I just don't understand what these middle class liberals are afraid of. The Chris Matthews of the world are insane rich people who always live in fear of communists robbing them blind, that I get. If you're a loyal blue dog living in a cozy suburb with a partner, two kids and a dog, what are you worried about under a Sanders presidency? Taxes going up under M4A (even though the net price would still be less than health insurance)?
A lot of them say they're afraid of losing to Trump with a Bernie nomination, but if they think anybody in the current field has a better shot at beating Trump, they're deliberately obtuse. Nevada should make it extremely obvious who the party is uniting behind. Even the canvasser I talked to earlier today is a Warren supporter but said she understands why Bernie is so popular, that Bernie is popular with young voters including her kids, and she's 100% behind him in a general election because she's concerned about wealth inequality, health care, and climate change. I said it earlier in this thread, but I think once we're past the primary and the tribalistic nature of it, most of these loyal blue dog voters will have no problem voting for Bernie, especially against Trump.
A lot of middle class liberals legitimately think they're current health care plan is better in quality than M4A will, and they're simply not going to believe you that their taxes going up is worth it, and that their coverage will be better because of it. I also think a lot of middle class liberals would agree that the current field isn't all that great, but they wouldn't consider that a positive for Bernie.
Putting that aside, I'm going to take Adam's post from PoliERA about what he's personally wary of Medicare for All, as he' somebody who is a parent with a child with lots of health care issues, who has a husband that's part of a union, that doesn't support M4A.
"You mean like the Union benefits specifically? That would vary from group to group. So, I can speak to what my husband and I have. We pay nothing for our coverage. It's all part of the negotiated package through the union. It covers all of us (my husband, myself and our 6 kids). Our out of pocket maximum is a little over $12,000. Once we reach that, we pay nothing. (And with my son's MS, we reach that by January 14th of each year.) Based on what we earn, Bernie's 4.4% tax would increase our healthcare costs by about $4000 a year. Again, we are very fortunate in what we make., and I am 100% aware of that. But , like I said, my son has a ton of medical issues and we are huge consumers of healthcare. Our insurance covers all of his treatments now, including drugs that are simply not covered by Medicare/Medicaid. The gamble of M4A is too great for someone like me. My son's treatments are the difference between him being a normal healthy kid or ending up in a wheelchair by the time he's 20. There are a lot of folks like me who simply do not want to gamble with what we currently have.
The bigger issue though as it relates to some union members is they have negotiated their healthcare coverage. They may have done this in exchange for agreeing to take less of a raise, etc. While that certainly will eventually be a thing of the past, they're going to get screwed RIGHT NOW by ripping away their healthcare coverage and forcing them on M4A. I think there is a lot of justified fear and anxiety. The one thing I'm surprised Pete and Klob and Biden haven't used is to argue that if you go with M4A and the GOP gets in...you're putting your healthcare in the hands of Republicans. To me, that would be a big effective attack on the idea. But maybe that's just me.
Ya, we would pay more under Bernie 's plan. But that's not my sole opposition. And I'm definitely aware of the changes Bernie wants to make to Medicare. The issue is there are no countries in the world doing what he's arguing for. You have to have cost controls, so you either ration care or deny treatments that aren't cost effective. The drugs my son are on are not ones that are covered by Medicare our Medicaid at the moment. What Bernie is asking is to trust that the government won't screw with my kids care. That's a huge ask, and it's not something I'm willing to gamble with. "
Again, maybe you disagree with that, but there are reasonable reasons to oppose M4A for example, while not wanting poor people to die.
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