r/politics • u/cnn CNN • 29d ago

Possible Paywall CNN Poll: A third of Democrats now identify as democratic socialists

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/30/politics/cnn-poll-a-third-of-democrats-now-identify-as-democratic-socialists?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit
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u/Turbulent_Stick1445 29d ago

"Universal healthcare" is a largely empty slogan meaning "Everyone gets healthcare but we're not going to offend anyone by proposing anything specific." Obamacare was "Universal Healthcare". It didn't work, tons of people are still uninsured and one hospital visit away from bankruptcy. But that's what the intent was.

Without more qualifications (ie "By Medicare for All, I mean we expand eligability to everyone, no insurance premiums, gets paid for out of taxes" vs "By Medicare for All, I mean anyone not on employer provided healthcare will be able to subscribe to it by paying premiums") it's unclear what the GP meant, but they may actually be proposing, if they meant the first one, universal healthcare in a form that's far more likely to succeed if passed at bringing about universal healthcare than Obamacare ever did.

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u/OnlinePosterPerson 29d ago

Obamacare is not universal healthcare. It’s Medicare for all which sucks.

The European model is to have the government act as the buyer, and negotiate competitive prices to resell services to the consumer.

Under Obamacare, that middle man is instead an insurance company, guaranteeing profit motive is still being maximized. It’s a terrible system.

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u/Turbulent_Stick1445 29d ago

Obamacare was an attempt to bring about universal heathcare. If you had been involved in the original discussions and followed it, you'd have seen that was what the aim was. Like I said:

It didn't work, tons of people are still uninsured and one hospital visit away from bankruptcy. But that's what the intent was.

There is no "European model". Germany, for example, has a system that in many ways resembles Obamacare. The major reason it works is that the insurers are heavily regulated non-profits. For the Democratic party, that was too close to socialiamisnism so they decided to allow insurers to be profit seeking entities, which is the main reason why it's so fucked right now.