Vermont Sen. Sanders “wrote the damn bill” calling for a government-run, single-payer health care system that eliminates private health insurance. It would cost a hefty $34 trillion over 10 years, according to a report from the Urban Institute.
“The function of health care is not to make huge profits for the wealthy, it is to guarantee health care to every man, woman, and child through a Medicare-for-All, single-payer system,” Sanders said at an August 2019 rally in Sacramento.
WHILE HE HAS ACKNOWLEDGED TAXES WOULD GO UP FOR AMERICANS IN THE MIDDLE CLASS, HE INSISTS OVERALL COSTS WOULD GO DOWN BECAUSE HE’D ELIMINATE COPAYS, DEDUCTIBLES, AND SURPRISE BILLS. TOP ARTICLES
ELIZABETH WARREN
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has said she is “with Bernie” on health care. But unlike Sanders, Warren doesn’t talk about taxes going up. She instead focuses on overall health care costs going down.
“Because I have identified trillions in revenue to finance a fully functioning Medicare for All system — without raising taxes on the middle class by one penny — I can also fund a true Medicare for All option,” Warren wrote in a November post on Medium.
PETE BUTTIGIEG
Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg is pushing a “Medicare for All Who Want It” plan that would cost about $1.5 trillion over 10 years and be funded almost entirely by rolling back the tax cuts law Trump approved in 2017.
Buttigieg wants people to have access to a government-run public option that would present a more affordable alternative to private health insurance and guarantee contraception coverage. Poorer Americans living in states that have refused to expand Medicaid would be automatically enrolled in his public option plan.
He’d eliminate surprise billing, which commonly occurs when in-network hospital patients receive treatment from a doctor outside of their insurance network.Warren wants to prove the viability of her plan before implementing a universal, single-payer plan that abolishes private health insurance.
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG
The former New York City mayor is looking to build on Obamacare by creating a Medicare-like public option administered by the federal government but paid for by customer premiums.
To reduce insurance costs, he’d extend tax credits for individuals and families who spend more than 8.5 percent of their income on health insurance premiums. If elected president, he’d work with Congress to have the Department of Health and Human Services negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies and make prices more comparable with other industrialized countries
AMY KLOBUCHAR
Minnesota Sen. Klobcuhar has called Sanders’ Medicare for All proposal a “bad idea” because “149 million Americans will no longer be able to have their current insurance” within four years.
She instead wants a non-profit public option that gives Americans the ability get lower insurance costs and drug prices. Like Sanders, though, she would allow people to personally buy drugs from countries like Canada. She also wants to allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper prescription drug costs.
In her first 100 days, Klobuchar would direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to “study gun violence as a public health issue and help identify approaches to reduce gun violence and save lives.” She’d also allow health providers like Planned Parenthood to receive funding under Title X.
ANDREW YANG
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang believes Democrats are “having the wrong discussion on healthcare,” arguing that the 2020 field is spending all its time “arguing over who is the most zealous in wanting to cover Americans.”
While he supports “the spirit of Medicare for All,” he wants to focus on the underlying causes of rising drug and insurance costs. He’s open to allowing the importation of drugs from other countries, but only if his three other preferences fail. He’d rather have Congress pass a law to negotiate drug prices, adopt pricing models more in line with costs people from other countries are paying and create public manufacturing sites in the United States to produce generic drugs.
TOM STEYER
Tom Steyer, a billionaire activist in California who has pushed for solutions to global warming, wants a public option that would administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a federal agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. That public option would be financially separated from Medicare and Medicaid.
Private health insurance providers wanting to participate in Medicare or Medicaid would also need to participate in the public option. He estimates his plan will cost about $1.5 trillion over 10 years.
CORY BOOKER
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, as well Warren, is a sponsor on Sanders’ Medicare for All bill. As president, Booker would push a health care plan that includes universal paid family and medical leave.
He would lower prescription drug costs by importing drugs from countries like Canada and allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower prices. He also wants to create a tax penalty for drug companies that “unfairly raise the cost of their drugs and take patents away from drug companies that sell the same medication for less in other countries.”
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