@dalamon @One Brow @jimmy eat jazz @Red @Zombie
If you could focus on and get one agenda item passed would it be free healthcare or free college education? Why?
Healthcare. Most people marry and have families. You, or any of your family could eventually face insurmountable medical bills. Both my wife and I are enrolled in a Medicare advantage plan that includes prescription drug coverage. I retained an employer based health plan for both of us, which is our secondary health insurance. If you're like me, and take a ridiculous number of prescriptions daily, if all I had was the Medicare plan, I'd be in a bind, since I'm on a fixed income.
My scripts alone, monthly, outstrip the high premium I pay to retain my secondary insurance, so it was smart to retain a secondary insurance, which reduces most script co-pays to $0. If we went to a Medicare for all system that eliminated, as Bernie's plan does, all private health insurance plans, I'd be in a bind again. And that's only because of the cost of prescription drugs, not counting any major medical issues.
And there is now a nationwide scarcity of many generic medicines. My doctor tells me 2019 will be the worst year yet for such shortages. If forced to chose a brand name instead, the cost can potentially be prohibitive.
Having two insurance plans does have the advantage of reducing doctor visits, procedures, and hospitalization to $0 co-pays, so we are lucky in that respect.