal, he said, would also repeal some elements of the 2005 Bankruptcy reform bill and allow other existing and future medical debt to be discharged.

"In the United States of America, your financial life and future should not be destroyed because you or a member of your family gets sick," said Sanders. "That is unacceptable. I am sick and tired of seeing over 500,000 Americans declare bankruptcy each year because they cannot pay off the outrageous cost of a medical emergency or a hospital stay."

According to Sanders, medical debt is the leading cause of consumer bankruptcy, with more than half a million Americans filing due to medical expenses each year. He said the 2005 Bankruptcy reform bill made it difficult to discharge medical debt by imposing strict means tests and eliminated fundamental consumer protections for Americans.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/bernie-sanders-proposes-canceling-dollar81-bln-us-medical-debt/ar-AAGCjXM?li=BBnb7Kz

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin.

[Quackers]

2. Sounds like he's just throwing shit out there for votes now.

No actual plans, just words. Hell, promise every person their own free home. I’m sure he’d win in a landslide.

[oldsoftie]

4. +1

[George II]

8. If you add it all up, he's going to create about 30 million jobs. I don't know where....

....he's going to get people to fill those jobs, there are less than 10 million people currently looking for work.

[Hortensis]

15. Promises of direct monetary benefit to specific citizens.

How many does this one to wipe out voters' personal medical debt make now? I can't recall at the moment what other group of people was promised a direct monetary benefit just last week or two, just that there was one. And before?

[Fresh_Start]

31. +1 nt

nt

[wasupaloopa]

3. HOW Bernie? If you can't say how do it or what it costs

why bother getting people all excited?

Drop out!

[oldsoftie]

6. Exactly. nt

[riverine]

5. Bernie is so good at this

but offered no details on how it would be financed.

When does he ever finance (cost) anything?

Medicare for all?


Bernie "ITS ALL FREE"

[Blue_true]

10. Bernie 101.

Throw an idea that would cause chaos out with no details about how he would avoid chaos. Yet many voters can't see the clear problem. There is no magical milkcow, if something is cancelled on one end, real people suffer on the other end. We need well reasoned proposals, not stuff that excites people but are flawed from the get go.

[Hortensis]

17. Only one answer: Taxpayers pay.

Let's pretend Democrats control both houses of congress. They'd have to agree to spend trillions fulfilling these promises AND they'd have no money to do it because the Republicans have emptied our budget and run us deep into debt.

And let's NOT pretend that he could hook a hose up to our billionaire classes to cover all these promises. We the people, including them, would do all the paying. That'd be okay if it'd work and was done right, but we already learned shockingly back in 2016 he never learned how and doesn't worry the details. He's strictly a big promises guy, which he'd bring in others to try to make happen.

Further, those liking this idea need to remember Sanders is a committed socialist ideologically. Socialists don't believe in giving money to individuals when that should be managed as a collective benefit for the good of all. So I expect this would be a one-time cash payment that he might or might not come through on even if he could. Same for the other cash promises he's made to other voter groups.

[BootinUp]

7. He should be roundly attacked

for throwing out irresponsible proposals.

[Blue_true]

11. Some people really hate it when this is pointed out.

But Trump does some of the same stuff, just throw something out without operational details.

[qazplm135]

9. serious question...what debt isn't he proposing canceling?

medical debt...gone. student debt...gone.

That's a lot of debt wiped out.

Then free medical care (via taxation), free education (via taxation), infrastructure repair (via taxation), Green New Deal or some version therein (via taxation).

I mean, that's a lot of taxation, and that's a lot of debt erased, and I'm probably missing a few things.

I'm sorry but that's not something folks are going to believe.

[Uncle Joe]

18. By wiping out medical debt, student debt, raising the minimum wage to at least

$15 an hour combined with Medicare for All and making higher education tuition free, should all that come to pass, the American People will be in a much stronger financial position to pay off their remaining debt whether it be for cars, mortgages, credit cards, private loans etc.etc. etc.

This would eliminate over 500,000 medical bankruptcies and their reverberating adverse affects on society at large, not just toward the medical industry.

It's not just about taxation, military spending will be cut as well with a Bernie administration challenging the world's nations to focus our energies and resources at facing our common enemy; global warming climate change, while creating millions of jobs and shoring up our crumbling infrastructure in the process.

[qazplm135]

22. I doubt Bernie cuts military spending

absolutely no reason to believe that based on his prior history and the things he has voted for.

So we pay for wiping out medical debt, we pay for wiping out student debt, we pay for the Green New Deal, we pay for college, and we pay for MFA.

And that money all comes just from taxing the rich and corporations?

How? Show me the numbers.

[Uncle Joe]

24. I'm confident Bernie will in fact cut military spending, it's an intricate part of the whole package

We're already paying for medical debt every time one of 500,000+ Americans declare bankruptcy or at the very least are prevented from investing or spending their hard earned dollars in the general economy.

We're already paying for student debt as Americans weighed down by it are curtailed from starting their own families or buying a home, car, etc. etc. etc.

We're already paying for NOT investing in the Green New Deal and that cost will continue to escalate as our infrastructure continues to crumble and the effects of climate change soar into the stratosphere; tens of trillions of dollars.

Climate change comes with a hefty bill. The United States stands to experience major economic losses over the 21st century as sea levels rise, heat waves become more frequent and rains fall in heavier bursts, according to the recently released National Climate Assessment (NCA). Sources of the costs range from damaged and abandoned coastal properties, to wages lost when it is too hot to work outdoors, to premature deaths caused by increased air pollution and disease exposure.

The report is put together by 13 federal agencies and includes input from hundreds of scientists, including many who work at academic institutions. Released every four years by Congressional mandate (this year’s NCA weighs in at 1,656 pages), it uses projections of climate change based on varying levels of greenhouse gas emissions—and figures in expected population changes—to estimate the toll a changing climate may exact on various sectors of the country’s economy. In the graphic below, Scientific American focuses on the sectors subject to the biggest impacts and compares the projected losses to current economic activity. Even for sectors in which the overall numbers seem relatively small, those involved can be hit hard. For example, losses in freshwater fishing would be felt disproportionately by small communities that depend on fishing-related tourism.

The NCA estimates are not intended to be exact predictions for specific years. Rather, they provide a sense of the scale of damage climate change may cause by the end of the century—and they show the major difference that reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to changes can make in the losses sustained. When it comes to lost hours of labor, for example, reducing emissions could cut the costs in half. And lowered emissions, combined with adaptations such as bolstering protective wetlands and buying out precarious properties, could avoid 90 percent of the costs that could be incurred by coastal areas.

The loss estimates should also be considered conservative because they do not factor in every way climate change might cause damage, according to the Environmental Protection Agency analysis the NCA drew from. For example, the costs of air pollution in this year’s report only included premature deaths linked to increased ozone, leaving out other pollutants.









https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/heres-how-much-climate-change-could-cost-the-u-s/

[qazplm135]

25. the costs of climate change will still be there

even with the GND. That's the whole point, changes have already happened that won't immediately or easily be reversed.


If you are concerned about medical bankruptcy that's fair, so just change the rules so that no one goes bankrupt for medical costs/care...which to a large extent the ACA is helping to eliminate.

We are talking about tens of trillions of dollars for all the things you are talking about...to pretend that's no big deal as you are is disingenuous. To pretend spending that volume of money more or less at once and taking on massive debt will have no economic repercussions is worse than disingenuous.

[Uncle Joe]

33. The cost against the nation throughout the 21st century will depend on how vigorously,

and with all due haste, the fight against climate change takes place.

Under Medicare for All no one goes bankrupt from medical bills.

Whoever said that any of Bernie's proposals or plans were not a "big deal?"

From what I can tell, they all are and more to the point desperately needed.

[qazplm135]

34. a big deal as in expensive

a big deal as in costing tens of trillions of dollars.

a big deal as in we cannot afford to do ALL of them ALL at once.

You want a massive change to the entire economy across multiple levels simultaneously, and you seem to believe/assert that such a massive change will have nothing but great repercussions...no downside, no economic transition impact...just sunshine and puppies.

It will all be amazing.

It's worse than unrealistic.

[Uncle Joe]

35. Bernie's critical investment plans and proposals are expensive investments particularly

because they have all but been ignored for so long.

Just as any human body ignoring good health care or not able to take advantage of it suffers much greater costs as the maladies mount and the body weakens.

[qazplm135]

36. a facile response

and a poor, almost non-responsive analogy.

[peggysue2]

12. Well, according to this we're headed for Jubilee

Medicare4All, free college, past debts erased, climate change solved, a gazillion high-paying jobs and . . . Money Trees.

What's not to like??? I still want a pony. With a big red bow.

Any mention of unicorns?

There's a point at which this barrage of empty promises becomes ridiculous, even insulting. I think we've reached that now.

[highplainsdem]

19. I want a unicorn wrapped in rainbows. Throw in a leprechaun jockey and a pot of gold.

[peggysue2]

20. I'm sure they're waiting for us

At Santa's Village in the North Pole.

Ridiculous!

[Kentonio]

13. How exactly did the GOP pay for the $1.5 TRILLION tax cut giveaway?

Sick of hearing how these debts on the average Joe are just wishful thinking, but the corporate interests and super rich can have whatever they please, and everyone else can pay for it.

Wiping out medical and student debt and bringing in universal health care would result in an American working base that had much more spare money to pump back into the economy, creating many new jobs and businesses in the process.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

21. I don't think you're going to find anyone on DU defend the Republican tax cut

[qazplm135]

23. first of all, they didn't that's the problem

our debt and deficit are skyrocketing. So no one is defending it, it was a bad idea, and it wasn't not and has not been "paid for."

Second, are you suggesting that MFA, The Green New Deal, Free college for everyone, eliminating medical debt, eliminating student debt will only cost 1.5 Trillion?

Because I'm pretty sure it will cost a lot, lot, lot more. So it's not a great comparison.

You know if we gave everyone say 500K dollars, it would do all the same things you say, but we can't afford it short of printing money and causing inflation.

So yeah, noble goals, but how you get there kinda matters.

[TwilightZone]

29. They didn't.

We probably shouldn't use that as a benchmark.

[Kentonio]

38. So instead we should allow progressive ideas to be written off as fantasy?

While the other side give away whatever they please? I’m tired of this one sided arrangement. When it’s a Dem policy it’s ‘unicorns and no money tree!’ and half our own people shout that just as loudly, yet the GOP spend trillions on their wishlist regardless.

[whistler162]

14. Since he is a Senator he can....

create a bill that does just that. It won't get passed but it can be created and show support in the Senate and House. Has he done that or is he just talk?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

26. Bernie has sponsored only seven bills that actually passed.

Two of them were to name post offices and a third was to designate a holiday for Vermont. If he can't even get significant legislation passed as a Senator, how does he expect, as president, to persuade a probably hostile Senate to pass bills that provide medicare for all, free college, and the elimination of medical debt, all at taxpayer expense?

[treestar]

16. I agree with him and that's great

but he needs Congress. Unless you are one who thinks Bernie in the bully pulpit is enough to move R Senators, it's not happening. The thought is good. I'd rather have a POTUS who thinks that way than one who would not care at all.

[evertonfc]

27. stop

Joe Biden benefits from much of these impractical promises. I love Bernie but he's not going to be the nominee

[calguy]

28. I can't vote for Bernie until.....

until he promises to cancel my mortgage and forgive my credit card debt. He's already promised to cancel everyone else's debt, I want mine cancelled too. I'm sure he can find a spare billionaire somewhere who can pay off my house.

[Watchfoxheadexplodes]

30. Hell let's just cancel ALL debt everything

And start over.

Next idea bernie?

[Fresh_Start]

32. HOW is the operative question

the debt is not to the US government
the debt is not to state governments
the debt is to tens of thousands of different entities...so how does Bernie propose to cancel the debt?

Why doesn't HE begin by taking all of his own assets and actually paying for debts of his fellow citizens of Vermont?
you know that answer..Bernie doesn't pay for things with his own money..he only knows how to spend other peoples money.

[nini]

37. 'but offered no details on how it would be financed. '

Typical