Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ed Markey to unveil 'Green New Deal' bill

[Mountain Man]

I really get a kick out of how some of the liberals are claiming AOC is "terrifying" the GOP, or Fox News, or white men...

I honestly can't figure out why liberals are so desperate to convince themselves of that.

[Cow Poke]

I honestly can't figure out why liberals are so desperate to convince themselves of that.

The only thing I can think of is that they are projecting -- it's the Democrat Elite who are scared to death of AOC. She's the new Democrat Media Darlin, and the Old Guard is threatened.

[Sparko]

Jake Tapper seems to have some sort of bizarre personal hang-up about Medicare for All. He did some sort of supposed 'fact-check' segment on the issue that was full of errors and got roundly debunked and slammed, but even after he back-tracked and corrected it he still tried to pretend he had some sort of serious point. I am not sure what is wrong with him on the issue.

As a result it does not surprise me in the least to hear that a discussion with him on the topic did not go well. I am not sure whether his ignorance is willful ignorance, personal political views, him simply not getting it, or him trying to be 'tough' on the left to try to appeal to right-wingers.

Currently Americans pay private insurance companies premiums for insurance policies. The idea is that instead of paying that money to private insurance companies, the same people would pay slightly less money as a special Medicare payroll tax, and get Medicare coverage. They don't need to pay as much money because the existing Medicare system is significantly more efficient and has significantly less overheads and medical costs than the equivalent existing private insurance coverage. Thus people would net save money.

Any question of 'how are you going to pay for this' is beside the point because it costs less than the current system. Every projection ranks it as cheaper than the current system, even the Libertarian think tank research that was trumpeted by the media about how expensive Medicare for All would be, admitted in its own report that it would be cheaper than the current system.

Jake Tapper somehow doesn't seem to be able to get his head around the fact that it costs less than the current system. And so instead of him talking about it as a policy that saves trillions of dollars, he instead asks confused questions about paying for it, apparently unaware that people in the US currently already pay for healthcare that is more expensive than the system being proposed.

Medicare only covers the hospital and doctor bills and at certain levels. It doesn't cover drugs, dental, extraordinary procedures, long term care (nursing homes), and a lot of other stuff. It even has deductibles. When I retire, I am going to have to buy supplemental insurance to cover the gaps and prescription meds. The premiums for that will end up costing me MORE per month than I am paying now through my healthcare that is supplemented by my employer.

So "medicare for all" will end up costing everyone more. The taxpayers AND the employees. Probably the only ones who will profit by this would be the evil rich employers who no longer have to offer health plans to their employees. Yay.

[Bill the Cat]

Well the conservatives seem to be all-out throwing their toys out of the cot when it comes to AOC, so there's clearly something about her that panics them. They seem really, really, desperate to try and pretend that she's stupid or that she doesn't know what she's talking about.
.

Well, she IS stupid and she DOESN'T know what she is talking about. Even SNL made fun of her...

[Cow Poke]

Well, she IS stupid and she DOESN'T know what she is talking about. Even SNL made fun of her...

It is kinda fun to watch her variety of facial expressions when she's actually challenged to back up what she said, then she resorts to babbling, 'you know', a bunch of buzzwords and buzzexpressions.

In some of those "interviews", it's priceless to see the interviewer's face as they have a hard time concealing their apparent disbelief that she could babble like that.

[Sparko]

It is kinda fun to watch her variety of facial expressions when she's actually challenged to back up what she said, then she resorts to babbling, 'you know', a bunch of buzzwords and buzzexpressions.

In some of those "interviews", it's priceless to see the interviewer's face as they have a hard time concealing their apparent disbelief that she could babble like that.

[Starlight]

Medicare only covers the hospital and doctor bills and at certain levels. It doesn't cover drugs, dental, extraordinary procedures, long term care (nursing homes), and a lot of other stuff. It even has deductibles. When I retire, I am going to have to buy supplemental insurance to cover the gaps and prescription meds. The premiums for that will end up costing me MORE per month than I am paying now through my healthcare that is supplemented by my employer.

Most of the medicare for all bills being proposed will expand it to cover these things, and those costs are included in the calculations of how much it would cost.

[Cow Poke]

Most of the medicare for all bills being proposed will expand it to cover these things, and those costs are included in the calculations of how much it would cost.

Citation, please?

[rogue06]

Citation, please?

Good luck with that. It probably comes from the same made-up source as his claim that Ocasio-Cortez was laughing when she blathered on about how she was exempt from the constitutional age restriction for presidency.

[Starlight]

Citation, please?

A variety of different Medicare For All bills have been proposed, all of which are slightly different. But obviously any estimation of cost is tied to a particular bill and its proposals. Most of the bills don't merely expand medicare to cover everyone, they also expand the services provided by / covered by medicare and/or reduce co-pays and deductibles.

e.g. Bernie Sanders' 2017 bill:


A 2018 assessment of Sanders' bill:

:

Mercatus is projecting a $32 trillion increase in federal spending, above current projected government expenditures, from 2022 to 2031.

In terms of overall health care spending

[Starlight]

Good luck with that. It probably comes from the same made-up source as his claim that Ocasio-Cortez was laughing when she blathered on about how she was exempt from the constitutional age restriction for presidency.

Don't be a moron, I watched the video of that myself.

[Cow Poke]

A variety of different Medicare For All bills have been proposed, all of which are slightly different. But obviously any estimation of cost is tied to a particular bill and its proposals. Most of the bills don't merely expand medicare to cover everyone, they also expand the services provided by / covered by medicare and/or reduce co-pays and deductibles.

e.g. Bernie Sanders' 2017 bill:


A 2018 assessment of Sanders' bill:

:

Mercatus is projecting a $32 trillion increase in federal spending, above current projected government expenditures, from 2022 to 2031.

In terms of overall health care spending

From your first source...

[Cow Poke]

Don't be a moron, I watched the video of that myself.

Well, then, that settles it!

[Cow Poke]

So, when you realize you're incapable of answering a question when pressed, just giggle and admit you don't know crap about the subject...

[Mountain Man]

"I think what I meant was, uh..."

She doesn't know what she meant?