{"id":165,"date":"2019-12-16T19:23:58","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T19:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/?p=165"},"modified":"2023-01-19T02:15:25","modified_gmt":"2023-01-19T02:15:25","slug":"pushing-chris-murphy-on-medicare-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/pushing-chris-murphy-on-medicare-for-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Pushing Chris Murphy on Medicare for All"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/video.php?height=314&#038;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FMedicare4allCT%2Fvideos%2F3146509372049803%2F&#038;show_text=false&#038;width=560\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowFullScreen=\"true\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>On Sunday, December 15 I and several other members of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.medicare4allct.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Medicare for All Connecticut<\/a>, a grassroots activist group of which I am a part, attended a town hall event hosted by Senator Chris Murphy in Guilford. After brief introductory remarks on the impeachment of the president, the ACA\u2019s open enrollment deadline, and the anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting, Murphy opened up the floor for a public Q&amp;A. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For almost two hours, Murphy answered questions from audience members. Well over half of them were regarding Medicare for All. But you wouldn\u2019t know that from press coverage of the event:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>CTNewsJunkie.com: <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Murphy Talks Impeachment In Guilford (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ctnewsjunkie.com\/archives\/entry\/20191215_murphy_talks_impeachment_in_guilford\/\" target=\"_blank\">Murphy Talks Impeachment In Guilford<\/a> (mentions of healthcare or Medicare for All: 0)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>CT Post: <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Murphy on Trump impeachment: \u2018This is as serious as it gets\u2019 (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ctpost.com\/local\/article\/Murphy-on-Trump-impeachment-This-is-as-14909519.php\" target=\"_blank\">Murphy on Trump impeachment: \u2018This is as serious as it gets\u2019<\/a> (mentions of healthcare or Medicare for All: 0)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Patch: <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Murphy Talks Impeachment, Gun Control In Front Of Guilford Crowd (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/patch.com\/connecticut\/guilford\/murphy-talks-impeachment-gun-control-front-guilford-crowd\" target=\"_blank\">Murphy Talks Impeachment, Gun Control In Front Of Guilford Crowd<\/a> (mentions of healthcare or Medicare for All: 1 [\u201cA large contingent bantered back and forth with the senator about health insurance and the role government should play in paying for the cost of it.\u201d])<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Such an oversight seems like it must be deliberate, but who knows? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Let the Record Show<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Connecticut residents showed up in force to push Senator Murphy to support Medicare for All. They shared personal stories of pain. They recited hard data about our country\u2019s wasteful absurdity of a healthcare system. They highlighted the savings offered by Medicare for All \u2014 which come from streamlining our bloated and byzantine billing and insurance infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Murphy, who claims to support single payer <em>in theory<\/em> \u2014 instead offers a public option plan called \u201cChoose Medicare\u201d which would leave the predatory and parasitic private insurance industry intact. He says that a public insurance plan would give individuals the opportunity to \u201cchoose\u201d it over private insurance. He also claims that businesses would be able to take the burden of managing their employees\u2019 health insurance off of their plate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I had the chance to ask Murphy a question, I asked him to square that circle: How can a plan offer individual Americans the ability to \u201cchoose\u201d private insurance or a public option, while also empowering their employers to \u201cchoose\u201d to kick them off of their insurance onto the public plan? \u201cWhat would you say to someone,\u201d I asked, \u201cwho supported your public option and came to you later and said \u2018you told me I could choose to keep my insurance, but I couldn\u2019t.\u2019\u201d His answer, in a nutshell, was \u201csome people would choose the public option, and some businesses would too.\u201d This, of course, evades the substance of the question and overlooks one of the most glaring problems with any public option plan. But it\u2019s the best answer there is, really, which underscores how bad the problem is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Murphy said in his opening remarks that he likes to listen to his constituents, and that he\u2019s willing to change his mind based on what he hears. Here\u2019s hoping he means it, and here\u2019s hoping he changes his mind on Medicare for All. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>P.S. Please feel free to call his office and urge him to do just that: (860) 549-8463\/(202) 224-4041<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"508\" src=\"http:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/79370309_1044992622512733_1016184739633037312_o-1024x508.jpg\" alt=\"Medicare for All CT members pose after the event on Dec. 15\" class=\"wp-image-166\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/79370309_1044992622512733_1016184739633037312_o-1024x508.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/79370309_1044992622512733_1016184739633037312_o-300x149.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/79370309_1044992622512733_1016184739633037312_o-768x381.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/79370309_1044992622512733_1016184739633037312_o-1536x762.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/79370309_1044992622512733_1016184739633037312_o.jpg 1816w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Medicare for All CT members pose after the event on Dec. 15<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Sunday, December 15 I and several other members of Medicare for All Connecticut, a grassroots activist group of which I am a part, attended a town hall event hosted by Senator Chris Murphy in Guilford. After brief introductory remarks on the impeachment of the president, the ACA\u2019s open enrollment deadline, and the anniversary of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":167,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.14 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pushing Chris Murphy on Medicare for All<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/pushing-chris-murphy-on-medicare-for-all\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pushing Chris Murphy on Medicare for All\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Sunday, December 15 I and several other members of Medicare for All Connecticut, a grassroots activist group of which I am a part, attended a town hall event hosted by Senator Chris Murphy in Guilford. 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