Childcare is a great way to kick this off - it's politically hard to fight against anything "for the children" and it's not a stretch at all to extend coverage gradually, as people see the benefit and want it elsewhere / just one more year / etc.
Just gotta hope it stays funded enough to avoid descending into a bureaucratic death spiral with months of delays for everything.
Private childcare is also filled with months (often years) of delays. Expanding on this a bit: if you have a sudden need to get childcare, in much of the country you are not likely going to be able to find something that is convenient and of any quality that is also available within a week or two. If you are willing to spend 2x+ the local median childcare expense, you may have better results.
If you want a quick response, you need either dedicated quick-responders (how are they paid when not responding) or you need a lot of slack in the system (caregivers are allowed 4 kids, say, but most have two or three).
“This time will be different!” announce the proponents. Watch now, class, as the economic calculation problem works out as predicted in yet another instance.
The majority of New Mexico is either not employed or only barely employed enough to count towards employment participation. The states employment participation rate is like 58%.
Without making any judgement on whether the economic calculation is "efficient" or not, it's not really something the majority of voters have to worry about as it's essentially entirely OPM to get the votes to get there.
markets have criticism too. this is why we have nothing, neither roads nor businesses, and are currently hallucinating this conversation while scratching at the ground with sticks.
do we really need to point to how badly private healthcare has been working?
Well, for the next century we'll keep pretending kids don't matter. We've done it for the past 50 years, already. Let's see how far that gets us as a species.
i’m down but i think there needs to be a recognition that this would require tax increases, not just on the ultra wealthy because there is simply not enough income up there to fund this.
Just gotta hope it stays funded enough to avoid descending into a bureaucratic death spiral with months of delays for everything.