Topics in the News: Medicare-for-All
Rahm Emanuel on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Aug 24, 2021)
Wrote op-ed "Medicare-for-All is a Pipe Dream"
Emanuel began attacking Medicare for All in the media. In a September 2019 appearance on ABC's This Week, Emanuel called the policy "untenable." The following month, he authored a Washington Post op-ed headlined, "Medicare-for-All is a Pipe Dream."
Within months of publishing the op-ed, Emanuel was rewarded with a board seat by GoHealth--a company he had promoted as mayor, and whose business is built on profits reaped by getting private health insurance corporations more customers.
Click for Rahm Emanuel on other issues.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on Ambassadorial Confirmation Hearings
Kamala Harris on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jul 21, 2020)
Supports single-payer without private insurance
Ms. Harris co-sponsored Bernie Sanders's Medicare-for-All legislation, and at a CNN town hall, she responded to a question about private health insurance by saying, "Let's eliminate all of that."
She came under fire for the statement, and the blowback was a signal of the political sensitivity surrounding the issue of abolishing private coverage under a single-payer system.
On the debate stage, the Democratic candidates were asked who would abolish private health insurance. Ms. Harris was among those who raised their hands.
Mr. Biden -- who wants to build on the Affordable Care Act -- did not raise his hand.
Click for Kamala Harris on other issues.
Source: New York Times on 2020 Veepstakes
Bernie Sanders on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Feb 25, 2020)
Medicare-for-All will save Americans $450B per year
Q: [to Senator Sanders]: You've proposed more than $50 trillion in new spending. You've said Medicare for all will cost $30 trillion.Bernie SANDERS: Over a 10-year period.
Q: But you can only explain how you'll pay for just about half of that.
Can you do the math for the rest of us?
SANDERS: How many hours do you have? A new study that just came out of Yale University, published in Lancet magazine, said Medicare-for-All will lower health care costs in this country by $450 billion a year and
save 68,000 lives of people who otherwise would have died. One of the options in our plan is a 7.5% payroll tax on employers, which will save them substantial sums of money.
Q: Senator Klobuchar, does the math add up?
Amy KLOBUCHAR: No, the math does not add up. [Sanders' figures miss] nearly $60 trillion. The Medicare-for-All plan alone on page eight clearly says that it will kick 149 million Americans off their current health insurance in four years.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: 10th Democratic Primary debate on eve of S.C. primary
Amy Klobuchar on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Feb 25, 2020)
Medicare-for-All costs $60T & kicks off 149M from insurance
Q: [to Senator Sanders]: You've proposed more than $50 trillion in new spending. You've said Medicare for all will cost $30 trillion.Bernie SANDERS: Over a 10-year period.
Q: But you can only explain how you'll pay for just about half of that.
Can you do the math for the rest of us?
SANDERS: A new study that just came out of Yale University, published in Lancet magazine, said Medicare-for-All will lower health care costs in this country by $450 billion a year and save
68,000 lives of people who otherwise would have died.
Q: Senator Klobuchar, does the math add up?
Amy KLOBUCHAR: No, the math does not add up. [Sanders' figures miss] nearly $60 trillion. That is three times the American economy--not the
federal government--the entire American economy. The Medicare-for-All plan alone on page eight clearly says that it will kick 149 million Americans off their current health insurance in four years. That is true.
Click for Amy Klobuchar on other issues.
Source: 10th Democratic Primary debate on eve of S.C. primary
Amy Klobuchar on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Feb 19, 2020)
Don't blow up ObamaCare with Medicare-for-All
My plan is a public option. It would reduce premiums for 12 million people immediately. It would expand coverage for about that same number. It is what Barack Obama wanted to do.
When you see some troubled waters, you don't blow up a bridge, you build one. And so we need to improve the Affordable Care Act, not blow it up.
Click for Amy Klobuchar on other issues.
Source: 9th Democrat 2020 primary debate, in Las Vegas Nevada
Pete Buttigieg on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Feb 8, 2020)
2018: Medicare-for-All; 2020: only for those who want it
Sen. Amy Klobuchar accused Buttigieg of flip-flopping on support for Medicare for All, citing a 2018 tweet in which Buttigieg said he supported it "indubitably" and "affirmatively." Buttigieg does not support the Medicare for All plan proposed by
Sanders, but Buttigieg maintains that his plan to offer Medicare as an option in the Affordable Care Act exchanges would put the U.S. on a "glide path" that leads to "a Medicare for All environment."At the time, Buttigieg was the mayor of South Bend,
and not yet a candidate for president. As a candidate, Buttigieg has proposed a more centrist health care proposal than some Democrats. He does not support the Medicare for All plan proposed by Sanders, which would expand Medicare and create a
new universal, single-payer health care system in the United States. Rather, Buttigieg is proposing what he calls "Medicare for All Who Want It." It would essentially allow people to buy into Medicare through the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
Click for Pete Buttigieg on other issues.
Source: FactCheck.org on 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate
Amy Klobuchar on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Feb 8, 2020)
Medicare-for-All will kick 149 million off their insurance
[Joe Biden asked Sen. Bernie Sanders about Medicare-for-All] "How much is it going to cost? Who's going to pay for it? The idea [that] middle class taxes aren't going to go up is just crazy." Sanders responded that the "status quo" offered by Biden
will cost even more. "We are spending twice as much per capita as the people of any other country," Sanders told Biden, who was vice president during the passage of the Affordable Care Act championed by President Barack Obama. "Maybe it has something
to do with the fact that the health care industry last year made $100 billion in profit."
Klobuchar then broke in. "I keep listening to this same debate, and it is not real. It is not real, Bernie, because two thirds of the Democrats in the
Senate are not on your bill, and because it would kick 149 million Americans off their current health insurance in four years," she said, garnering a loud reaction from the crowd.
Click for Amy Klobuchar on other issues.
Source: CNBC.com excerpts of 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate
Amy Klobuchar on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Feb 7, 2020)
Medicare-for-All will kick 149 million off their insurance
I keep listening to this same debate, and it is not real. It is not real because two thirds of the Democrats in the Senate are not on your bill and because it would kick 149 million Americans off their current health insurance in four years.
I have long believed that the way that we expand healthcare to more people and bring down premiums is by building on the Affordable Care Act, with a nonprofit public option.
Click for Amy Klobuchar on other issues.
Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH
Bernie Sanders on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jan 14, 2020)
Medicare-for-All saves money to offset raising taxes
SANDERS: Medicare For All will cost substantially less than the status quo. Medicare For All will end the absurdity of paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs and health care, while we have 87 million uninsured and underinsured.
Under Medicare For All, one of the provisions we have to pay for it is a 4 percent tax on income, exempting the first $29,000. So the average family in America that makes $60,000 would pay $1,200 a year, compared to that family paying $12,000 a year.
V.P. Joe BIDEN: I think we need to tell voters what it's going to cost. A 4 percent tax on income over $24,000 doesn't even come close to paying for between $30 trillion, and some estimates as high as $40 trillion over 10 years. That's doubling the
entire federal budget per year. The way to do it is to take ObamaCare, rebuild it, provide a public option, allow Medicare for those folks who want it, and reduce the cost of drug prices. That costs $740 billion over 10 years. I lay out how I'd pay for t
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: 7th Democrat primary debate, on eve of Iowa caucus
Bernie Sanders on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jan 14, 2020)
End the absurdity of co-payments and $600B corporate costs
SANDERS: Medicare for all ends all premiums, all copayments. It ends the absurdity of deductibles. It ends out-of-pocket expenses. It takes on the pharmaceutical industry, which in some cases charges 10 times more for the same prescription drugs sold
abroad as sold here. A Medicare-for-All single-payer program will end the $100 billion a year that the health care industry makes and the $500 billion a year we spend dealing with thousands of separate insurance plans. Health care is a human right.
Sen. Amy KLOBUCHAR: I think it is much better to build on the Affordable Care Act. If you want to be practical and progressive at the same time and have a plan and not a pipedream,
you have to show how you're going to pay for it. I think you should show how you're going to pay for things, Bernie. I do.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: 7th Democrat primary debate, on eve of Iowa caucus
Pete Buttigieg on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jan 14, 2020)
Individual mandate so no such thing as an uninsured American
Q: You're selling your plan as "Medicare-for-all who want it," yet your plan would automatically enroll uninsured Americans into a public option, even if they don't want it, and force them to pay for it. How is that truth in advertising?BUTTIGIEG:
Well, it's making sure that there is no such thing as an uninsured American. Look, the individual mandate was an important part of the ACA because the system doesn't work if there are free riders. What I'm offering is a choice.
You don't have to be in my plan if there's another plan that you would rather keep. And there's no need to kick Americans off the plans that they want in order to deliver health care for all. And my plan is paid for.
Everything I've put forward--from "Medicare for all who want it" to the historic investments we're going to make in infrastructure to dealing with climate change--is fully paid for.
Click for Pete Buttigieg on other issues.
Source: 7th Democrat primary debate, on eve of Iowa caucus
Tom Steyer on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jan 14, 2020)
Break corporate stranglehold to get public option
Q [to BIDEN and STEYER]: You support a public option instead of Medicare-for-All?V.P. Joe BIDEN: The proposal I lay out limits drug cost. It allows Medicare to negotiate with drug companies for the price. It sets a system whereby you cannot raise the
price of a drug beyond the cost of medical inflation.
STEYER: Look, we've had this conversation so many times. Everybody on this stage believes that affordable health care is a right for every single American. And it makes no sense and the government
has to step in. I do agree with Vice President Biden that we should move and develop the Affordable Care Act with a public option. But the real question is this: This is not a new problem. Why do we keep having this conversation? We have a broken
government. It has been bought by corporations that include the drug companies, the insurance companies, and the private hospitals. How do we actually break the corporate stranglehold on our government so that we can get any of these things passed?
Click for Tom Steyer on other issues.
Source: 7th Democrat primary debate, on eve of Iowa caucus
Bernie Sanders on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Dec 19, 2019)
Medicare-for-all costs average family $1200 instead of $12K
Sen. Bernie Sanders [to V.P. Biden]: Joe, you asked me how are we going to pay for [my healthcare plan]? Under your plan, I'll tell you how we're paying for right now. The average worker in America, their family makes $60,000 a year. That family is now
paying $12,000 a year for health care--20% of their income. Under Medicare-for-all that family will be paying $1,200 a year.Joe Biden: [Sen. Sanders' healthcare plan] costs $30 trillion over 10 years. The idea that you're going to be able to save
that person making $60,000 a year on Medicare for all is preposterous. You're going to add 84% more and it's not going to be higher taxes? It's going to increase personal taxes.
Sanders: That's right. We got to increase personal taxes, but we're
eliminating premiums, we're eliminating copayments, we're eliminating deductibles, we're eliminating all out of pocket expenses and no family in America will spend more than $200 a year on prescription drugs.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: Newshour/Politico/PBS December Democratic primary debate
Joe Biden on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Dec 19, 2019)
Medicare-for-all plan costs $30 trillion & will raise taxes
Sen. Bernie Sanders [to V.P. Biden]: Joe, you asked me how are we going to pay for [my healthcare plan]? Under your plan, I'll tell you how we're paying for right now. The average family makes $60,000 a year, and pays $12,000 a year for health care--20%
of their income. Under Medicare-for-all that family will be paying $1,200 a year.Joe Biden: [Sen. Sanders' healthcare plan] costs $30 trillion. Let's get that straight--$30 trillion over 10 years. The idea that you're going to be able to save that
person making $60,000 a year on Medicare-for-all is preposterous. 16% of the American public is on Medicare now and everybody has a tax taken out of their paycheck now. Tell me, you're going to add 84% more and it's not going to be higher taxes, at
least before he was honest about it. It's going to increase personal taxes.
Sanders: That's right. We got to increase personal taxes, but we're eliminating premiums, we're eliminating copayments, we're eliminating deductibles.
Click for Joe Biden on other issues.
Source: Newshour/Politico/PBS December Democratic primary debate
Kamala Harris on Medicare-for-All:
(Tax Reform Nov 19, 2019)
Higher tax on wealthy to fund Medicare-for-All & teacher pay
The Harris version of Medicare for All would rest on much the same tax-the-rich moves the Sanders plan suggests. But she would limit her plan's premium fee to households making over $100,000 a year.
To fund a $315 billion plan to raise teacher salaries, she calls for strengthening the estate tax and cracking down on loopholes that let our wealthy avoid taxes on "estates worth multiple millions or billions."
Click for Kamala Harris on other issues.
Source: The Nation magazine on 2019 Democratic primary
Andrew Yang on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Nov 3, 2019)
Medicare-for-All but with private insurance
Q: What about Medicare-for-All?A: There is a way to provide Medicare-for-All that does not prohibit private insurance. The goal has to be to demonstrate to the American people that this Medicare plan is superior to your current insurance without
pulling the rug out from under you and saying that the insurance no longer exists. Medicare for all means that you have a Medicare program that everyone can be enrolled in.
Q: So you're adopting the label, but not the bill?
A: That's correct.
Click for Andrew Yang on other issues.
Source: CNN State of the Union on 2019 Democratic primary
Cory Booker on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Sep 12, 2019)
We cannot sacrifice progress for purity
I'm clear in what I believe. I believe in Medicare-for-All. I believe it's the best way to rationalize the system. But dear God, [candidates in favor of other forms of] universal health coverage come at this with the best of intentions.
As a person who has an ideal, I know we cannot sacrifice progress on the altar of purity, because people in my community, they need help right now. They have high blood pressure right now. They have unaffordable insulin right now.
We as
Democrats can begin to show that we cannot only stake and stand our ground, but find common ground. And we cannot lose it by the way we talk about each other or demonize and degrade each other. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. If I am the
leader, I will work towards the ideal of health insurance, health coverage being a right for all Americans. But every single day, I'll join with other Democrats to make progress happen in our nation for the people that are struggling and suffering today.
Click for Cory Booker on other issues.
Source: September Democratic Primary debate in Houston
Elizabeth Warren on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Sep 12, 2019)
Medicare-for-All means rich pay more, middle class less
What families have to deal with is cost. On Medicare for All, costs are going to go up for wealthier individuals and costs are going to go up for giant corporations. But for hard-working
families across this country, costs are going to go down and that's how it should work under Medicare for All in our health care system.
Click for Elizabeth Warren on other issues.
Source: September Democratic Primary debate in Houston
Bernie Sanders on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Sep 4, 2019)
We lose 30,000 people a year due to not going to the doctor
Q: Of all of your ambitious plans--free public college, Medicare-for-all, eliminating student debt, Green New Deal--SANDERS: Keep going. You're doing great!
Q: What is the priority on climate change compared to all these others, if you have to
choose?
SANDERS: Well, I have the radical idea that a sane Congress can walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. And, you know, there are so many crises that are out there today. I worry very much that we lose 30,000 people a year because they
don't have the money to go to a doctor when they should and that 87 million people are uninsured or underinsured. And I will implement as president a Medicare-for-all single-payer program. So to my mind, it's not prioritizing this over that.
It is finally having a government which represents working families and the middle class rather than wealthy campaign contributors. And when you do that, then things fall in place.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: CNN Climate Crisis Town Hall marathon (10 Democrats)
Kamala Harris on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jul 31, 2019)
Medicare-for-All with 10-year transition and private option
Q: This week you released a new health care plan which would preserve private insurance and take 10 years to phase in. Vice President Biden's campaign calls your plan "a have-it-every-which-way approach" and says it's just part of a confusing pattern of
equivocating about your health care stance. What do you say to that?HARRIS: I have been spending time in this campaign listening to American families, listening to experts, listening to health care providers, and what I came away with is a very clear
understanding that I needed to create a plan that was responsive to the needs of the American people, understanding that insurance companies have been jacking up the prices for far too long. I listened to the American families who said four years is
just not enough to transition into this new plan, so I devised a plan where it's going to be 10 years of a transition. I listened to American families who said I want an option that will be under your Medicare system that allows a private plan.
Click for Kamala Harris on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (second night in Detroit)
Michael Bennet on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jul 31, 2019)
Don't make employer-based health insurance illegal
Q: One of your rivals suggested that running on Medicare-for-All would get Donald Trump reelected.BENNET: I agree that it makes it much more likely. I believe we should finish the job we started with the Affordable Care Act with a public option that
gives everybody the chance to pick whether they want private insurance or public insurance. [My plan] requires the drug companies to be negotiated with by Medicare and it provides competition. That is totally different from the plan that Senator Warren
and Senator Sanders and Senator Harris have proposed, which would make illegal employer based health insurance in this country and massively raise taxes on the middle class to the tune of $30 trillion. We don't need to do that. It doesn't make sense for
us to take away insurance from half the people and put huge taxes on almost everybody. When we pass a public option, [we] trust the American people to make the right decision, and have universal healthcare in this country in two years.
Click for Michael Bennet on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (second night in Detroit)
Michael Bennet on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jul 31, 2019)
Against higher taxes & banning employer-based insurance
Q: What about Medicare-for-All? Bennet: We need to be honest about what's in this plan. It bans employer based insurance and taxes the middle class to the tune of $30 trillion. Do you know how much that is?
That is 70 percent of what the government will collect in taxes over the next 10 years.
NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio: What he's saying is absolutely inaccurate about taxes.
Americans right now are paying so much money for their health care, ask people about the reality of premiums, deductibles, co-pays, out-of-pocket expenses.
Bennet: Bernie Sanders says it will cost $32 trillion and that we're going to have to raise those taxes to pay for it. You can't hide from the truth.
Click for Michael Bennet on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (second night in Detroit)
Kamala Harris on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jul 31, 2019)
Huge profits for insurance; pharma on backs of families
Sen. Joe Biden: Thirty trillion dollars [the cost of Medicare-for-All] has to ultimately be paid. And I don't know what math you do in New York, I don't know what math you do in California, but I tell ya, that's a lot of money, and there will be a
deductible.Kamala Harris: Let's talk about math. Let's talk about the fact that pharmaceutical and insurance companies last year profited $72 billion on the backs of American families.
Under your plan, you do nothing to hold the insurance companies to task for what they have been doing to American families. Today diabetes patients, one in four cannot afford insulin.
For those people who have overdosed from an opioid, there is a syringe that costs $4,000 that will save their life. It is immoral. It is untenable.
Click for Kamala Harris on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (second night in Detroit)
Bill de Blasio on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jul 31, 2019)
Private insurance hasn't worked for many; let voters decide
Q: What about Medicare-for-All? Sen. Michael Bennet: We need to be honest about what's in this plan. It bans employer based insurance.
De Blasio: If Democrats say we're done with private insurance, has only hurt the American people in so many ways, we're going to give them something that works for their family's full coverage that they can depend on.
This should be the party that stands for universal health care and says we're not going to accept anything less. So many people don't have the health care they need.
Tens of millions of people, including middle class people. Give them a chance to make that decision through an election.
Click for Bill de Blasio on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (second night in Detroit)
Joe Biden on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jul 31, 2019)
Public option under ObamaCare covers vast majority for $750B
BIDEN [critiquing Sen. Kamala Harris' plan]: You will lose your employer-based insurance [under Medicare-for-All]. NYC Mayor Bill DE BLASIO: I don't know what the vice president is talking about. There's this mythology that folks are in love with
their insurance in America. The folks I talk to say that their health insurance isn't working for them.
BIDEN: ObamaCare is working. The way to get to [ten million uninsured Americans] immediately is to build on ObamaCare. Take back all the things
that Trump took away, provide a public option, meaning every single person in America would be able to buy into that option if they didn't like their employer plan, or if they're on Medicaid, they'd automatically be in the plan. It would take place
immediately. It would move quickly. And it would insure the vast, vast, vast majority of Americans. In the meantime, what happens? Did anybody tell you how much their plans cost? My plan costs $750 billion. [Medicare-for-All costs] $30 trillion.
Click for Joe Biden on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (second night in Detroit)
Julian Castro on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jul 31, 2019)
Strengthen Medicare and then expand to anyone who wants it
Q: One of your rivals suggested that running on Medicare-for-All would get Donald Trump reelected. Does your healthcare plan require Medicare-for-All, or a Medicare option? CASTRO: Well, I know that this is something very personal for all Americans.
You know I grew up with a grandmother that had diabetes and I watched as her condition got worse and worse. That whole time she had Medicare. I want to strengthen Medicare for the people who are on it and then expand it to anybody who wants it.
I also believe thought that if somebody has a private health insurance plan that is strong that they want to hold on to that they should be able to do that.
What I don't believe is that the profit motive of big pharma or big insurance companies should ever determine, in our great nation, whether somebody gets healthcare or not.
Click for Julian Castro on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (second night in Detroit)
Steve Bullock on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jul 30, 2019)
Medicare-for-All is wish-list economics
Q: Opening statement?BULLOCK: Watching that last debate, folks seemed more concerned about outdoing each other with wish-list economics, than making sure Americans know we will help their lives. I won 3 elections in a red state--not by compromising
our values, but by getting stuff done. That teacher working a second job, just to afford her insulin. They can't wait for a revolution.
Q [to Warren]: You support Medicare-for-All. Does that include raising taxes on middle-class Americans?
WARREN:
Giant corporations and billionaires are going to pay more. Middle-class families are going to pay less out of pocket for their health care.
Q [to Bullock]: You do not support Medicare-for-All?
BULLOCK: I'm not going to support any plan that rips
away quality health care from individuals. This is an example of wish-list economics. It used to be just Republicans who wanted to repeal and replace. Now many Democrats do, as well. We can get there with a public option, and negotiating drug prices.
Click for Steve Bullock on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (first night in Detroit)
Steve Bullock on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jul 30, 2019)
We pay more for prescription drugs than anyplace in world
Q [to O'Rourke]: You oppose Medicare-for-All?Rep. Beto O`ROURKE: I think we're being offered a false choice, some who want to improve the Affordable Care Act at the margins, others who want a Medicare for All program that will force people off of
private insurance, I have a better path. Medicare for America. Everyone who is uninsured is enrolled in Medicare tomorrow.
Q: Who's offering a false choice?
O`ROURKE: Governor Bullock, who's said that we will improve the Affordable Care Act at the
margins with a public option.
BULLOCK: Congressman, not at all. It took us decades and false starts to get the Affordable Care Act. Let's actually build on it. A public option, allowing anyone to buy in. We pay more for prescription drugs than
any place in the world. Negotiate prescription drug prices. End surprise medical billing. That's the way that we can get there without disrupting the lives of 160 million people that like their employer-sponsored health insurance.
Click for Steve Bullock on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (first night in Detroit)
Steve Bullock on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jul 30, 2019)
Medicare-for-All is wish-list economics
Q: You do not support Medicare for All?BULLOCK: No, health care is so personal to all of us. I'm not going to support any plan that rips away quality health care from individuals. This is an example of wish list economics.
It used to be just Republicans who wanted to repeal and replace. Now many Democrats do, as well. We can get there with a public option, negotiating drug prices...
Click for Steve Bullock on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (first night in Detroit)
John Delaney on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jul 30, 2019)
Medicare-for-All creates a two-tier market for healthcare
Sen. Bernie SANDERS: Medicare-for-all is comprehensive -- it covers all healthcare needs. For senior citizens it will finally include dental care, hearing aids and eyeglasses.DELANEY: The bill that Senator Sanders drafted, by definition will lower
quality in healthcare, because it says specifically that the rates will be the same as current Medicare rates. And the data is clear, Medicare does not cover the cost of healthcare, it covers 80% of the costs of healthcare in this country.
And private insurance covers 120%, so if you start underpaying all the healthcare providers, you're going to create a two tier market where wealthy people buy their healthcare with cash, and the union people will have that healthcare plan taken away;
they will be forced into an underfunded system.
SANDERS: Hospitals will save substantial sums of money because they're not going to be spending a fortune doing billing and other bureaucratic things.
DELANEY: I've done the math, it doesn't add up.
Click for John Delaney on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (first night in Detroit)
Elizabeth Warren on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jul 30, 2019)
For-profit insurance is not working for Americans
Q: Your opening statement? DELANEY: Folks, we have a choice. We can go down the road that Senator Sanders and Senator Warren want to take us, which is with bad policies like Medicare-for-all. But we don't have to go around and be the party of
subtraction, and telling half the country, who has private health insurance, that their health insurance is illegal.
WARREN: Let's be clear about this. We are the Democrats. We are not about trying to take away health care from anyone.
That's what the Republicans are trying to do. And we should stop using Republican talking points in order to talk with each other about how to best provide that health care. The basic profit model of an insurance company is taking as much money as you can
in premiums and pay out as little as possible. That is not working for Americans. Medicare-for-All will fix that, and that's why I'll fight for it.
Click for Elizabeth Warren on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (first night in Detroit)
John Delaney on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jul 30, 2019)
Math is wrong on Medicare for All
Sen. Bernie SANDERS: On Medicare-for-All, hospitals will save substantial sums of money because they're not going to be spending a fortune doing billing and the other bureaucratic things that they have to do today.DELANEY: I've done the math, it
doesn't add up.
SANDERS: Maybe you did that and made money off of healthcare, but our job is to run a nonprofit healthcare system. [America will save] $500 billion a year by ending all of the incredible complexities of health insurance companies.
DELANEY: His math is wrong. It's been well-documented that if all the bills were paid at Medicare rate, which I think it's in section 1,200 of their bill, then many hospitals in this country would close. Why do we have to be so extreme?
Why can't we just give everyone health care as a right, and allow them to have choice? I'm starting to think this is not about health care. This is an anti-private-sector strategy.
Click for John Delaney on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (first night in Detroit)
Elizabeth Warren on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jul 30, 2019)
No God-given right to suck billions in healthcare profit
Q: No private insurers in Medicare-for-All?WARREN: We have to think in terms of the big frame. Washington works great for the wealthy, who can hire armies of lobbyists. And it keeps working great for the insurance companies. What it's going to take
is real courage to fight back against them. These insurance companies do not have a God-given right to make $23 billion in profits and suck it out of our health care system.
Rep. John DELANEY: We need to have solutions that are workable. Can you
imagine if we tried to start Social Security now but said "private pensions are illegal?" That's the equivalent of what Senator Warren is proposing with health care.
WARREN: He talks about solutions that are workable. We have tried the solution of
private insurance companies. They've sucked billions of dollars out of our health care system. They've made everybody fill out dozens of forms. Why? Not because they're trying to track your health care. They just want one more excuse to say no.
Click for Elizabeth Warren on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (first night in Detroit)
Elizabeth Warren on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jul 30, 2019)
Costs will go up for billionaires, down for middle class
Q: At the last debate, you said you're "with Bernie on Medicare-for-all." Are you also with Senator Bernie Sanders when it comes to raising taxes on middle-class Americans to pay for it?WARREN: Giant corporations and billionaires are going to pay
more. Middle-class families are going to pay less out of pocket for their health care. The basic profit model of an insurance company is taking as much money as you can in premiums and pay out as little as possible in health care coverage.
That is not working for Americans across this country
Q: Would you raise taxes on the middle class to pay for Medicare for All, offset, obviously, by the elimination of insurance premiums, yes or no?
WARREN: Costs will go up for billionaires and go up for corporations. For middle-class families, costs -- total costs -- will go down.
Click for Elizabeth Warren on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (first night in Detroit)
Tim Ryan on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jul 30, 2019)
Unions fought for healthcare; let them keep their plans
RYAN: This Medicare-for-All plan that's being offered by Senator Sanders will tell Union members who gave away wages in order to get good healthcare that they're going to lose their healthcare because Washington's going to come in and tell them they
got a better plan.Sen. Bernie SANDERS: It will be better because Medicare-for-all is comprehensive -- it covers all healthcare needs.
RYAN: But you don't know that, Bernie.
SANDERS: I do know it; I wrote the damn bill.
RYAN: Senator Sanders
does not know all of the union contracts in the United States. These union members are losing their jobs, their wages have been stagnant, the world is crumbling around them -- the only thing they have is possibly really good healthcare. And the
Democratic message is going to be, we're going to go in and the only thing you have left we're going to take it and we're going to do better. I do not think that's a recipe for success for us, it's bad policy and it's certainly bad politics.
Click for Tim Ryan on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (first night in Detroit)
Bernie Sanders on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jul 30, 2019)
Get rid of all for-profit health insurance companies
Q: Your opening statement? DELANEY: We [should not] go down the road that Senator Sanders wants to take us, which is with bad policies like Medicare for all.
Q [to Sanders]: He previously has called Medicare-for-All "political suicide that will
just get President Trump re-elected." What do you say to Congressman Delaney about whether it's "bad policy"?
SANDERS: You're wrong. Right now, we have a dysfunctional health care system: 87 million uninsured or underinsured; 500,000 Americans every
year going bankrupt because of medical bills.
DELANEY: We can create a universal health care system [without] telling half the country that their health insurance is illegal.
SANDERS: Tens of millions of people lose their health insurance every
single year when they change jobs. If you want stability in the health care system, if you want a system which gives you freedom of choice, a system which will not bankrupt you, the answer is to get rid of the profiteering of the drug companies.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (first night in Detroit)
Bernie Sanders on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jul 30, 2019)
Comprehensive care including dental, hearing aids, & eyecare
Rep. Tim RYAN: This Medicare-for-All plan that's being offered by Senator Sanders will tell Union members that they're going to lose their healthcare because Washington's going to come in and tell them they got a better plan.SANDERS: It will be
better because Medicare-for-all is comprehensive -- it covers all healthcare needs. For senior citizens it will finally include dental care, hearing aids and eyeglasses.
Rep. Tim RYAN: But you don't know that, Bernie.
SANDERS: I do know it;
I wrote the damn bill. And many of our union brothers and sisters are now paying high deductibles and copayments when we do Medicare for all, instead of having the company putting money in to healthcare, they can get decent wage increases, which
they're not getting today.
RYAN: Senator Sanders does not know all of the union contracts--the only thing they have is possibly really good healthcare. And the Democratic message is going to be, "we're going to take it and we're going to do better."
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (first night in Detroit)
Amy Klobuchar on Medicare-for-All:
(Principles & Values Jul 30, 2019)
I'm the street-fighter from the Iron Range
KLOBUCHAR: I stand before you today as a granddaughter of an iron ore miner, as the first woman elected to the Senate from Minnesota. Yes, I have bold ideas, but they are grounded in reality. Sen. Elizabeth WARREN:
We're not going to solve the urgent problems that we face with small ideas and spinelessness.
Q: Is Senator Warren correct? For example, Medicare-for-All: do you just not lack the will to fight for it?
KLOBUCHAR: That is incorrect.
I just have a better way to do this. In one of my first debates, I was called a street fighter from the Iron Range by my opponent. And when she said it, I said thank you. So this is what I think we need to get done. We need the public option.
That's what Barack Obama wanted, and it would bring health care costs down for everyone.
Click for Amy Klobuchar on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (first night in Detroit)
Bernie Sanders on Medicare-for-All:
(Abortion Jun 27, 2019)
Medicare-for-All will protect women's constitutional right
Q: What is your plan if Roe is struck down in the court while you're president?SANDERS: My plan, as somebody who believes for a start that a woman's right to control her own body is a constitutional right, that government and politicians should
not infringe on that right, we will do everything we can to defend Roe versus Wade. Let's face this, Medicare for All guarantees every woman in this country the right to have an abortion if she wants it.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: June Democratic Primary debate (second night in Miami)
Bernie Sanders on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jun 27, 2019)
Medicare is most popular health insurance so let's expand it
Q: Senator Bennet, you want to keep the system that we have in place with ObamaCare [instead of Bernie's single-payer system]. Why?Sen. Mike BENNET: Bernie has said over and over again that this [single-payer Medicare-for-All plan] will make
illegal all insurance except cosmetic--I guess that's for plastic surgery. Everything else is banned under the Medicare-for-all proposal.
Sen. Bernie SANDERS: You know, Mike, Medicare is the most popular health insurance program in the country.
BENNET: I agree.
SANDERS: People don't like their private insurance companies. They like their doctors and hospitals. Under our plan people go to any doctor they want, any hospital they want.
We will substantially lower the cost of health care in this country because we'll stop the greed of the insurance companies. On this issue we have to think about how this affects real people.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: June Democratic Primary debate (second night in Miami)
Bernie Sanders on Medicare-for-All:
(Tax Reform Jun 27, 2019)
Medicare-for-All raises taxes on middle class, but net gain
Health care in my view is a human right. And we have got to pass a Medicare for all, single-payer system. Under that system the vast majority of the people in this country will be paying significantly less for health care than they are right now.
People who have Medicare for all will have no premiums, no deductibles, no copayments, no out-of-pocket expenses. Yes, they will pay more in taxes, but less in health care for what they get.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: June Democratic Primary debate (second night in Miami)
John Delaney on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jun 26, 2019)
Medicare-for-All would negatively impact hospitals
If you go to every hospital in this country and you ask them one question, which is how would it have been for you last year if every one of your bills were paid at the Medicare rate? Every single hospital administrator said they would close.
The Medicare for all bill requires payments to stay at current Medicare rates. To some extent, we're supporting a bill that will have every hospital closing.
Click for John Delaney on other issues.
Source: June Democratic Primary debate (first night in Miami)
Elizabeth Warren on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jun 26, 2019)
Medicare-for-All would prevent many people from going broke
I spent a big chunk of my life studying why families go broke. One of the number-one reasons is the cost of health care, medical bills. That's not just for people who don't have insurance.
It's for people who have insurance. Look at the business model of an insurance company. It's to bring in as many dollars as they can in premiums and to pay out as few dollars as possible for your health care.
That leaves families with rising premiums, rising copays, and fighting with insurance companies to try to get the health care that their doctors say that they and their children need.
Medicare for all solves that problem. Health care is a basic human right, and I will fight for basic human rights.
Click for Elizabeth Warren on other issues.
Source: June Democratic Primary debate (first night in Miami)
Tulsi Gabbard on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jun 26, 2019)
Medicare-for-All will reduce bureaucratic costs
What we're talking about is our objective, making sure that every single sick American in this country is able to get the health care that they need. I believe Medicare for all is the way to do that. I also think that employers will recognize how much
money will be saved by supporting a Medicare for all program, a program that will reduce the administrative costs, reduce the bureaucratic costs, and make sure that everyone gets that quality health care that they need.
Click for Tulsi Gabbard on other issues.
Source: June Democratic Primary debate (first night in Miami)
Jay Inslee on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care May 20, 2019)
Medicare for all who want it: opt-in, not mandate
Q: You've endorsed the idea of Medicare-for-all; how does your state plan compare?A: Well, I call it "Medicare for all who want it." I have not called for making all private coverage illegal. I've not called to make all private carriers illegal.
There's a little flavor difference there. We do obviously believe health care is a right; we believe in universal coverage. We believe my step is a good step forward, but it's not the only one. We've got to reduce the age of automatic entry.
I think we should reduce the age of eligibility to zero for new citizens. That will give us a full Medicare plan as more Americans come into the system.
Q: Would you be willing to let people who get insurance through their work join a government plan
if they wanted to?
A: Yes, that includes employer-sponsored plans. They're certainly eligible to come in. I believe over time, people are going to find it very, very attractive. [We hope] to give people confidence to move to a Medicare-for-all system.
Click for Jay Inslee on other issues.
Source: Vox.com on 2020 Democratic presidential primary
Bernie Sanders on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care May 19, 2019)
Medicare-for-All will lead to stability, not disruption
Every time somebody loses their job, every some -- every time some employer changes health insurance policy, there is disruption. That impacts tens of millions of people. When you have Medicare for all, you will finally have stability.
Everybody in the country will have comprehensive healthcare, covering all basic healthcare needs. We will save taxpayers, we will save the citizens of this country, on healthcare, substantial sums of money.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview of 2020 presidential hopefuls
Kamala Harris on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care May 12, 2019)
Supports Medicare for All, even undocumented aliens
Q: What about Medicare-for-All?A: I support Medicare-for-All, and the vision of what it will be includes an expansion of coverage. Medicare-for-All will include vision. It will include dental. It will include hearing aids.
Q: You support giving universal health care to people in this country illegally?
A: I'm opposed to any policy that would deny in our country any human being from access to public safety, public education, or public health, period.
Click for Kamala Harris on other issues.
Source: CNN SOTU 2019 interview of presidential hopefuls
Elizabeth Warren on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care May 8, 2019)
Co-sponsored Medicare-for-All
Medicare For All:
Co-sponsored Bernie Sanders' bill in September 2017.
Click for Elizabeth Warren on other issues.
Source: Axios.com "What you need to know about 2020"
Michael Bennet on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care May 2, 2019)
Public option rather than Medicare-for-All
As part of a group of Democrats proposing "more incremental steps to broaden health care coverage," rather than "Medicare for All," Bennet and
Sen. Tim Kaine proposed "Medicare X," which would develop a public option modeled after Medicare alongside private options on the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
Click for Michael Bennet on other issues.
Source: Axios.com "What you need to know about 2020"
Beto O`Rourke on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Apr 29, 2019)
Universal coverage, not Medicare-for-All
O'Rourke supports universal health care but did not mention
Medicare for All on his senatorial campaign website, despite backing such a program in 2017.
Click for Beto O`Rourke on other issues.
Source: Axios.com "What you need to know about 2020"
Joe Biden on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Apr 25, 2019)
Expand ObamaCare, but not Medicare-for-All
Biden has signaled that he is open to adding onto the Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law while he was vice president. "The Affordable Care Act was a big step ... but we need to build on it.
What we can't do is blow it up." Biden has spoken out against Republicans' efforts to repeal and replace the ACA. He hasn't publicly supported Medicare for All.
Click for Joe Biden on other issues.
Source: Axios.com "What you need to know about 2020"
Marianne Williamson on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Apr 14, 2019)
Make Medicare for All a public option
I'd like to see a Medicare-for-All type of plan that's presented as a public option. I think a lot of people would gravitate to that. In addition, if people want private insurance, if they like their private insurers, or want to augment it, then they
should be able to. The issue is why are we going to do that. The reason we are going to do that is because you are a citizen of the United States. No citizen in the richest country of the world should have to be worrying about this.
Click for Marianne Williamson on other issues.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary
Marianne Williamson on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Apr 14, 2019)
Supports "Medicare-for-All model"
Supports a "Medicare for All model,"
according to her campaign website.
Click for Marianne Williamson on other issues.
Source: Axios.com "What you need to know about 2020"
Bernie Sanders on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Apr 11, 2019)
Medicare-for-all: no more private insurance plans
Senator Sanders reintroduced a "Medicare-for-all" bill, the idea that fueled his 2016 presidential run. As with its previous iterations, Sanders' latest bill would establish a national, single-payer Medicare system with vastly expanded benefits.
Sanders' plan would also prohibit private plans from competing with Medicare and would eliminate cost-sharing. New in this version is a universal provision for long-term care in home and community settings.
But many of the candidates--even official "Medicare-for-all" co-sponsors--are at the same time edging toward a more incremental approach, called "Medicare for America." This proposed Medicare for America system would guarantee universal
coverage, but leave job-based insurance available for those who want it. Unlike "Medicare-for-all," though, it would preserve premiums and deductibles, so beneficiaries would still have to pay some costs out-of-pocket.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: NPR, "Medicare-For-All," on 2020 Democratic primary
Howard Schultz on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Apr 10, 2019)
Medicare-for-All: $32T cost is out of touch with reality
Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All proposal would strip health insurance coverage from more than 180 million Americans and cost taxpayers more than $32 trillion to implement.
With no way to pay for it, no chance of getting bipartisan support in Congress, and the potential for significant ramifications in treatment and innovation, this proposal confirms what we already knew:
Sanders and the far-left wing of the Democratic party are out of touch with reality. Being a leader requires making hard choices and being honest.
Bernie Sanders' plan does neither and only serves to advance a far-left agenda.
Click for Howard Schultz on other issues.
Source: 2020 Presidential Campaign website HowardSchultz.com
Wayne Messam on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Apr 9, 2019)
Medicare-for-All okay; open to any expansion of health care
"I think that health care should be a matter of civil right in this country. There's been some discussion about 'Medicare for All,' it seems to be the simplest reform idea. I'm open to any reform measure that expands coverage for all people. The
American people spend more on health care than any other wealthy country and yet we receive less for it. We must make sure that everyone in this country have access to quality health care. I look forward to all the policy options to make that a reality."
Click for Wayne Messam on other issues.
Source: WBUR FM (Boston) on 2020 Democratic primary
Marianne Williamson on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Apr 8, 2019)
Medicare-for-all plus lifestyle and nutrition support
The biggest problem with America's health care system is that it is not a health care system so much as a sickness care system. It reflects an outdated perspective on health & healing, in which far too little attention is given to the actual cultivation
of health and prevention of disease. I will robustly support high-quality universal coverage for every American, including a Medicare-for-all model. In addition, my administration would champion the following policy changes: Require our healthcare
system to reimburse medical professionals for a broader array of lifestyle and nutrition support, focused on preventing disease and/or addressing root causes. Provide patients with more robust ongoing support from nutritionists, health coaches,
therapists and mental health, exercise specialists, and other peripheral lifestyle treatment providers. Fund programs in all our educational systems designed to teach nutrition and lifestyle skills to help cultivate long-term health.
Click for Marianne Williamson on other issues.
Source: 2020 presidential campaign website Marianne2020.com
Andrew Yang on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Apr 2, 2019)
Single-payer system solves biggest problem of over-billing
This brings us back to how to implement a new single-payer system. We need to do more than rationalize current costs--we need to transform the way that doctors get paid. Adopting Medicare-for-all or a single-payer system will solve the biggest
problems of rampant overbilling and ever-increasing costs. But Medicare still generally reimburses based on individual appointments, procedures, and tests, which maintain the incentives for doctors to do more to get paid more.
There is a movement toward "value-based" or "quality-based reimbursement," which tries to measure patient outcomes, readmission rates, and the like and reward providers accordingly.
The best approach is what they do at the Cleveland Clinic--doctors simply get paid flat salaries. When doctors aren't worried about billing, they can focus on patients.
Click for Andrew Yang on other issues.
Source: The War on Normal People, by Andrew Yang, p.221
Andrew Yang on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Mar 29, 2019)
Medicare-for-All establishes a basic right
Healthcare should be a basic right for all Americans. Right now, if you get sick you have two things to worry about--how to get better and how to pay for it. Too many Americans are making terrible, impossible choices between paying for healthcare
and other needs. We need to provide high-quality healthcare to all Americans and a single-payer system is the most efficient way to accomplish that.
It will be a massive boost to our economy as people will be able to start businesses and change jobs without fear of losing their health insurance.As President, I will...- Work with Congress to create a Medicare-for-All
program, or a similar program, to provide healthcare to all Americans
- Shift the way doctors are compensated to promote holistic and empathic care
- Create incentives for and invest in innovative treatment methods and methodologies
Click for Andrew Yang on other issues.
Source: 2020 presidential campaign website Yang2020.com
Pete Buttigieg on Medicare-for-All:
(Budget & Economy Mar 10, 2019)
We should support workers going through changes
It's not about stopping or reversing technology. It is about making sure that the tectonic social and economic changes can actually work for us. Our generation is likely to change careers more frequently than our parents changed job titles.
We've got to make it less of a disruptive event when those changes occur. It's why we need portable benefits. It's why the conversation about Medicare-for-all is so important. It's why we might need to look at guaranteed income for working people.
Click for Pete Buttigieg on other issues.
Source: CNN Town Hall: back-to-back 2020 presidential hopefuls
Tulsi Gabbard on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Mar 10, 2019)
Supports Medicare for All; address prescription costs
It is unacceptable that we pay far more for health care than any other country in the world, yet we have far worse outcomes. Medicare-for-all would lower that cost of health care by taking out bloated administrative fees and the heavy profits that
insurance companies make on the backs of sick people. Medicare-for-all is not going to solve everything. We have to address the high cost of prescription drugs. Right now, Medicare can't negotiate with prescription drug companies.
Click for Tulsi Gabbard on other issues.
Source: CNN Town Hall on 2020 Democratic presidential primary
Tulsi Gabbard on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Mar 10, 2019)
Supports Medicare-for-All but keep private insurance
Medicare For All: Supports.
Said that she doesn't want to eliminate private insurance.
Click for Tulsi Gabbard on other issues.
Source: Axios.com "What you need to know about 2020"
Cory Booker on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Mar 7, 2019)
Reduce Medicare eligibility to 55 from current age of 65
On Medicare: "We were one vote shy from bringing down Medicare eligibility to 55. One vote shy. I'm going to fight for that one vote when I'm running in 2020, because what would that have done?" Booker is one among several 2020 presidential
candidates backing Bernie Sanders' Medicare-for-all bill. However, he stressed in this interview that he has also backed other, less-sweeping health care proposals, like reducing the Medicare eligibility age to 55, from the current age of 65.
Click for Cory Booker on other issues.
Source: NPR Morning Edition, "Election 2020: Opening Arguments"
Ron DeSantis on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Mar 5, 2019)
Against Medicare-for-all; keep private insurance
We need to enact policies to make health insurance, prescription drugs and medical care more affordable for Floridians. As you are aware, health care is being hotly debated at the national level, so let me say: Any proposal that seeks to
eliminate the private health insurance policies of millions of Floridians is unacceptable. Government has no right to take away the policies that Floridians earn through their jobs or purchase on the individual market.
Click for Ron DeSantis on other issues.
Source: 2019 State of the State address to the Florida legislature
Eric Swalwell on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Mar 2, 2019)
Yes to Medicare-for-All after time in the ICU with daughter
There's no place better to learn about the American health care system than in a hospital, among the afflicted and their families. You can particularly learn a lot by sleeping a few nights in your infant daughter's hospital room.
We need a Medicare for All universal health guarantee. We need, and Americans deserve, a health care system in which if you get sick you get seen, as well as one in which if you get seen, you don't go broke because of it.
Click for Eric Swalwell on other issues.
Source: Swalwell OpEd on NBC News for 2020 Democratic primary
John Delaney on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Feb 27, 2019)
Supports universal care, not Medicare-for-All
In an interview with CNBC,
Delaney said he supports creating a universal health care system, but not Medicare for All.
Click for John Delaney on other issues.
Source: Axios.com "What you need to know about 2020"
Amy Klobuchar on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Feb 18, 2019)
Medicare-for-All for the future; public option now
Q: Your opinion on expanding ObamaCare?A: I believe we have to get to universal health care in this country. We have to make sure that we build on the work of the Affordable Care Act. We need to expand coverage so that people can have a choice for a
public option. You can do it with Medicare. You could also do it with Medicaid. This is a bill that I am an original co-sponsor of. It basically says let's expand Medicaid so you can buy into Medicaid and it will bring the prices down and we can cover
more people. The other part of the equation is doing something about prescription drugs. I have one of the original bills to push to have Medicare negotiate prices, lift the ban, bring in less expensive drugs from Canada and stop the practice where
pharma pays off generics to keep their products off the market.
Q: And Medicare for all?
A: I think it's something that we can look to for the future, but I want to get action now.
Click for Amy Klobuchar on other issues.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Amy Klobuchar on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Feb 18, 2019)
Medicare-for-all is aspirational and for the future, not now
Sen. Amy Klobuchar placed herself firmly in the center lane of the Democratic primary, calling popular progressive policy platforms "aspirational," and declining to fully commit to them. The Minnesota Democrat called the Green New Deal "aspirational"
and said that Medicare-for-all is "something we can look to in the future." Klobuchar's centrist positions puts her largely in a category alone, as many of her Democratic opponents have opted to fully embrace Medicare-for-all and the Green New Deal.
But she may soon be joined in that group by other moderate candidates, such as Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown.
On health care, Klobuchar said she wanted to "build on" the Affordable Care Act, highlighting her support for a public option,
rather than calling for an immediate transition to Medicare-for-all. "It could be a possibility in the future," she said, "but I'm looking for what's working now."
Click for Amy Klobuchar on other issues.
Source: Politico.com on 2020 Democratic primary hopefuls
Howard Schultz on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Feb 12, 2019)
ObamaCare is ok, but Medicare-for-All goes too far
Q: What about ObamaCare and Medicare-for-All?A: We have a health care crisis in the country on many levels. The Republicans have done everything possible to eradicate the Affordable Care Act without offering any plan -- this is the far right.
The far left is now suggesting Medicare for all. That is a $32 trillion number. Does anyone understand that Medicare-for-all also means that you will lose the choice of your doctor and your private insurance company?
Q: Your alternative?
One, I think everyone in America, every person deserves to have the right for affordable care. Second, there needs to be competition in the system so that the American people can get access to prescription drugs at lower prices, because right now the
government is not allowed under a federal law to negotiate with pharma. Third thing has been tested but not proven yet about interstate commerce among insurance companies.
Click for Howard Schultz on other issues.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Cory Booker on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Feb 1, 2019)
Backs Medicare-for-All
- Booker calls health care an "American right" and co-sponsored "Medicare for All" legislation introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
- The government-run plan would be phased in over four years and end the private insurance market as it
currently exists.
- It would be paid for by a tax on employers and increased taxes on capital gains and on incomes exceeding $250,000.
- Booker had previously defended the Affordable Care Act but stopped short of supporting a single-payer plan.
Click for Cory Booker on other issues.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Mike Bloomberg on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jan 29, 2019)
We can never afford to replace employer-based health system
Some of the most popular issues among Democratic candidates--tuition free college, Medicare for all and a wealth tax--were among the proposals Bloomberg deemed unrealistic, too expensive and even unconstitutional.
The billionaire slammed a Medicare-for-All proposal floated by 2020 candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), saying the country could "never afford" replacing the employer-offered health care system in its entirety.
The Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat supports Medicare for those without health insurance, but he does not want to do away with the employer-provided model.
Bloomberg said, "I'm a little bit tired of listening to things are pie in the sky, that we never are going to pass, are never going to afford. I think it's just disingenuous to promote those things. You've got to do something that's practical."
Click for Mike Bloomberg on other issues.
Source: Stephanie Murray on Politico.com on 2020 Democratic primary
Tulsi Gabbard on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jan 14, 2019)
Supports Medicare-for-All; tax wealthiest 5% to pay for it
Gabbard co-sponsored a bill to create a government-run system to provide health care for all residents of the United States. That bill, "The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act," would pay for health care by increasing taxes on the wealthiest
5 percent of Americans, create a progressive excise tax on payroll and self-employment, tax unearned income, and also tax stock and bond transactions (not just the gains from those transactions).
Click for Tulsi Gabbard on other issues.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Stacey Abrams on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Nov 4, 2018)
Medicaid expansion for reduced cost & preexisting conditions
Q: President Obama hit the trail for your campaign in Georgia this week. He recently made headlines after calling Medicare-for-All a "good new idea." You have not expressed support for Medicare-for-All. Do you think President Obama is wrong? ABRAMS:
I don't think that he's wrong. I think that, as a national conversation, there certainly should be an ongoing review of what Medicare-for-All can do. But a single state cannot make that change.
Georgia does not have the financial capacity to provide that type of coverage. That is a federal conversation. In Georgia, we have to do the fundamentals, including the expansion of Medicaid. That's how we provide access to health care.
That's how we reduce costs. That's how we protect preexisting conditions. My focus is on how I can serve Georgia, and that means a focus on Medicaid expansion.
Click for Stacey Abrams on other issues.
Source: CNN interviews for 2018 Georgia Governor race
Kirsten Gillibrand on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Oct 25, 2018)
Expand Medicare and add not-for-profit public option
They disagreed on Medicare-for-all and the new tax bill, with Gillibrand saying she supports improving the health care system, including expanding Medicare."I believe people should have access to the life-saving health care that they need," she
said. "So I believe in Medicare for all, because if you have a not-for-profit public option, if you had a system where you could have access to the healthcare that you need, you would have the ability to have preventive care and people with
pre-existing conditions would be able to get the coverage they want."
Farley argued that health care costs are spiraling out of control and that Gillibrand's proposals amount to socialized medicine. "What she is proposing means that no one will be
allowed to have employer health care," Farley said. "If you like your health care, will you be able to keep it? The answer is no."
Click for Kirsten Gillibrand on other issues.
Source: ABC-7 Eyewitness News on 2018 New York Senatorial debate
Pete Buttigieg on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Feb 18, 2018)
2018: favored single-payer Medicare-for-All
Q [The People's Summit]: Not once have you tweeted support for MFA/SP or #HR676. We checked your handle & every possible hashtag or term.A: [@PeteButtigieg]: Buh? When/where have you ever heard me oppose Medicare for All?
Q: We never said that you
opposed it, but where did you say that you support #SinglePayer?
A: I've been on the record on this one since 2004: [Article in The Harvard Crimson, 3/8/04]: "We could finally see a single-payer health care system that closes the gap between the US and
other nations when it comes to medical treatment."
Q: You wrote that article 14 years ago as a student. I don't think you were a politician 14 years ago. Can you affirmatively say that we need #MedicareForAll now and that insurance does not belong in
healthcare?
A: Gosh! Okay: I, Pete Buttigieg, politician, do henceforth and forthwith declare, most affirmatively and indubitably, unto the ages, that I do favor Medicare for All, as I do favor any measure that would help get all Americans covered.
Click for Pete Buttigieg on other issues.
Source: Twitter posting on 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate
Cory Booker on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Mar 29, 2017)
Ok to consider single-payer, but I'm not behind it
During Barack Obama's presidency, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) could only find 62 other House Democrats willing to co-sponsor his single-payer health care proposal--which would expand Medicare to cover every American. But now that Speaker Paul Ryan's
House health care bill has imploded, Conyers's team has already signed up 78 co-sponsors for the exact same single-payer bill. And Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) announced over the weekend he'd be launching a new Medicare-for-All initiative.
But while Sanders and progressive Democrats clamor for a more aggressive approach, some Senate Democrats expressed skepticism about the need to go that far, that quickly.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) wouldn't get behind a single-payer health care system, instead calling it "one of those options that must be considered" in an email to Vox.
Click for Cory Booker on other issues.
Source: Jeff Stein in Vox.com, "TrumpCare dead"
Hillary Clinton on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Feb 11, 2016)
Medicare-for-all is not economically feasible
SANDERS: There is one major country that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country--the United States--which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people,
50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. CLINTON: We share the goal of universal health care coverage.
But I think the people deserve to know how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act is based on the insurance system.
So if you're having single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process. Based on every analysis I can find, the numbers don't add up, and many people will be worse off than they are now.
Click for Hillary Clinton on other issues.
Source: 2016 PBS Democratic debate in Wisconsin
Bernie Sanders on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jan 25, 2016)
Medicare for All: insure 29M people beyond ObamaCare
Q: You have branded your single payer health program as "Medicare for All", Why would people support your program with ongoing Medicare problems?SANDERS: I think people will support my Medicare-for-All program because the United States today is the
only major country on Earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people as a right. I think the Affordable Care Act has done a lot of good things. But yet we have 29 million people without any health insurance. There are seniors today who cannot
afford the outrageously high cost of prescription drugs because in America, we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Last year, while one out of five Americans cannot afford the prescriptions their doctors write, the three
major drug companies made $45 billion in profit because they spent hundreds of millions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions. I believe, as a principle, everybody should be entitled to health care as a right, comprehensive health care.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: 2016 CNN Town Hall Democratic presidential primary debate
Hillary Clinton on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jan 17, 2016)
We worked since Harry Truman to pass healthcare; defend it
Q: You said that Sen. Sanders would tear up ObamaCare and replace it with Medicare-for-all. Is that fair?CLINTON: I am absolutely committed to universal health care. I certainly respect Sen. Sanders' intentions, but when you're talking about health
care, the details really matter. And therefore, we have been raising questions about the nine bills that he introduced over 20 years, as to how they would work and what would be the impact on people's health care? But here's what I believe, the
Democratic Party worked since Harry Truman to get the Affordable Care Act passed. We finally have a path to universal health care. We have accomplished so much already. I do not to want see the Republicans repeal it, and I don't want see us start over
again with a contentious debate. I want us to defend and build on the Affordable Care Act and improve it.
SANDERS: Her campaign was saying "Sanders wants to end Medicare." That is nonsense. I'm on the committee that wrote the Affordable Care Act.
Click for Hillary Clinton on other issues.
Source: 2016 NBC Democratic debate
Bernie Sanders on Medicare-for-All:
(Health Care Jan 17, 2016)
I helped write ObamaCare; extend it to 29M more uninsured
Q [to Clinton]: You said that Sen. Sanders would tear up ObamaCare and replace it. Is that fair?CLINTON: The Democratic Party worked since Harry Truman to get the Affordable Care Act passed. I don't want see us start over again with a contentious
debate. I want us to defend and build on the Affordable Care Act & improve it.
SANDERS: Her campaign was saying "Sanders wants to end Medicare." That is nonsense. I'm on the committee that wrote the Affordable Care Act. What a Medicare-for-all program
does is finally provide in this country health care for every man, woman and child as a right. Now, the truth is: FDR and Truman, do you know what they believed in? They believed that health care should be available to all of our people. What we have to
deal with is the fact that 29 million people still have no health insurance. My proposal: provide health care to all people, get private insurance out of health insurance, lower the cost of health care for middle class families by $5,000.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: 2016 NBC Democratic debate
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