December 20, 2017

Is “Medicare for All” a Winner for Democrats in 2018?

Bill Clark/Congressional Quarterly/Newscom via ZUMA

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Atrios says:

Gotta Give People Something to Vote For

The issue has never been annoying bernie bros who piss you off on the internet. It’s the vast number of people who don’t bother voting because why should they…. “Trump sucks” might win 2018, but if Dems don’t deliver then “Dems suck” will win in 2020.

This is true, but it’s also a problem. Donald Trump will be president until 2020 no matter how well Democrats do in next year’s midterm elections. Given that, there’s really no way for them to deliver anything. And even if they do, Trump will probably get the credit for it. Presidents always do.

Still, if there is anything that Dems could credibly promise, my best guess is some version of universal health care. The basic pitch would be that they’ve learned their lesson: incremental change doesn’t work because Republicans will sabotage it the first chance they get. If we want real health care for everyone, with no nonsense about out-of-network swindles or narrow networks or skyrocketing costs, then we need something like Medicare for All. Maybe that’s what Dems should propose. Maybe something else. Or maybe an improved version of Medicare for All (probably my choice)¹ that phases in over time. And liberals being liberals, it should be accompanied by a hundred-page white paper explaining precisely how it would work and precisely how it would be paid for.

I dunno. Do you think Democrats could get their entire caucus to buy into this? After the events of the past year, you’d sure think so. But then, we’re talking about Democrats here. You just never know.

¹Or maybe an improved version of Medicaid for All.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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