In Debate of the Losers, my piece on the first Dem debate, I wrote that, “Castro and Bill de Blasio went after O’Rourke from the left in a radical primary where the moderates were on the run and the only acceptable non-radical position was protecting union health care plans.”
The sharpest clashes did come over how radical the socialized medicine solution was going to be.
Elizabeth Warren and Bill de Blasio took some of the most radical positions. And Warren cheerfully raised her hand to the prospect of banning private health insurance.
Union plans were an explosive issue under ObamaCare. And a number of the 2020 Dems refrained from going full socialist and taking away people’s health care plans.
They’ve seen the polling that most Dems still don’t understand that the so-called Medicare for All is nothing like Medicare, that it won’t supplement, but eliminate.
Two-thirds of Democratic voters think that people with employer coverage could hold on to their policies under Medicare for All, according to the Kaiser study, which used a nationally representative sample of more than 1,200 adults.
In reality, both the Sanders proposal and its House counterpart, from Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), would prohibit the sale of private insurance that is “duplicative” of what the new government plan would offer.
That would effectively wipe out existing employer policies. Private insurers could still offer supplemental plans, but only to pay for extras, like cosmetic surgery and premium hospital rooms, that the government plan didn’t cover.
This is the sharp edge that will pop up more as primary season goes on.
Even most Dems are not on board with this. And once the awareness explosions begin, that will be a gamechanger.
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