Is anyone in the U.S. persuadable? An author talks to AOC and other ‘Persuaders’
While most Americans could live with a single-payer system, some have trouble imagining it happening in their lifetime. AOC thinks that’s a sign of weakness
“Would you have a problem with a government controlled by a single payer system?”
That’s the sort of line that has been asked of AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and other like-minded Democratic Socialist contenders, like Sen. Bernie Sanders, who have been telling Americans that, yes, when it comes to healthcare and single-payer, they’d vote to pull the plug and go back into the Stone Age.
When they get into private healthcare, Medicare-for-all, free college, and so on, they tell us that a government-regulated market is just too complicated for the average person to figure out.
“It’s a mess,” says Sen. Sanders. “It’s not even something you can figure out if you try.”
No, we don’t believe you, Bernie. But the truth is that, based on surveys we’ve conducted, it’s actually quite easy to understand.
A single-payer system
For starters, what does an “individual mandate” look like?
It’s pretty easy to imagine: A private insurance plan has an office and a staff. (They’re the same whether you sign on for Medicare, Blue Cross or the HMO.) If you get sick, you go to that office, the doctor they use, whatever, and they tell you they have a treatment for you.
If you can’t afford it, they tell you there’s nothing they can do for you.
But an individual mandate is also easy to imagine