Polls consistently show the public supports Democrats more than Republicans on healthcare policy, even as they trust Republicans more on other issues like inflation and immigration
Right, I'm a pretty engaged Democrat, but I'm asking: what reforms do you think are within the boundaries of acceptable to the median voter? Clearly single-payer is not. It couldn't even survive in Vermont.
as someone from VT, VT was way too small to do single-payer on it's own The whole point of single payer is to have a monopsony that can effectively negotiate with everyone else. For it to have a chance, they would have had to join with MA.
I think the reform that would be acceptable to the median voter is a public option for Obamacare. Just let people select Medicare as an option instead of one of the private companies (and even better, let companies provide it as an option for their employees as well).
thats the option that I have always preferred, provided the opt in Medicare/medicaid option is provided at cost to the general public.
If set up this way, I dont see why anyone would reject it. At worst, it would be another option amongst many.
The poison pill would be if opt-in medicare was funded from taxes on the general public who were paying concurrently for their private insurance. Medicaid funding would continue to support the poor.
However, this would only be a start. The real problem with US healthcare is a lack of spending controls. European socialized healthcare refuses to purchase treatment if the cost/Quality of life improvement is too low.