It matters not what party

Trumpcare, the republican HC beast from hell, is temporarily in stasis but it could still be passed given just how determined the repugs want Obamacare gone no matter what the cost may be. More interesting is the opposition to single payer from the dems side even though a very strong majority of Americans want it now because lives are at stake, including my own.

"Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, replied with a flat 'no' when asked if Democrats should make single-payer a central theme in 2018," the Times reported. "The comfort level with the broader base of the American people is not there yet," Pelosi said. 

The House minority leader, however, is wrong. Polls show the public supports "Medicare for all," and has for years. A recent Economist/YouGov poll, for instance, shows 60 percent support for the policy, including 75 percent of Democrats. Even a plurality of Republicans supports single payer: 46 percent support Medicare for All, compared with 38 percent opposed. (Seventeen percent are not sure.)

This begs the questions: If Medicare for All has popular support why do power brokers like Pelosi claim it isn't viable? What constituency is not "comfortable" with a more efficient system that would provide universal health care? It is an especially relevant question now when we see Republicans go full bore trying to pass a bill that has only 12 percent support from the public, according to a USA Today poll. 

The fact is that a very small and powerful group of rich people would be a little less rich if single-payer became a reality. "Insurance and pharmaceutical firms are the most important opponents of single payer," said Dr. David Himmelstein, a founder of Physicians for a National Health Program, in an interview with Truthout. For-profit hospitals and manufacturers of medical devices oppose single-payer for the same reasons, he added.

These industries, and not the public, are the constituency who are not "comfortable," with Medicare for All. This group might represent a very small number of people, but it is disproportionately powerful. In fact, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, Pelosi gets more money from health services than from any other industry -- more than double the amount she receives from public-sector unions and investment firms combined:

It matters not what party as it's all about the money.