Topline: Only two
candidates—Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and New York City Mayor Bill
de Blasio—said they would abolish private health insurance and replace it with
a government-run health plan, revealing some fundamental fractures within the
Democratic party over the issue of healthcare during the first Democratic
primary debate of the 2020 presidential race.
·
Warren said she supports Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders's plan
to institute Medicare For All, which would eliminate private health care and
put everyone on government-run Medicare.
·
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio also came out in favor of
scrapping private insurance, and at one point interrupted Betro O’Rourke when
he was talking about his healthcare plan to say that “private insurance is not
working for tens of millions of Americans.”
·
The other candidates on stage, including Tusli Gabbard, Beto
O’Rourke and Amy Klobuchar, said that they see some role for private insurance,
opting instead for a public option where people can choose to be on Medicare.
In defending their
opposition to Medicare For All, the candidates said that they want to give
people the choice to keep their current private healthcare plan through their
employer.
When de Blasio said
that private insurance isn’t working, O’Rourke responded by saying, “For those
who it's not working for, they can choose Medicare.” Former Maryland
representative John Delaney said “We should keep what's working and fix what’s
broken.” And Klobuchar said a public option was one incremental change that
would move the U.S. toward universal healthcare.
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