Medicare for All Advocates Welcome Obama’s DNC Comments as ‘New Revolution’ | Common Dreams

A brief aside in former President Barack Obama’s 35-minute speech at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday night offered a glimmer of hope that Kamala Harris’s victory in November could be the catalyst for change in the poor health care system. the beauty of the United States.

Obama – a self-proclaimed “supporter of single-payer health care” – told Democratic delegates, leaders and activists gathered inside the United Center in Chicago. that the party should “be proud of the great progress we’ve made. ‘made with the Affordable Care Act,” the 2010 law known as Obamacare.

“But,” the former president added, “Kamala knows we can’t stop there, that’s why she will keep working to reduce out-of-pocket costs.”

Obama’s remarks were far from an outright endorsement of Medicare for All, a longtime goal that Harris championed as a senator and continued to support — at least in name — as a presidential candidate. of 2020.

But longtime single-payer advocate Michael Lighty said Common Dreams on Wednesday that Obama’s admission that the ACA is not enough to contain the country’s unmanageable health care costs and reduce the widespread abuse of the for-profit insurance industry “signals a new opportunity for reform” if Harris wins. Republican candidate Donald Trump.

“I was struck by the combination of ‘affordable coverage,’ which is a standard approach to health care reform, and this is about going beyond the ACA, ” Lighty said in response to Obama’s comments. “It recognizes that rising costs in general and out-of-pocket costs in particular are not consistent.”

“The cost structure is good for advocates of Medicare for All,” he added, “if we ‘prosecute’ the argument for savings generated by Medicare for All.”

Research has repeatedly shown that the Medicare for All system envisioned by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)—the top single-payer advocate in Congress—would spend less than the current level while giving everyone in the U.S. ts Full insurance coverage free of charge at the point of service.

Under the current public benefit system—which leaves tens of millions of Americans uninsured or underinsured and struggling to cover their out-of-pocket costs—the annual cost of health care is is set to rise to $7.7 trillion by 2032, according to federal estimates.

“It’s clear that the North Star of the Harris-Walz administration aligns with what Senator Bernie Sanders said from the DNC stage last night: ensuring good health for everyone in this country.”

Although he supported Sanders’ Medicare for All bill in the Senate in 2017 and campaigned for a proposal that passed the “Medicare for All” bill in the 2020 Democratic primary, Harris has not make a popular progressive idea part of his 2024 platform.

A Harris campaign official saidPolitics earlier this week that Medicare for All is “no longer part of” the vice president’s health care plan, which until now has focused mainly on reducing drug costs and relieving the burden of medical bills.

But Medicare for All advocates, who have seen support for the rollout at the state and local levels during the federal process, are not dismayed by the vice president’s decision to keep single payer in place. mong his 2024 campaign.

Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, spoke of the recently announced Democratic platform’s support for expanding Medicare benefits to include dental, vision and hearing services as part of “the way forward “.

“It’s clear that the North Star of the Harris-Walz administration aligns with what Senator Bernie Sanders said from the DNC stage last night: ensuring good health for everyone in this country, so if you’re sick you get the care you need,” Lawson said Common Dreams. (The Democratic platform says “health care should be a right in America, not a privilege” — a line popularized by Sanders.)

“As president,” said Lawson, “it’s clear that Kamala Harris will use every tool at her disposal to control the corporate greed, delay and denial of the current administration and continue to build.” step by step to achieve the goal of universal health care.

Rose Roach, national co-ordinator of the Labor Campaign for One Giver, offered a similar assessment, saying. Common Dreams in an email Wednesday that while President Joe Biden “has been clear that he does not support Medicare for All,” he has “supported important reforms to traditional Medicare that begin to build the public infrastructure that we will need for Medicare for All does not pass.”—especially the drug price negotiation program and new restrictions on Medicare Advantage plans run by corporations.

“The Labor Campaign for Single Payer believes that VP Harris is equally committed to preserving and protecting traditional Medicare and will work with the organization to continue the work to stabilize our public Medicare program,” said Roach. “To reform and expand traditional Medicare, to protect it from out-of-pocket Medicare vendors while placing barriers to enrollees’ access to care through strict prior authorization and denial of express claims, is first job.”

“Doing so not only provides the infrastructure we need on the road to Medicare for All,” Roach added, “but also makes traditional Medicare affordable for enrollees, unions and Negotiating health benefits, even for employers who offer retirement benefits, is a win-win.”