Aftermath of the Trumpcare Failure

What are your guys' thoughts on recent bipartisan pushes?

I definitely agree with you on the issue of negotiating with drug companies. While drug companies do need a certain amount of profit to be incentivized to conduct R&D, which is often quite expensive, their profit margins shouldn't come at the expensive of unnecessarily high drug prices, especially for our senior citizens.

I think that single payer healthcare is viable, but we will need to really examine our tax code and drug prices. I wrote about this in my op-ed, "Why Healthcare Needs American Right", where I laid out the need to increase payroll, corporate, estate, and capital gains taxes. We would also need to amend the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, which bars the federal government from negotiating drug prices with pharmaceutical companies for Medicare recipients. My optimism comes from the analysis of Gerald Friedman, an economist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He found that single-payer would provide a surplus under Rep. John Conyers' plan.

Sources:

https://www.bridge-the-divide.com/single-post/2017/07/12/Why-Healthcare-Needs-to-be-an-American-Right

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/080615/6-reasons-healthcare-so-expensive-us.asp?lgl=myfinance-layout-no-ads

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/jan/13/how-much-would-bernie-sanders-health-care-plan-cos/

I really do hope that healthcare will be able to become more bipartisan, even to the extent that the amendment process was during the ACA (though not when the bill was passed). More open summits and conferences on the Hill might aid with this.

Would single payer healthcare be economically sustainable and financially viable for the US to currently transition to?

Whenever I express anger towards Republicans, I want to make clear that I am referring to the elected officials and not the voters. Many independents, who voted for Trump in this past election, and Republican voters who rely on Planned Parenthood and Medicaid dislike Trumpcare. Trumpcare consistently ranks at 20% approval or less, so its unpopularity bypasses party lines for the American electorate. I am encouraging Democratic leaders to push for single-payer healthcare because they are the more liberal party within our two-party system and would be more likely to push for it. That's all. If a Republican official wants to push for an effective way to make healthcare a human right, I would be ecstatic. The ultimate goal is for every citizen to be insured without overwhelming premiums. However, I feel there is enough evidence to suggest that healthcare does not benefit from a free-market solution.

I can definitely see where you are coming from. The idea of completely slashing the Affordable Care Act without having a reliable replacement truly worries me. If this plays out in the favor of those who are anti-Obamacare, 32 million people would be uninsured by 2026 (http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/30/news/economy/obamacare-repeal-trump/index.html). The ACA still needs work and its current state definitely isn't flawless. I do, however, find it unnecessary to completely wipe the ACA to create a "clean state" rather than building onto it or fixing parts that need work.

On a separate note: yes, it is the overwhelming majority of Republicans who support "Trumpcare" (or more accurately, reject Obamacare). However, looking at one party as the antagonist furthers the "us vs. them" mentality and with that, it will be harder to work together towards a solution. It is my hope that Democrats and Republicans reach a middle-ground with said solution, as opposed to solely Democrats bringing forward an exclusively Democrat-planned healthcare. The form of healthcare that the government agrees upon will cover people of all parties alike, and should be created with everyone's input considered.