COVID has put a spotlight on the risks of an inadequate medical infrastructure during a pandemic. A large measure of the additional doctors, nurses, facilities and equipment wanted to fight COVID would already exist with the trillions of dollars of added long-term investment in the health sector that would be mandated by a robust Medicare For All scheme (my preference is for variants that allow for continuing optional private insurance).
American nationalists who would otherwise not support any M4A scheme should be lobbied with the national security benefits (including economic security) of a stronger health care system and a more healthy national populace. COVID is bad enough, imagine if the next global pandemic is something like Ebola with its 50% mortality rate. Imagine how terribly quickly treatment centers would get overrun in such a pandemic, how quickly shortages of medical workers, equipment and beds would start amplifying the damage.
Nationalists should also be reminded that for the nation as an entity, "affording" quality universal healthcare is a red herring in the first place. The revenues spent on M4A would feed the nation with jobs and contracts. The salaries paid to doctors, nurses, PAs, PTs, techs, orderlies, clerks, administrators, etc stimulates real economic growth, as do the salaries of the construction workers who build the new facilities and the manufacturing workers who produce the new equipment (which should be mandated by law to come from domestic suppliers). Laissez-faire ideologues will naturally object but they should be shut down with the obvious truth that the level of private-sector investment in healthcare is obviously insufficient to meet the needs of the nation, the result of the market being unable to fulfill services that are not immediately profitable (like treatment for people who cannot pay).
The healthcare system should also be nationalized (that should be a no-brainer, but conservatism) and the state should dictate prices to its medical suppliers (i.e. cost plus a very modest profit margin) including big pharma.
American nationalists who would otherwise not support any M4A scheme should be lobbied with the national security benefits (including economic security) of a stronger health care system and a more healthy national populace. COVID is bad enough, imagine if the next global pandemic is something like Ebola with its 50% mortality rate. Imagine how terribly quickly treatment centers would get overrun in such a pandemic, how quickly shortages of medical workers, equipment and beds would start amplifying the damage.
Nationalists should also be reminded that for the nation as an entity, "affording" quality universal healthcare is a red herring in the first place. The revenues spent on M4A would feed the nation with jobs and contracts. The salaries paid to doctors, nurses, PAs, PTs, techs, orderlies, clerks, administrators, etc stimulates real economic growth, as do the salaries of the construction workers who build the new facilities and the manufacturing workers who produce the new equipment (which should be mandated by law to come from domestic suppliers). Laissez-faire ideologues will naturally object but they should be shut down with the obvious truth that the level of private-sector investment in healthcare is obviously insufficient to meet the needs of the nation, the result of the market being unable to fulfill services that are not immediately profitable (like treatment for people who cannot pay).
The healthcare system should also be nationalized (that should be a no-brainer, but conservatism) and the state should dictate prices to its medical suppliers (i.e. cost plus a very modest profit margin) including big pharma.