Got health Insurance, Bernie Will Take it Away - Granite Grok

Got health Insurance, Bernie Will Take it Away

Bernie

Bernie did well positionally in both Iowa and New Hampshire. That’s good for his campaign, but he did not do as well as he did four years ago. That is maybe not so good. The question is why is that?

Wel reason may be health insurance.

Health Insurance

It turns out where people have private health insurance Bernie Sanders doesn’t run very well. I’ spare you the historical who does better and by how much. Those things are going to vary across the country. The point here is that people are starting to evaluate Bernie as a candidate whose policies might get implemented. He’s no longer just the cranky old socialist you vote for as a protest against the political system.

Sanders is campaigning on a Medicare for All proposal.  Bernie’s plan will end private health insurance. His lack of success in areas with voters of higher usage rates of private insurance reinforces concerns. The Vermont senator will undermine down-ballot Democrats in the general election. This may be a very good thing.

Suburban districts key to the House majority hold high proportions of privately insured adults.  Hhhmmm… Democratic candidates across the country are retreating from Medicare for All. This is while Bernie seems to be emerging as the frontrunner in a crowded primary field.

People threatened

The proposal also threatens to alienate a key liberal constituency.  Labor unions are pushing back against the elimination of health insurance benefits. Health insurance is an important talking point and negotiation win for them historically. Unions only negotiate wages, benefits, working conditions and discipline.

Ending health insurance cuts a leg off their stool. A key union in Nevada released a flyer saying Sanders will “end health care”.  The alignment of constituencies is changing.  Unions may come into play for the Republicans. Their membership already is trending because Trump speaks blue collar fluently.

Sanders repeatedly cites Medicare for All as a reason for his victory in New Hampshire. In New Hampshire Sanders lost Rockingham County and struggled in Hillsborough and Merrimack Counties. (He won by about 1%.) Close to 80% of adults there have private health insurance. He won those counties handily, high double digits, in his 2016 primary.

What it means in Hew Hampshire it could mean elsewhere

More than 64% of the state’s population resides in the three counties. Trump won Hillsborough, home to one-third of the state’s population, by fewer than 500 votes in 2016. A strong showing in the county of more than 400,000 could be enough to flip the state from blue to red. Representative Chris Pappas of the First Congressional District is refusing to endorse Medicare for All.

Chris Pope, a health care expert at the Manhattan Institute said: “Democrats are going to be forced to answer questions like:
Do you really support the tax increases that are necessary for Medicare for All?
Are you really going to support banning private insurance?
Do you really support what Bernie’s threatening to do to your local hospitals, revenue insolvency?
These are all going to be big, unpleasant questions for a lot of Democrats…”

Have you got private health Insurance? Bernie will take it away. Just think about that when you are thinking about voting socialist. It’ll cost ya’.

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