How Elizabeth Warren cleared up a question about her Medicare-for-All stance
Should private health insurance be abolished? Warren's position was a bit hazy until Wednesday night.
For all of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s plans, questions have lingered about her commitment to Medicare-for-All.
While the Massachusetts senator has long pointed to single-payer health care as the “most obvious solution” to the country’s singularly expensive and inefficient insurance scheme, it wasn’t until two years ago that she came out in support of it and backed Medicare-for-All legislation introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Even then, when asked about Medicare-for-All during her presidential campaign this year, Warren says her immediate priority is defending the Affordable Care Act and tackling “low hanging fruit” like lowering the cost of prescription drugs. And despite sponsoring Sanders’s bill, which would effectively ban private insurance for most medical care, she has repeatedly said that there are a lot of different paths to phasing in Medicare-for-All. According to a Washington Post survey of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, Warren’s stance on the the role private insurers would play if Medicare-for-All is passed has remained unclear.
She put those questions to rest Wednesday night.
When debate host Lester Holt asked the 10 candidates on stage who “would abolish their private health insurance in favor of a government-run plan,” Warren was one of only two candidates that raised their hand. The other was New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
.@LesterHoltNBC asks #DemDebate candidates: “Who here would abolish their private health insurance in favor of a government-run plan?”
Elizabeth Warren and Bill de Blasio raise their hands. pic.twitter.com/HGLK4qqbdB
— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) June 27, 2019
Even though none of the United States’ peer countries — even those with single-payer health care models — prohibit private insurance to the degree that Sanders bill would (his legislation envisions a robust government-run system covering a wide array of care, including dental, vision, and prescription drugs), Warren doubled down when asked about her position.
“Yes, I’m with Bernie on Medicare-for-All,” she said.
As a former bankruptcy law professor, Warren explained that she had found during her career that one of the main reasons people went broke was the cost of medical care, even for those who had health insurance. The reason, she said, was the inherent way the private insurance industry works.
“Look at the business model of an insurance company,” Warren said. “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.”
Warren said she understands that there are “a lot of politicians” who say transitioning to single-payer is “just not possible.” In fact, before she was a senator, Warren herself suggested in a 2008 book that such an effort may be “politically unacceptable.” However, as president, she said Wednesday she would test that theory.
“What they’re really telling you is they just won’t fight for it,” Warren said. “Well, health care is a basic human right, and I will fight for basic human rights.”
