Keep it simple on healthcare, Dems
Suppose you have an unhinged neighbour who wants to burn down your house. You’d probably spend much of your time making sure that that doesn’t happen. Drafting plans for a megamansion you hope to build where your house once stood probably wouldn’t be a priority.
But that seems to be the approach of some Democratic aspirants for the presidency, who spent big chunks of their recent debates arguing about details of costly ‘‘Medicare for All’’ plans that have no chance of becoming law.
The most expansive Medicare for All plans, offered by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, would remake the American health industry in a way that would do away with private
insurance. Plans such as these are not happening any time soon, even if Democrats manage to win the presidency.
They won’t happen for the simple reason that too many Americans have private insurance that they either like or would be apprehensive about losing for some uncertain alternative. Worse yet, the more Democrats talk about expensive and unattainable healthcare plans, the more they abet Trump’s re-election efforts.
It’s time for Democrats to get their priorities straight. With great effort and at substantial political cost, they built a better healthcare structure. Focus on saving it and making some home improvements, not on erecting some future dream home.