Mastodawn

"Like all of neoliberalism, the last five decades of health care debate was a deal between the right and left to have social goods distributed through increasingly powerful corporations instead of directly through the state. Progressives got something close to universal health insurance 'coverage,' while the right got a privatized system with no limits on corporate power and no price transparency."

-Matt Stoller, #Obamacare Is Cooked. What's Next?
https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/monopoly-round-up-obamacare-is-cooked

Monopoly Round-Up: Obamacare Is Cooked. What's Next?

With big health insurance hikes coming, another health care crisis is here. Where's all the money going? And what comes now? Plus Argentina votes for the Trump bailout, Warner is for sale and more...

BIG by Matt Stoller

The crazy part about the ACA or Obamacare:

In 1995, Hillary Clinton as first wife, proposed universal health care. She was reviled with "government death panels" and howling by republicans.

At that time, republicans and their think tank, Heritage Foundation, proposed an alternate plan that had markets, health plans, etc.

This noname guy from Massachusetts took this plan and ran it in his state. Ever hear of the republican Mitt Romney? Yeah, that nobody.

Then Obama wanted to take Romneycare and the Heritage Foundations plan and make it national. And gee golly, howls of socialism... From a republican plan.

He instituted it, barely. But "Soshulism" screams are now regularly made. Nobody remembers the history:

The ACA was a republican plan!

This makes me think of the "kneeling for the national anthem" craze. Colin Kaepernick originally sat for it, got some hate. In a public debate with a vocal critic, they agreed that kneeling would get his point across while being respectful. He started kneeling. And he got more hate than ever.

The lesson is clear, if you compromise with these people, if you meet them half-way, they will run in the opposite direction to maintain distance.

Overton window shifted.

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rukenau

@cimeryd @crankylinuxuser @pluralistic
Most individuals on the right don't realize what they're a part of. The guy Kaepernick chatted with was probably sincere in the moment. There are some wonks on the right that were momentarily willing to work with the ACA.

Then the right wing ~news~ propaganda ecosystem found something to exploit. They never say what they mean, so it's easy for them to move the goalposts. Fundamentally we don't fix this without breaking their hold over ordinary people.