Congratulations To Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez For Her Upset Victory

There are anecdotes and there is data.   The people have spoken.

VA Approval ratings better than private hospitals

Medicare / Medicaid approval ratings better than private insurers

The problem with the VA is not quality of care but rather accessibility as you can not put a fully staffed VA hospital in every county of the country.    That would not be an issue if everyone was in the same system.

ps - anecdotally, I can point to 100's of thousands of people who decalred bankruptcy so far this year due to medical bills.     Actually thats not anecdotal - that's data too.

From BobOrme:

The amount requested for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which includes Medicare and Medicaid, in the 2018 federal budget is $68.4 BILLION (an increase of $17 Billion over 2017), out of a budget totaling little over $4 Trillion. Even if the $32.6 Trillion Medicare For All over 10 years estimate is correct - it assumes doctors and hospitals will accept the average 40% less in payments for services Medicare will pay - the huge spike in HHS spending would bankrupt the nation. We don't have the money, and don't have a way to raise it. The government doesn't spend $32 Trillion today (or $3.2 Trillion per year) on healthcare. Not anywhere close to it. That would be roughly 80% of the entire budget. 

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The question isn't 'What does the government spend on healthcare?"   The "question is what do we as a nation spend on healthcare?"

Here is the answer:

"U.S. health care spending grew 4.3 percent in 2016, reaching $3.3 trillion or $10,348 per person. As a share of the nation's Gross Domestic Product, health spending accounted for 17.9 percent."

https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/NationalHealthAccountsHistorical.html

So when you say "We dont have the money" you are absolutely incorrrect.   We spend 3.3 trillion today.....Bernie Sanders proposes we spend 3.3 trillion in the future.   You can fairly opine if you like his idea or not - but it is dishonest to say he is somehow adding some massive unpaid cost to our bottom line

What is it that you don't understand about how Medicare for All would add at least $3.2 Trillion annually to the federal budget? 

What I don't understand is how by expanding Medicare (which has a $40 trillion+ unfunded liability) is a better deal.

"What is it that you don't understand about how Medicare for All would add at least $3.2 Trillion annually to the federal budget? "

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I understand that perfectly.  

What I dont understand is how 3.2 trillion in healthcare spending in our current system is somehow a smaller number than the 3.2 trillion spent in the proposed system.    Maybe you can explain that.

The proposed "system" places the entire financial burden onto the federal budget. I get it. Budget deficits don't matter to people who have no understanding of money, how it is made, how it is confiscated from personal and business income to pay for government run programs. "Someone" will pay for it. Socialists have no understanding of economics. None. 

https://americanmilitarynews.com/2016/07/veteran-commits-suicide-hours-after-being-turned-away-at-va-facility-rest-in-peace/?utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=alt&utm_source=popsmoke

I think PJ posted the relevant link where people perfer the VA to private hospitals. So as bad as you think the VA is, private hospitals are worse. 

Money is money Bob. Businesses that are already proving health insurance to their employees could look forward to drecased costs while businesses that were getting a free ride would have to poney up.

It makes no difference if the cost is paid in premiums to an insurance company or the cost is paid to the government via payroll taxes. The bottom line is still the bottom line. Lower payments for better out of pocket free coverage is a win win.

The current system has zero unfunded liability & the proposed replacement has $40 trillion, but somehow it is cheaper. 

It is. I know that is hard to wrap your head around, but that shouldn't keep us from throwing 2 trillion dollars away.