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Kamala Harris unveils populist policy agenda, with $6,000 credit for newborns (and more)
(www.washingtonpost.com)
the long and short of this agenda (courtesy of a ResetERA post:
GROCERIES AND FOOD
- First-ever federal ban on corporate price gouging on food and groceries
- Set clear rules so that corporations can't unfairly exploit consumers with pricing to run up excessive corporate profits
- Empower the FTC and state attorney generals to investigate corporations for violating the rules
- Aggressively regulate mergers and proposed consolidation among food producers and grocers
HEALTHCARE
- Expand the $35 insulin cap for Medicare to all Americans, not just the elderly ones
- Cap all Americans annual out of pocket prescription drug spending at $2,000/year
- Ramp up Medicare negotiations with drug companies over their most expensive drugs
- Regulate pharmaceutical companies that block competitive and abusive practices by middlemen
- Cancel medical debt for millions of Americans
TAX CUTS
- Extend Inflation Reduction Act subsidies and lower premiums for ACA
- Expand Earned Income Tax Credit by up to $1,500
- Restore the $3,000 per child tax credit from the Inflation Reduction Act
- Expand the Child Tax Credit so that even the poorest of families receive it (currently families need to make a high enough annual income to receive it)
- Increase the Child Tax Credit to $6,000 per child for first year newborns
HOUSING
- $25,000 down payment assistance for first time homebuyers who have paid rent on time for at least two years
- Tax credit incentives for home builders who build starter homes sold to first time homebuyers
- Build 3 million homes
- $40B to local state governments for building housing
- Pass the Stop Predatory Investing Act, legislation that would prohibit investors who acquire 50 or more new single-family rental homes from deducting interest or depreciation on the properties.
- Pass the Preventing the Algorithmic Facilitation of Rental Housing Cartels Act, legislation that cracks down on companies that allow landlords to collude to set high housing prices via software and price-setting algorithms.
I think she wants you to just rack up a bunch of medical debt so she can cancel it, gotta think in loopholes like the big companies
It sounds to me like limiting spending, and reigning in those predatory intermediaries, would reduce that medical debt in the first place. Or am I missing something?
I think the point is that even with caps on spending, it's still possible for people to fall into a financial hole. Even just looking at the prescription proposal, $2000 may not be a lot for some, but for others, that's a good chunk of change. And is that $2000 per person? Is there a limit for a family? Because if not, for a family of 4, $8000 is a lot.
And of course, this doesn't address the medical procedures themselves.
I'm explaining the other person's position as I've read it. To me, any step in the right direction, even if small, is a good thing. But I could see why others would be like "Come on, stop beating around the bush, M4A already!"
$2000/year per person, would be $167/year per person. It's not $0, but sounds like a reasonable amount for anyone except the most marginalized groups
Medical procedures are indeed a problem, but my understanding is their price is artificially inflated due to intermediaries, so taking a harder approach to that, would partially solve the issue, and pave the way for further regulation.
M4A should be the goal, something most 1st World countries have already, but I also understand it would mean upending a lot of industries and their interrelationship in the US, so a step-by-step approach seems like a wise one.
I know several people for whom $167 per month would be a big problem. Considering how many people struggle to get by on incredibly low wages, with ever-increasing rent, I really don't think it's fair to suggest that this would only be a problem for "the most marginalized groups."
And that's all ignoring the fact that "being unable to afford medicine" is not a problem anyone in such a rich country should ever have to face, regardless of income. Frankly, I really don't care if it upends industries; people's lives are more important than that.