[ [link removed] ]Democratic Socialists for Medicare for All

Dear John,

Enjoy the November issue of All In, the DSA Medicare for All newsletter.
Read on for more on why we can’t afford NOT to pay for Medicare for All,
how your videos can help win healthcare for all, and how Medicare for All
is turning doctors into activists.

In solidarity,

Dustin Guastella
DSA Medicare for All Campaign Committee

 

[1]BANNER: All In: The DSA M4A Newsletter

 

Lately pundits and establishment politicians have been zeroing in on an
age-old attack against Medicare for All: “How are we going to pay for it?”

The question has dominated recent debates, Sunday morning panel
discussions, and talk show interviews — and it’s revealed a major
difference between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Sanders, who has been advocating for single-payer Medicare for All for
decades, has taken the question head-on. “I think it’s fair to say that
yes, taxes will go up,” he said in the October Democratic primary debate,
before going on to explain that, since the plan will eliminate all
premiums, copays, deductibles, and bills, it will save the vast majority
of Americans substantial sums of money (not to mention the time, stress,
and agony that goes with our current market-based healthcare system).

[ [link removed] ]Warren, meanwhile, has repeatedly dodged the topic of taxes. Then on
Friday, Nov. 1, she released her plan to fund Medicare for All. Not
surprisingly, her plan relies on a Rube Goldberg-like series of mechanisms
for funding, which leaves it open to attack and compromise. Simply put,
funding Medicare for All through a hodgepodge of revenue streams —
sprawled across different agencies, departments, budgets, and committees —
means it’s much more susceptible to being chopped up and slimmed down.
What’s more, her reliance on a head tax, instead of a more straightforward
payroll tax, [ [link removed] ]“is clearly unworkable and bad,” writes Matt Bruenig at
People’s Policy Project.

“All companies have to do to avoid rather large head tax charges is spin
off workers into independent contractor status,” he writes. “Or spin them
off into firms with less than 50 employees that they then contract with
for services.” This, Bruenig argues, could send the program into a “death
spiral.”

The truth is, we already know how to pay for Medicare for All. As Sanders
said in a [ [link removed] ]recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, “people make this
more complicated than it is.” Credible studies, such as [ [link removed] ]the one
completed by UMass Amherst, have demonstrated exactly how to pay for the
plan while lowering healthcare costs, improving coverage and outcomes, and
saving the United States trillions.

Sanders’ honesty about this fact demonstrates his commitment to Medicare
for All as [ [link removed] ]the only solution to our healthcare crisis, writes Tim
Higginbotham in Jacobin. But it also demonstrates his political commitment
to the policy, and shows he’s the only candidate that we can trust to take
up the fight without compromise.

If you have friends, family members or colleagues who are interested in
keeping up with the campaign, [ [link removed] ]tell them to sign up here to receive All
In straight to their inbox. Thanks for reading!

From the campaign

News from the M4A blog and the broader campaign

Tell us why you’re fighting for Medicare for All through our
#DontBargainWithOurLives campaign! We’re encouraging union members and DSA
chapters to upload short videos of themselves talking about why Medicare
for All is so important. [ [link removed] ]Fill out this form to share your video with us
and we’ll help promote it when the campaign kicks off on December 9. Let’s
flood social media with #DontBargainWithOurLives videos and messages! We
want to make it clear that the labor movement isn’t just fighting for
their own benefits — they’re fighting with all of us for Medicare for All.

We went to the [ [link removed] ]Single Payer Strategy Conference in Portland! Organizers
from the DSA Medicare for All campaign joined hundreds of other M4A
supporters from organizations like Labor for Single-Payer, National Nurses
United, Social Security Works and several unions for an inspiring weekend
of discussion and action. Association of Flight Attendants-CWA President
Sara Nelson [ [link removed] ]gave an impassioned speech Friday night to kick off the
conference, and then on Saturday DSA members hosted a panel Saturday about
[ [link removed] ]our Medicare for All campaign. [ [link removed] ]Sanders Institute Fellow Michael
Lighty closed out the conference with the keynote panel, saying in part
that “no one has done more to invigorate this movement than DSA.” See you
next year!

Any politician who emphasizes expanding “access” to healthcare [ [link removed] ]isn’t
on our side, explains Natalie Shure. Only the rich have a true “choice”
when it comes to healthcare, while everyone else is at the mercy of their
employer’s plan or forced outside the system altogether because they can’t
afford to use their insurance — or even buy it at all. “Insurance is not,
and has never been, ‘health care,’” she writes. “Your insurance plan is
merely an entry ticket into the healthcare system, which includes a set of
inscrutable and ever-shifting stipulations regarding the specific benefits
you’re entitled to, and for how much.”

Republicans aren’t the only ones pushing this false choice: a number of
Democrats vying for the 2020 nomination are touting their own complicated,
means-tested healthcare programs that keep the structures of capital
intact. We don’t need more “choice” — we need Medicare for All.

News

Related news articles, essays, articles from outlets beyond the campaign

Medicare for All would sharply reduce overall spending on healthcare,
writes [ [link removed] ]pediatrician Donald M. Berwick for USA Today. “The fact is
that, without a change, Americans will spend over $45 trillion on
healthcare in the next 10 years,” he writes. “Under Medicare for All,
total health care spending would likely be far lower.” He points to Sen.
Bernie Sanders’ plan as the path forward, saying the Senator’s plan leaves
options open “for thoughtful exploration, careful choice and adjustments
over time” that make Medicare for All financially viable.

Berwick also pushes back against claims that taxes would rise for middle
class families. A family of four paid an average of $20,576 in premiums
this year, and those costs continue to rise. “Framing this debate by fear
mongering over ‘higher taxes’ ignores that this money is already coming
out of American families’ pockets,” he says.

“Jeff Bezos, the richest man in America, gets to decide on a whim whether
Washington Post employees get to see a doctor or not,” the political
director of National Nurses United tweeted [ [link removed] ]after Post employees were
told the company was shifting to a high-deductible health insurance plan.
The sudden switch means employees bear more of the cost for their health
insurance, and perfectly illustrates why employer-provided insurance is
unstable and unjust. [ [link removed] ]Sen. Sanders also weighed in, saying, “We
shouldn't allow Jeff Bezos, or any other boss, to choose their profits
over workers’ health care. We need Medicare for All.”

Voters strongly oppose employer-sponsored health insurance once they
understand what it means, [ [link removed] ]writes Matt Bruenig of People’s Policy
Project. The finding comes from a poll conducted by Emerson Polling, which
revealed 70 percent of voters opposed “employers being allowed to change
or eliminate health insurance against the employees’ wishes.” The
statement was supported by just 11 percent of respondents. The finding
lays bare the disingenuous and insidious nature of the universal
healthcare framing pushed by many centrist Democrats and Republicans. In
reality, people aren’t afraid of Medicare for All: they’re afraid of
insurance instability, which is a key feature of employer-sponsored
insurance. “[It is] one of the least popular things I’ve ever seen polled
about the US healthcare system,” Bruenig writes. What does this mean for
those of us in the fight for universal healthcare? Keep reminding people
that Medicare for All means you’ll never, ever have to worry about losing
your health insurance. 

Ten thousand baby boomers a day will turn sixty-five over the next ten
years, and most will need long-term care at some point. [ [link removed] ]Meagan Day at
Jacobin writes that we need to plan for these enormous long-term care
needs now by enacting Medicare for All, which provides the healthcare
safety net many seniors will need without bankrupting them. “If we create
a national single-payer program that comprehensively covers long-term
care, we will be prepared to handle the aging of our nation’s population,”
she writes. “If we don’t, social chaos awaits.”

Private long-term care is prohibitively expensive for most, and expenses
aren’t fully covered by the current Medicaid program. Day says those who
claim Medicare for All is unaffordable are “missing the forest for the
trees.” We simply can’t afford to ignore the needs of a massive portion of
the population and their families.

The fight for Medicare for All is turning doctors into activists,
[ [link removed] ]writes Abigail Abrams for TIME, and that’s a good thing. With more
than 27 million Americans uninsured, doctors and nurses are increasingly
finding themselves on the frontlines of our broken system, and they are
channeling that anger into political organizing for Medicare for All. “The
idea that things have to be done a certain way because that’s the way
they’ve always been done — in the Trump era, that doesn’t hold a lot of
water,” said Miriam Callahan, a medical student at Columbia University.
“If we gain enough power we can actually make that change and bring about
the world we want.”

Chapter spotlight

A look at what locals are doing around the country

Detroit DSA’s Medicare for All working group [ [link removed] ]is hosting a town hall on
Nov. 6! [ [link removed] ]Dr. Victoria Dooley, a vocal single-payer advocate, and
Marjorie Mitchell, from [ [link removed] ]MICHUHCAN, are slated to speak alongside the
working group’s chair, Kyle Minton. Great work!

Philly DSA members [ [link removed] ]joined a rally for affordable healthcare held by
UNITE HERE catering workers at American Airlines. Nicolas O’Rourke, who
the chapter endorsed for City Council, also made an appearance and spoke
to the crowd. Keep the pressure on!

Social media

The best stuff from our feeds

🌟 [ [link removed] ]We did the Star Wars movie rankings, too

💅[ [link removed] ]Not our tweet but still good as hell

🌈 [ [link removed] ]In Homer we trust

💝 [ [link removed] ]Rob Delaney is our absolute boy

🤸 [ [link removed] ]The Rube Goldberg machine from hell

🙄 [ [link removed] ]We wish Nate Silver would’ve stayed in 2008


 
This email was sent to [email protected]. Email is the most important way for us to reach you about opportunities to act. If you need to remove yourself from our email list, click here to unsubscribe: [link removed]