The Sanders Administration: Medicare For All
The Sanders Administration's ambitions were among the greatest of any recent President elected. Cancelling student loans, eliminating all sorts of debts, increasing wages, etc. Unsurprisingly, many people were quite skeptical of Sanders' ability to achieve these actions and why he got some attention in 2012, he would be overshadowed. However, far from forgotten, he would gain more attention over time. As dissatisfication with the standard politician grew, challenges and demands were being of them to accept the will of the people and enabled by the domestic failures of the McCain Administration, it led to more people asking and pushing.
Why couldn't they get the healthcare or the student loans? The questions of money and cost was tossed around yet countered with the numbers. The taxcuts given to the very wealthy and corporations, the military budget that had seen increases since it was arbited by the Gore Administraton. It painted a picture of a nation who's leadership did not care about the people.
And so Sanders was voted in by enabling the voters to take action. He embraced openness to let the public know the stance of every politician currently in office and made sure people were aware of the importance of local elections, regional elections and so on. He told the people to take charge and hold their politicians accountable.
Every Congress official now had a Sword of Damocles hanging on their head over whether or not to support the bill. Private media had its hands tied over how to report on it given how the UK saw a backfire effect of trying to slam Corbyn had, mainly with the open secret of their conservative leanings and support. Plus, the Fairness doctrine remained and forced them to be impartial.
Medicare For All was chosen to be the first of Sanders' major reforms to be passed, arguably because it would be the easiest to do so. It was reforming and expanding a program already in place, especially since Medicare for Kids under President Gore proved that money would be saved in the long run with the nationalized healthcare system. However, Sanders wanted to go further beyond. As stated regarding in his key points:
- Create a Medicare for All, single-payer, national health insurance program to provide everyone in America with comprehensive health care coverage, free at the point of service.
- No networks, no premiums, no deductibles, no copays, no surprise bills.
- Medicare coverage will be expanded and improved to include: include dental, hearing, vision, and home- and community-based long-term care, in-patient and out-patient services, mental health and substance abuse treatment, reproductive and maternity care, prescription drugs, and more.
- Stop the pharmaceutical industry from ripping off the American people by making sure that no one in America pays over $200 a year for the medicine they need by capping what Americans pay for prescription drugs under Medicare for All.
The staunch Sanders' supporting wing had been pushing this and every politician who would try and vote this down would be exposed for a lack of care in the US. However, more notably was rumored plans to give politicians the same sort of healthcare access to everyone else. The underlying tone: If the commonfolk could not have premium tax-funded healthcare, why should the people they vote in to represent them do so? The Democrats have been growing gradually cowed into compliance to do so, especially as the new changes in leadership were doing so. Republicans were more mixed, but Sanders' populist standpoint transcended party lines
This was shown when some Democrat reps would switch over to Republican out of "closer beliefs" though many point how most of them switched after showing a potential loss in their primary. However, when Medicare For All was being pushed in summer, Congress was forced to bend the knee and pass it through. Medicare and Medicaid would see large reforms and increased to create Americare or sometimes called Sanderscare.
People would have their cards and grant them in various medical facilities covering all manners of emergancies and surgeries. Vision and dental care would be included and the system would be able to encompass everyone with taxpayer money. Moreover, was the following plan of the eliminastion of medical debt held by millions of Americans and the plan to pay for it done by establishing an income inequality tax on large corporations that pay CEOs at least 50 times more than average workers. The fears of economic troubles went abound though other economists have pointed out that with the removal of "unnecessary debt" on the taxpayers, they would be free to actually spend money to keep the economy going and indeed, the passing and subsequent messages of debt forgiveness and coverage spread nationwide joy and celeberation.
Of course, the issue was far from done and certain state politicians scrambled to try and maintain some control regarding certain issues such as birth control though the grassroots movements and the growing campaigns have been spelling doom for them as well.
Others were on the issues of some insurance companies who may go under now that they as middlemen were cut. Some would survive by managing to mimic the Austrailian healthcare model to a degree and provide people with "premium" plans for certain hospitals, hoping that people could be convinced to pay more for priority though there was a very fine line to tread to ensure that this payment did not result in people being "bumped off" the list. This would become somewhat accepted while other admins and service economy folk who worked for private businesses would end up competing to join the public sector as it would still be necessary to manage the bureacracy within the newly expanded medical network. Others would go into travel insurance, who would remain around even as they had to adjust prices to deal with the new norm and working with the Sanders administration on such. Unions were somewhat split on the decision though others noted that with medical care less of an issue, they could focus on others, such as safety and pay.
Another concern was on the potential lack of medical officials if they head to different nations though that was a very short list, especially given specialists. When asked about the concerns for potential shortage, Sanders noted that it was indeed a problem to be addressed and explored the hurdles that came with becoming a specialist and general medical practioner. One very large commonality was cost and many people were surprised to see the large debts of medical professionals despite the money being made.
Sanders' ended his statement by noting that if the nation needs more doctors, caretakers and other vital workers, then the nation should be willing to fund these essential workers' education to be able to go and do their duty and not burden with unnecessary debt, hinting at what was to come and a reminder of the importance of the 2018 elections...
Nevertheless, many people happily went to see doctors for the first time in adulthood or in many years, fears and anxieties of medical debt vanished practically overnight. Life saving drugs would see their prices be utterly slashed and orders increasing for them, resulting in need for more production for the sake of the people. While the first few months would be rough to adjust to the new norm, many would find themselves more relieved and optimistic for the future and would lead to a long-term increase in support for Sanders.