"Public option" death spiral

Rightwingers are aiming to kill urgently needed single-payer universal healthcare, Medicare For All (M4A). They are proposing a "public option" that would leave power, control and profits in private insurers' hands. (How's that been workin' for ya?)

Case in point: corporate mainstream news spotlighted Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and "Medicare for All" again this morning, Monday 10/28/19. https://www.npr.org/2019/10/28/773397337/elizabeth-warrens-ambiguity-on-health-care-comes-with-some-side-effects

NPR's so-called 'centrist' slant: M4A is hurting Warren's candidacy, Warren is wavering on M4A, M4A is unpopular with voters, and Sanders is increasingly isolated on M4A. M4A is "too expensive" for voters to support; people are more likely to accept a "public option." Warren is more likely than Sanders to be "pragmatic" on this issue (that is, cave to the corporate rightwing 'centrists').

IMO, directly or indirectly this narrative has Third Way's fingerprints all over it. Third Way is the rightwing-funded 'stink tank' allied with Joe Biden.

RIGHTWINGERS BAIT THE HOOK.

As a corporate media sockpuppet, NPR today clearly signaled to Elizabeth Warren what position she needs to take if she wants the support of old business-as-usual Democratic Party regulars. Basic message: "Betray single-payer and we'll embrace you." In the most explicit way to date, they've baited the hook.

HOW DO WE COUNTERATTACK?

We M4A advocates must flip the script by attacking the bait, the "public option" itself (and, by extension, other crappy incremental non-solutions). We must hammer hard on these raw, inconvenient truths:

(a) while rightwingers and their corporate media puppets call M4A "too expensive," in the long run it's really the "public option" that would be too expensive — triggering a  "death spiral" in the healthcare economy;

(b) the "public option" death spiral will be driven by rightwing ideology, not economics (see item "a"); and

(c) the "public option" will still shut out millions of families while leaving private insurers in control. It's a nonstarter.

There could also be a fourth point: (d) the "public option" is racist because it would disproportionally hurt black and brown families. The harm would come from income inequality causing unequal access to a "public option" buy-in. Harm would also come simply from depriving folks of comprehensive universal healthcare.

DEATH PANELS, MEET DEATH SPIRAL.

In item "a," I mentioned a "death spiral." We are ripping this page from the rightwing playbook. Remember "death panels"? A Big Lie, but it lived on everyone's lips and made big political impacts. Even today, people remember this phrase. (2019 marks the tenth anniversary of the "death panels" meme — a newsworthy factoid we could turn to our advantage.)

Glance over the history of "death panels." In the far right's 2009 fight against Obamacare, this term was coined by Sarah Palin, America's version of poisoned Halloween candy. "Death panels" emerged from a false narrative about doctors counseling old people on how to die. It was so devastatingly effective, PolitiFact named it Lie of the Year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_panel

Note: While we abhor morally bankrupt rightwingers and their lies, we had better learn from these masters of influencing audiences. We should do what works (pragmatism), but tell truth not lies (principle).

I propose that our version of the catchy "death panel" meme should be the "death spiral:" an ideology- and greed-driven dynamic that can collapse the broken US healthcare system like a house of cards. It's not a new idea, only now placed at the center of a specific narrative.

TURNING THE TABLES.

Is this fearmongering? Yep. We're going to flip this rightwing strategy back on the "looters in suits" who are using it to deprive millions of families of the comprehensive healthcare they desperately need. Except in our case we're peddling fear grounded in truth.  

The right wing is falsely scaring people away from single-payer Medicare for All. We aim to legitimately scare people away from the public option.