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In reply to the discussion: Sorry, but I don't buy the "But we couldn't have gotten single-payer" defense [View all]Ms. Toad
(37,340 posts)Studying some history of the attempts to provide access to health care for the past (at least) 4 decades would be a good starting point. Despite numerous attempts, the two previous best efforts (all that have been successful at anything in the past 4 decades) garnered COBRA (no limit on pricing, very limited extended access to insurance when your job ends, if you happen to have worked for a company of a sufficient size) and HIPAA (Access to ongoing insurance, provided you had a qualifying plan in the first place - and do not create any significant gaps - with no limit on pricing).
That's it. Period.
And this attempt has garnered so many legal challenges that key provisions have been gutted leaving roughly 50% of people who were intended to have access to Medicaid
So it is completely out of touch with reality to believe we could have converted to single payer.
It is also completely out of touch with reality, and offensive to the millions who finally have access to health care via insurance, to contend that they should have continued to be sacrificial lambs merely because it was not possible to get a perfect solution for everyone in the first major change in health care policy in decades.
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