Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) did not provide details during the first Democrat presidential debate of how she would fix the broken healthcare system, using lofty terms and ideals but failing to explain the logistics of her solutions, despite her “I have a plan for that” slogan.
NBC’s moderator Lester Holt asked candidates if they would be willing to abolish private insurance altogether.
“Many people watching at home have health insurance coverage through their employer,” Holt said. “Who here would abolish their private health insurance in favor of a government-run plan? Just a show of hands, start off with.”
Two candidates, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Warren, raised their hands.
Holt asked Warren about her glowing support of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) Medicare for All plan, which would essentially eliminate private insurance altogether. Warren confirmed her intentions to move in that direction.
“It would put essentially everybody on Medicare and then eliminate private plans that offer similar coverage,” Holt said. “Is that the plan or path that you would pursue as president?”
“I’m with Bernie on Medicare for All. And let me tell you why,” Warren began before delving into another set of gross generalizations about the cost of medical bills.
“I spent a big chunk of my life studying why families go broke,” she said. “And one of the number one reasons is the cost of health care, medical bills. And 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.
However, she provided no details of how Medicare for All would “solve” all of those problems, instead pivoting and slamming critical colleagues who say her vague plan is not realistic.
“There are a lot of politicians who say, “Oh, it’s just not possible. We just can’t do it’ — have a lot of political reasons for this,” she said.
“What they’re really telling you is they just won’t fight for it. Well, health care is a basic human right, and I will fight for basic human rights,” she added.
Warren did not address two of the main concerns regarding Medicare for All: compromising the quality of health care and the price tag.
As Breitbart News reported:
Proponents for Medicare for All tout that Medicare for All would cover all Americans and might scrap the complicated and sometimes onerous health insurance system; although, Democrats backing Medicare for All may have trouble explaining how to pay for the single-payer plan. Mercatus Center scholar Charles Blahous estimated that Medicare for All would cost $60 trillion over the next decade, $38 trillion of which amounts to new spending.
A number of questions remain:
- How will the U.S. pay for this longterm?
- What will this do to the quality of health care?
- Will wait times for urgent medical needs increase?
- Will Medicare for All cover illegal aliens?
- Will it force taxpayers to completely fund abortion?
- How will this incentivize people to become doctors?
Only one detail was confirmed in Warren’s Medicare for All pitch: if you like your plan, you cannot keep your plan.
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