My opinion two of these three (not that anyone cares) is:
"Living wage" This is strictly a state issue. Why? Standard of living varies significantly from one state to another, even within the same state (San Francisco vs Redding CA, or NYC vs upstate NY for example). I dont see how a federal mandate were to help at all. Voters nbeed to band together to make this change locally, but unfortunately voter apathy prevents this.
"Healthcare costs"
This is an interesting one. I think when most people hear healthcare assistance or healthcare costs, they mean insurance.Im fairly agnostic on the idea of single payer, but we're a long, long ways from implementing it. Obamacare did some good in this area, but the marketplace is a complete failure in some areas (Pima county here in AZ for example. They now have ONE marketplace choice, last year had ZERO). And
according to federal laws,:
If you buy a plan outside the Marketplace any time, during Open Enrollment or not, you can’t get premium tax credits or other savings based on your income.
But no plan is perfect, right?
My solution is one suggested by former Safeway president Steven Burd. The concept is open marketplace, with fully transparent pricing. This is a simple analogy, but if a Dr office were to charge say $50.00 per physical, a consumer could shop around for the best pricing. This isnt ideal, obviously, in life threatening circumstances, but in the majority of cases it is. Give consumers the choice by being totally open with costs. My last Dr did this. Right on the front door he advertised basic pricing info. And cash paying services were MUCH cheaper than insurance billed, for obvious reasons. It was actually cheaper for me to pay the cash price than pay my co-pay. We see this transparent open market pricing successful in many areas including electronics, cars, and many other things. Why not health services?
Anyways. Just a few ideas.