Pelosi Accused Of Deploying Most Dishonest Corporate Argument Against Medicare For All

 

The Speaker was also slammed for echoing insurance industry talking points against single-payer.

By Jake Johnson
Common Dreams (4/6/19)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi came under fire from single-payer proponents Thursday after she deployed what one healthcare policy expert described as “probably the most dishonest argument in the entire Medicare for All debate.”

In an interview with the Washington Post, the Democratic leader said she is “agnostic” on Medicare for All and claimed, “A lot of people love having their employer-based insurance and the Affordable Care Act gave them better benefits.”

Matt Bruenig, founder of the left-wing think tank People’s Policy Project, argued in a blog post that Pelosi’s statement “implies that, under our current health insurance system, people who like their employer-based insurance can hold on to it.”

“This then is contrasted with a Medicare for All transition where people will lose their employer-based insurance as part of being shifted over to an excellent government plan,” Bruenig wrote. “But the truth is that people who love their employer-based insurance do not get to hold on to it in our current system. Instead, they lose that insurance constantly, all the time, over and over again. It is a complete nightmare.”

To illustrate his point, Bruenig highlighted a University of Michigan study showing that among Michiganders “who had employer-sponsored insurance in 2014, only 72 percent were continuously enrolled in that insurance for the next 12 months.

“This means that 28 percent of people on an employer plan were not on that same plan one year later,” Bruenig noted.

“Critics of Medicare for All are right to point out that losing your insurance sucks,” Bruenig concluded. “But the only way to stop that from happening to people is to create a seamless system where people do not constantly churn on and off of insurance. Medicare for All offers that. Our current system offers the exact opposite. If you like losing your insurance all the time, then our current healthcare system is the right one for you.”

Insurance industry talking points

All On Medicare—a pro-Medicare for All Twitter account—slammed Pelosi’s remarks, accusing the Democratic leader of parroting insurance industry talking points: [Follow link below.]

The Speaker’s alternative to the Medicare for All legislation co-sponsored by over 100 members of her caucus is a bill to strengthen the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which she introduced last week.

“We all share the value of healthcare for all Americans—quality, affordable healthcare for all Americans,” Pelosi told the Post. “What is the path to that? I think it’s the Affordable Care Act, and if that leads to Medicare for All, that may be the path.”

The nation’s largest nurses union was among those who expressed disagreement with the Speaker’s incrementalist approach.

In a statement last week, National Nurses United president Zenei Cortez, RN, said Pelosi’s plan would “only put a Band-Aid on a broken healthcare system.”

“National Nurses United, along with our allies, will continue to build the grassroots movement for genuine healthcare justice and push to pass Medicare for All,” Cortez concluded.

(This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.)

Link to Story

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Despite Her Claim Of Being ‘Agnostic” About Medicare For All, Pelosi Is Clearly Out To Kill It

 

The Young Turks (4/5/19)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi questioned whether a health-care proposal embraced by several Democratic presidential candidates would be too expensive and fail to provide the same coverage as the Affordable Care Act.

Instead, Pelosi (D-Calif.) suggested Thursday that she would rather build on the 2010 law and is yet to be convinced the Medicare-for-all proposal pushed by many liberals would achieve its purported goals.

“I’m agnostic. Show me how you think you can get there,” Pelosi said in an interview with The Washington Post. “We all share the value of health care for all Americans — quality, affordable health care for all Americans. What is the path to that? I think it’s the Affordable Care Act, and if that leads to Medicare-for-all, that may be the path.

Link to 13-Minute Video

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Wendell Potter: Both Trump & Pelosi Cater To Private Health Insurance Interests

 

Real News (4/4/19)

Trump’s “great healthcare plan” and opposition to Medicare for All’s “socialism” and Pelosi’s defense of the ACA and opposition to single-payer are both aimed at garnering support from the private insurance industry.

Link to 16-Minute Video

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Documentary: Dark Money

Why politics has become so corrupt.

This Thursday, April 11, 6:30 p.m. at the Rivoli Theater in La Crosse.

Link to movie trailer: 2-Minute Video

Co-sponsored by: La Crosse for People Powered Democracy; Medicare for All; WI 3rd CD; Blue Jean Nation.

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(Commoner Call photos my Mark L. Taylor, 2019. Open source and free for non-derivative use with link to www.thecommonercall.org )