@twshield In most other countries, sure he's middle of the road. Most of those countries already have all the things he's advocating for. And then some. Aren't you aware of that? They think we're crazy, to be honest.

My stepdaughter was in Spain on a student exchange program and fell ill and was taken to the hospital. As Americans, our first thought was, how are we going to pay for this. We called the hospital and they were very, VERY confused. "Why would we charge you? Your daughter will get the best of care from us, and we would never charge you for it. We are not barbarians."

That was our first practical introduction to how regressive and cruel our healthcare system is compared to more civilized countries.

That people can actually be opposed to this and find it radical ... beggars understanding.

@twshield I wonder where they get the idea it is not popular? Last I saw, a huge majority of Americans polled, like it.

When it's disingenuously framed as "do you favor having your health insurance taken from you" they don't like THAT. But that's not MFA, which replaces your crappy insurance with much better insurance, to wit: no deductibles, no copays except for $200 a year on prescriptions, no denied coverage other than cosmetic surgery, and you can't lose it due to becoming unemployed or changing jobs. Oh ... and no premiums. Oh, and nothing's "out of network".

JUST LIKE IT'S DONE IN MOST EVERY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WEST. Successfully.

Over against that there is a tax for people earning over $29K/yr that amounts to a LOT less than all the thousands of dollars of unplanned and unplannable expenses mentioned above for anyone earning less than $250K/yr. Typically, like $850 a year.

Per the study just released in The Lancet, Sander's proposal pays for itself both in terms of cash flow and in terms of overall cost savings by eliminating for-profit insurance and the administrative nightmare for doctors and patients that entails. The study also shows that it will save lives ... although I understand some people don't care about that so long as it's not their life that's in jeopardy.

In short ... nothing to dislike about it and so no unpopularity.

The unpopularity narrative is contrived. And yes what other countries do is relevant because it shows what is possible and how insanely crappy our system is. And blows the notion that it's not doable out of the water.

@mordant I lived in Germany for 6+ years. The government deducted 10% from everyone's pay for healthcare. Everyone paid 10%. When you talk percentages rather than amounts, it works.

@twshield I am happy with my plan too. I pay $100 a month and get old fashioned insurance with modest deductibles and copays and in some cases free RX. Problem is, I'm the rare exception because I have my plan via my late wife's employer, a big pharma company. My current wife on the other hand pays > $500 a month on the ACA exchange and gets shit coverage. If we weren't making a decent income, $6K a year would crush us. So ... yes a few people like their insurance (though if you really unpack it they like their health care providers and their insurance has merely not much gotten in the way). But I'm advocating for MFA because most people desperately need it, unlike me.

That's Sander's "ask": if you're doing okay, are you willing to fight for people you don't know like you'd fight for yourself?

@twshield Actually it is people with no insurance or underinsured and overpaying their premiums. Which is most people. Hell, back in the 1960s my mother used to spend hours on the phone arguing with the Claim Denial Department. This is a longstanding and massive and stressful problem for the vast majority of people. Just the problem of health care being bizarrely tied to your job is unique to this country. Lose your job or want to change jobs? Your access to health care is in jeopardy. It's common for people to stay with jobs they hate because they need the insurance.

That's also a reason corporate 'Murica is opposed to MFA ... it would effectively give people "fuck you money" and employers would not be as free to treat their employees badly. Minimum guaranteed income isn't the only way to accomplish that.

@TheInterlooper I didn't define it as anything. Jesus. I'm describing the problem with the label.

Only by the fact that about 30% of eligible voters actually vote. I don't see that as very democratic.

@TheInterlooper I’m sure you’d give much serious thought to content sourced from the World Socialist Web, the Palestinian Information Center, Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States and other sources conveying a POV different from yours.

That’s sarcasm if you didn’t know.