We were having a debate in another thread about Warren's M4A plan, and I pointed to a large number of pitfalls. Today at work I bumped into an article that said pretty much the same things I was saying.
There aren’t enough doctors for Medicare for all
The above is a very, very important read. I suggest that people don't skip it. Read it. We all need to know about what this article says.
Among other things, the problems included that Medicare pays lower than actual health care costs while private insurers pay higher so hospitals lose money with Medicare and recover it by over-charging privately insured patients. So, if it all goes to Medicare, it becomes a business loss for hospitals so, two consequences ensue: either you have to increase payments which will make Warren's plan more expensive than she thinks, or many hospitals will close down and many physicians will prematurely retire or quit.
Then, my earlier posts and the article talked about how people misunderstand doctors' income and think that they could perfectly lower fees and medicine would still be an attractive field. My posts and this article talked about student loans, average salaries, years of training, the problem of going from 3 to 7 additional years of residency training (after 4 years of college and 4 of medical school) while being paid about $65K, and how this whole ordeal plus the long hours is only attractive because medicine is still highly paid. But decrease that, and you'll have fewer people going into medicine. Meanwhile, demand for care will increase with more people covered. It would lead to physician shortages.
My posts and the article also talked about the historical reasons why health care in America is so different from the one found in European countries, and how massively disruptive to the system an abrupt transformation as the one proposed by Warren and Sanders would be.
Another article I can't find right now (I was browsing at work and didn't save the link, now I'm at home) mentioned how Elizabeth Warren knows very well that her proposals can't pass (and might even be challenged all the way to the SCOTUS if they did, given that certain tax proposals on the ultra-rich might actually be illegal), but she proposes them anyway because she knows it's a win-win for her: she will energize the progressives, than if elected, if she can't implement any of it, she will blame Congress.
I did find the link for the possible illegality of her proposals, and the one talking about how disingenuous she is.
Wealth tax proposed by Elizabeth Warren could be illegal
Why Elizabeth Warren is triggering billionaires
Oh well, people will say of all of the above that it's just partisanship and fake news and right-wing propaganda. But I'm NOT a right-wing guy. I'm a centrist.
If Elizabeth Warren is just trying to be clever and populist in her vote-seeking proposals, and knows that it will never happen, and that if it did, it would be a full disaster with a much more expensive plan, physician shortage, and severe disruption in the system, then she is losing my vote.
That's why I favor a centrist like Pete. I think that the system needs reform, but not an implosion. I favor a public OPTION but not everybody being forced into Medicaid for All.
