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Trying to compare what has been passed to what constitutes "universal health care" in central European and Scandinavian countries is a joke. Trying to put what has been passed as similar to what real social democracies do is a joke. This project is incredibly similar to what was suggested by republicans in 94 and what Romney actually ran on in 08.
And to call this the biggest expansion of the welfare state in so many years is another joke. Medicare part D costs significantly more than this reform, even when we take away all cost offsets. In less than a decade Medicare part D is expected to account for 1/3 of all medicare payments. But unlike this legislation, medicare part D has no cost offsets and is pretty much a gift to pharma companies, given how it prohibits negotiation for lower prices.
Finally, taxes SHOULD go up, and last I checked the VAT is the dream child of conservatives, as opposed to the progressive income taxation of real social democrats. The fact is that government programs are much more popular than most would acknowledge, with less than 1/5 of republicans (nevermind the general public) willing to cut medicare, medicaid, or social security. Sure, we would all like government programs that gave out benefits but didn't cost anything, but as we must remind conservatives this time around, there is no free lunch.
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