Quandary solved

January 8, 2017 -- RoseAnn DeMoro bills herself (on Twitter) as Social Change and Activist for Life and is the Executive Director of National Nurses United, the largest American organization of nurses. She offers the Republicans a solution to the quandary in which they find themselves, having vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act but having nothing with which to replace it.

"Medicare for all," she proposes, following in the footsteps of would-be presidential candidate Bernie Sanders who was himself not the first to propose this.

Whatever its provenance, it is an excellent idea. In effect, it would eliminate the insurance company middlemen (parasites, I call them, as they add to the cost but not to the value of health care) and would move us to a single-payer system.

This would yield numerous benefits, including the bargaining power to hold costs down and to establish enforceable standards of care. Is this not what Mr. Trump promised (in words with fewer syllables)?

Even so, it is not a quick fix, requiring much careful planning and considerable complex language. How would it be paid for? What should businesses do with the money they would no longer need to spend on health insurance for their employees? Numerous questions arise, all of which can be solved.

Radical though this proposal may be, the Repugs should embrace it as it enables them to keep the absurd promise they made. Everybody wins! Go nurses!

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