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In many ways it seems so simple: Go to a doctor; find out what is wrong, and get a prescription. No bills, no arguments with an insurance company.

As Republicans struggle to devise an alternative to the 2010 health law known as Obamacare, progressives are turning once again to the simplicity of a government-operated, single-payer health care system in which everyone can see a doctor and nobody faces ruinous out-of-pocket costs.

But critics including some analysts and every conservative on the planet say a single-payer health care system is as it seems: too good to be true.

This is Lucy and the football, quipped Thomas Miller, a resident fellow and health care specialist at the Washington-based non-profit American Enterprise Institute. The closer you get, the harder it is to kick it.

Many progressives embraced single-payer last year as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, touted its merits during his presidential run.

Sanders was in Columbus last week making some of those same points.

After we defeat this disastrous Republican health plan, he declared, our job is to go forward and pass Medicare-for-all single-payer system. If every other major country on earth can do it, surely this country can do it as well.

Sanders is hardly alone among progressives. The California state senate last month approved a single-payer model while 112 Democrats in the U.S. House have co-sponsored a single-payer plan financed by taxes instead of premiums, out-of-pocket expenses, and co-pays charged by insurance companies and hospitals.

Most people would be paying less than they are paying now and they would get better health care, said Gerald Friedman, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst who helped design the single-payer plan Sanders promoted last year.

Its a win-win win except if youre a drug company or an insurance company or a hospital, Friedman said.

But Republicans and some analysts dont see it as a win-win. They cite Sanders home state of Vermont, which dropped efforts in 2014 to install a single-payer system after state lawmakers discovered how high they would have to raise taxes.

Critics also note that while the California state senate approved a single-payer plan, the state assembly shelved the idea when the cost was estimated at $200 billion a year.

Vermont is a highly instructive as a case example because the governor and the legislature were so determined to do it, said John E. McDonough, a professor of public health practice at the Harvard School of Public Health. They gave it everything they had and couldnt make it work.

Health care around the world

Supporters of single-payer tend to cite the Canadian Medicare system as the ideal, but there are a wide variety of systems where governments play a role in health care.

In Canada, taxes finance about 71 percent of all health costs and all Canadians are covered. A patient does not pay to see a physician, and the doctor bills the province for the fee.

According to the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation in New York City that analyzes health-care systems throughout the world, more than 60 percent of Canadians also buy private insurance to pay for services not covered by the government, such as vision and dental care and prescription drugs.

Great Britain offers a much more socialized system based on taxes financing a comprehensive system of free physician care and public hospitals. They run the health system like the town of Amherst runs its fire department: Its paid for and if you need it, you use it, Friedman said.

Most industrialized nations such as Canada, Great Britain, Germany and Australia spend less than 12 percent of gross domestic product on health care, while the United States spends 17 percent, according to the Commonwealth Fund. Other industrialized nations also have longer life expectancy and lower rates of infant mortality than the United States.

During his appearance last weekend before 2,200 people in Columbus, Sanders said he lives 50 miles away from Canada; they manage to provide health care to all their people. Go to Germany, go to the U.K., go to Scandinavia, go to France. Every major country understands that in a civilized society, health care must be a right for all people.

Yet most Americans have never warmed to a national health insurance system. In a statewide ballot campaign in California in 1994, less than 27 percent of voters supported adoption of a single-payer system. A similar statewide ballot issue in 2002 in Oregon won the support of just 21.5 percent of the voters.

Although Friedman argues Americans would save money by paying taxes instead of health costs, Kenneth Thorpe, chairman of the Department of Health Policy and Management at Emory University in Atlanta, said Friedman is not even close to being right.

Last year Thorpe, a former Clinton administration official, calculated that Sanders single-payer plan would require the federal government to raise nearly $14 trillion in new revenue during a 10-year-span.

We would need a Value Added Tax for single-payer; youre not going to do that through the income tax, said AEIs Miller. This is make-believe land.

Some results better in U.S.

In determining why America is less healthy than many other countries, the nations obesity rate cant be ignored.

Canada and Great Britain both have obesity rates around 25 percent, or one in four people. Japan is in single digits. Countries like Sweden and Denmark are at 11.7 and 14.2 percent, while the U.S. was 35.3 percent, according to the latest data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The quality of care differs greatly by country, but the American health care system does fare better in some categories.

On sophisticated care, such as cancer treatments, the U.S. system produces substantially better results without the waiting times that plague the Canadian and British systems. The Commonwealth Fund concluded that between 1995 and 2007, cancer mortality rates in the U.S. plummeted at a faster rate than any other major country.

I think if you look at the countries that spend less than us and have better outcomes there are two reasons, said Thorpe. One is they have a better primary care system And second they integrate better and spend more on social services, housing and things like that.

At the specialty level we do very well on different types of cancer and cancer treatments and mortality rates.

Marion Renault of the Columbus Dispatch contributed to this story.

View original post here:
Progressives tout single-payer as health care alternative - Dayton Daily News

With four Maryland progressive groups holding major events in different parts of the state last weekend, activists had to make tough choices about which activity to attend or rush from one to the other.

Trying to avoid the same problem, another group is rethinking plans to hold a forum for gubernatorial candidates on Sept.9, the day a different coalition of activists is scheduled to march on Washington for racial justice.

The scores of left-leaning organizations that have cropped up since the 2016 election often trip over each other as leaders try to harness a groundswell of opposition to President Trump and Gov. Larry Hogan (R) in a way that could impact the states 2018 election.

In addition to scheduling problems, they have clashed over issues as basic as whether to endorse a candidate early in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, or wait until all the hopefuls have had a chance to campaign.

There always seems to be some kind of conflict, said Betsy Halsey, who chairs United for Maryland, which had proposed the Sept.9 forum. She hastened to add that she thinks the proliferation of groups is good for the progressive movement, and that efforts are underway to improve coordination.

Bob Muehlenkamp, a longtime activist who chairs Our Revolution Maryland, said the leaders of many emerging groups are new to political activity and are strategizing as they go along.

Theyve been very effective with various resistance activities since Trump was elected, but thats not enough, he said. You cant have an effective state legislative program or political program with these groups functioning on their own.

[Our Revolution Md. moves to endorse Jealous for governor]

The Maryland groups are part of a vocal and visible wave of activism that has swept the country since the 2016 election cycle. Progressive organizations fueled the upstart presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and turned the selection of a Democratic National Committee chair after the election into a battle between the partys left and centrist elements. But progressives ultimately lost both battles, with the nomination of Democrat Hillary Clinton and the selection of establishment favorite Tom Perez for DNC chair.

It remains to be seen whether progressive groups in Maryland will succeed in nominating one of their own to challenge Hogan in 2018, or will be able to achieve their other goals of pushing the party to the left in Annapolis and denting the governors sky-high approval ratings.

Im not sure yet how this will play out in the Democratic primary for governor, but I think it means going into the general election that there will be a lot of energy and activity, said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

When progressive and resistance groups have formed a united front, they have often made an impact. For example, several joined forces this year to successfully fight a Baltimore County Council measure that would have required local correctional officers to participate in a federal program to carry out certain immigration-enforcement measures.

Many activist leaders say collaboration will be key to replicating that kind of success in the midterm elections.

We have to demonstrate and write letters to elected representatives, but that has to be backed up by then working on elections, supporting candidates that meet our ideology and even recruiting candidates, said Sheila Ruth, of the Baltimore County Progressive Democrats. In order to do that, we have to work together. Theres a lot at stake here not only the Trump-Republican thing we have to resist, but we want to go beyond that and start to work toward progressive priorities.

Kathleen Matthews, who was tapped by party elders this year to chair the Maryland Democratic Party, has made a point of reaching out to progressives, inviting activists to participate in voter-outreach training sessions and giving Ruth a seat on the organizations diversity leadership council.

Matthews said she sees progressive groups becoming more and more organized despite their disparate efforts.

I see them as rocket fuel to help us move forward our efforts, she said. They have a lot of passion and determination and are working with us in many parts of the state.

State Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Montgomery), who has said he will run for governor in 2018 and is courting the progressive vote , said he sees some value in the chaos, as long as the groups are generally pointed in the same direction.

People are bringing their own activism and issues and enthusiasm to the table, he said. Its organic, its exciting, and Id hate for any part of that to be lost because there is a sense that we all have to coalesce around certain issues.

[At least two Democrats seek progressive mantle in Md. governors race]

Similarly, Georgetown University history professor Michael Kazin, who specializes in U.S. politics and social movements, said that movements are messy but tend to succeed because people agree in general what direction to move.

For their part, Maryland Republicans say they are not particularly concerned about the surge in activism, and are focused on their quest to win enough seats in the state Senate to disrupt the Democrats veto-proof majority.

Anger is not a strategy, said state GOP chair Dirk Haire. Were pretty unified, and Ive been working closely with all of our various Republican groups across the state to make sure everyone is on the same page. Republicans arent sitting around in a salon in Takoma Park talking about how bad Trump is. Theyre walking the streets with an app on their phones, figuring out who might vote for us next year.

With just under a year until the Democratic primary, progressive groups disagree over whether and when to endorse one of the candidates vying for the right to challenge Trump.

Some want to hold off until candidates have participated in debates and proven that they can appeal broadly to an electorate, while others plan to endorse early, in part out of concern that the states Democratic leaders move quickly to help centrist candidates win the partys nomination.

We have to make the decision earlier and unite around one candidate and bring in all the resources the money and the people behind them, said Muehlenkamp, of Our Revolution, which on Friday started canvassing its supporters about endorsing Jealous, a former board member. You wont get the establishment Democratic Party to hold off. Theyll get together and quietly come up with whoever theyre going to support.

Groups associated with the Indivisible movement and Women Indivisible Strong Effective, say that endorsing a gubernatorial candidate could hurt their cause in conservative-leaning districts. Their leaders said they will focus instead on educating voters about the voting records of incumbents and where candidates stand on the issues.

If we go issue by issue, theres a lot more room for consensus, said Katherine Bain, a member of the steering committee for WISEs Severna Park chapter. We want to create a wealth of information for people and hopefully avoid this habit of people marking an entire column for either the Ds or the Rs.

Together We Will , which hosted a June24 meeting with progressive leaders from across the state, is working to organize a follow-up session this fall, with the goal of coordinating strategies for the states 2018 legislative session and primary elections.

Additionally, a coalition of activists organizing as the progressive caucus plans to meet July26 to discuss how to better coordinate their efforts.

Theres room for different strategies, Bain said. And well see at the end of the day if that adds up to more progressive candidates winning elections.

Read the original:
Maryland progressive groups learn that 'movements are messy ... - Washington Post

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Radio host Mark Levin, author of "Rediscovering Americanism," criticized the progressive movement for "rejecting" the principles laid out in the Declaration of Independence.

Ahead of Independence Day, the New York Times ran a full-page feature on the Constitution.

Levin said the feature was just another example of the progressive left misunderstanding American history and the principles of this country.

He noted Constitution Day is September 17, and that July 4 instead honors the Declaration of Independence.

"The entire progressive movement rejects the Declaration of Independence," Levin, a former DOJ chief of staff, said.

"That's why you'll never see a full page of the Declaration of Independence in the New York Times," he said.

He said that progressives believe that rights come from the government, while the Declaration describes how they are inalienable grants to humanity from God.

Levin said those who fought and died in the Revolution would be "appalled" by progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who believe in a central government redistributing wealth.

"[They] can't have health care unless the government controls it and redistributes it," he said.

Levin also discussed the media's fixation with President Trump's feud with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, remarking that "sonograms" have better ratings than MSNBC.

Watch the clip above.

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See original here:
Mark Levin: 'The Entire Progressive Movement Rejects the Declaration of Independence' - Fox News Insider

Not every city is a fan of innovation.

Jared Meyer, senior research fellow at the Foundation for Government Accountability and author of How Progressive Cities Fight Innovation, has conducted extensive national research on the impact of government regulation of innovative services.

Discussing the results of his studies, Meyer tells OneNewsNow the map is "all over the place" in terms of regulations on Uber and Airbnb.

Uber, launched in 2009,competes with cab companies by offering rides arranged by private drivers.Airbnb is an online room rental service that began in 2008.

Some cities completely outlaw renting out part of your home or apartment on Airbnb, and others enthusiastically embrace ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, explains Meyer. So it really depends on the city, and youre going to get tons of different regulations depending on where youre looking in the country.

Meyer says this inconsistent regulation is not happening only in progressive cities located in blue states.

For example, he recounts that in 2015 Nashville bowed to pressure from special interests in the hotel industry and organized labor by passing an ordinance that restricted residents freedom to rent out their homes.

Some states, meanwhile, have passed or are considering legislation to prevent cities from enacting restrictions that frown on new online services connecting buyers and sellers i.e., the sharing economy.

The sharing economy is something that Progressives should embrace, never mind that its just embracing changes in technology, continues Meyer. But what weve seen is that over the past few years, the battle lines have been drawn where we have proudly progressive mayors and city council members fighting back against these services, rather than wholeheartedly embracing them.

For too long, Meyer says, cities established policies that effectively created government monopolies on certain services, specifically with for-hire vehicles.

Concerning his study of such government monopolies, Meyer says private, for-hire transportation became a "luxury" enjoyed only by the wealthy.

Now, because Uber and Lyft were able to go around these decades-old antiquated regulations," says the researcher, "they brought that service truly to the 99 percent. So I would hope that if they went under, we would have a new competitor step in that would be able to serve even more people effectively and affordably.

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When innovation meets Progressives and pressure - OneNewsNow

A catastrophe is unfolding just south of the Wisconsin border. Illinois is going bankrupt.

The state has over $140 billion in unpaid debts and future pension benefit obligations without the resources to pay these obligations. It is so bad that Powerball is pulling out of Illinois because the state can't afford to pay the winners.

How did Illinois get in this fix? The answer is progressive politics and initiatives. For over 50 years Illinois has been run by progressives with their tax-and-spend philosophy. It hasn't worked. You cannot endlessly promise more and more benefits and programs without a means to pay for them and borrowing to cover the shortfall.

This is what progressives want for America and in many cases what we already have. In the near future, Illinois might default, or be forced to implement massive tax increases, and that won't be enough to protect the pensions of public employees across the state or pay all the bills.

So when people wax poetically about the wonderful nature of progressive ideology, just think about Illinois and you will see the terrible problems it brings.

Joseph Tripalin, McFarland

Originally posted here:
Progressive politics led to Illinois' plight -- Joseph Tripalin - Madison.com