Medicare-For-None: Outlawed Health Care Plans And ‘Tax Hikes On Middle-Class Families’

Democrats’ Radical Plans Would ‘Eliminate’ The Private Health Insurance Plans Over 181 Million Americans Rely On

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 181 million Americans get their health insurance through their employer. (“Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2017,” Current Population Reports, U.S. Census Bureau, 9/2018)

CNN’s WOLF BLITZER: “Senator, let’s talk a little bit about Medicare for All … According to a recent Gallup poll, 70% of these people with private health insurance, their plans, they like their plans. They think their plans are good. Will these people be able to keep their health insurance plans, their private plans...”

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): “No.”

(“How Bernie Sanders Is Turning ‘Medicare For All’ Into A Major 2020 Liberal Litmus Test,” CNN, 2/26/2019)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA): “[W]e need to have Medicare for all. That’s just the bottom line.”

…

CNN’S JAKE TAPPER: “[T]o reiterate, you support the Medicare for all bill … initially co-sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders. You’re also a co-sponsor onto it. I believe it will totally eliminate private insurance. So for people out there who like their insurance, they don’t get to keep it?”

HARRIS: “Well, listen, the idea is that everyone gets access to medical care, and you don’t have to go through the process of going through an insurance company, having them give you approval, going through the paperwork, all of the delay that may require. Who of us has not had that situation, where you’ve got to wait for approval, and the doctor says, well, I don’t know if your insurance company is going to cover this? Let’s eliminate all of that. Let’s move on.”

(CNN, 1/28/2019)

“Sanders’ ‘Medicare for All’ proposal has become the default position of lots of 2020 candidates -- including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California …” (“How Bernie Sanders Is Turning ‘Medicare For All’ Into A Major 2020 Liberal Litmus Test,” CNN, 2/26/2019)

‘Medicare For All Would Abolish Private Insurance’ Meaning ‘Those People Would Lose Their Current Coverage’ And ‘People In The Health Insurance Industry Would Lose Their Jobs’

THE NEW YORK TIMES: “Medicare for All Would Abolish Private Insurance. ‘There’s No Precedent in American History.’” (“Medicare for All Would Abolish Private Insurance. ‘There’s No Precedent in American History,’” The New York Times, 3/23/2019)

• “[E]mployer-based insurance … would be eliminated. Those people would lose their current coverage … Both employers and workers would probably face new taxes to pay for the coverage …” (“How Medicare for All Would Affect You,” The New York Times, 9/14/2017)

• “At the heart of the ‘Medicare for all’ proposals championed by Senator Bernie Sanders and many Democrats is a revolutionary idea: Abolish private health insurance.” (“Medicare for All Would Abolish Private Insurance. ‘There’s No Precedent in American History,’” The New York Times, 3/23/2019)

• “Most Americans would have a new insurer — the federal government — and many would find the health insurance stocks in their retirement portfolios much less valuable.” (“Medicare for All Would Abolish Private Insurance. ‘There’s No Precedent in American History,’” The New York Times, 3/23/2019)

• “A third of Americans enrolled in Medicare, which insures older and disabled people, and four-fifths of those in Medicaid, which covers the poor and disabled, now get their benefits from a private insurer.” (“Medicare for All Would Abolish Private Insurance. ‘There’s No Precedent in American History,’” The New York Times, 3/23/2019)

“[D]oing away with an entire industry would also be profoundly disruptive. The private health insurance business employs at least a half a million people … Its companies’ stocks are a staple of the mutual funds that make up millions of Americans’ retirement savings.” (“Medicare for All Would Abolish Private Insurance. ‘There’s No Precedent in American History,’” The New York Times, 3/23/2019)

• “Legislators writing the bills acknowledge that people in the health insurance industry would lose their jobs.” (“Medicare for All Would Abolish Private Insurance. ‘There’s No Precedent in American History,’” The New York Times, 3/23/2019)

‘Medicare-For-All In Particular Would Require Tax Hikes On Middle-Class Families’

THE WASHINGTON POST: “Democrats’ 2020 policy proposals almost certainly require middle-class tax hikes” (“Democrats’ 2020 Policy Proposals Almost Certainly Require Middle-Class Tax Hikes,” The Washington Post, 3/28/2019)

• “Medicare-for-all in particular would require tax hikes on middle-class families …” (“Democrats’ 2020 Policy Proposals Almost Certainly Require Middle-Class Tax Hikes,” The Washington Post, 3/28/2019)

• Marc Goldwein, senior vice president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: “There’s no possible way to finance even single-payer without big middle-class tax increases.” (“Democrats’ 2020 Policy Proposals Almost Certainly Require Middle-Class Tax Hikes,” The Washington Post, 3/28/2019)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): “The criticism of Bernie Sanders is, ‘He’s going to raise your taxes.’ Well, I may. That’s right.” (The Breakfast Club, 3/04/2019)

• “Jeffrey Sachs, a professor at Columbia University who backed Sanders in the 2016 presidential election, said these policies could be financed in part through higher taxes on the middle class.” (“Democrats’ 2020 Policy Proposals Almost Certainly Require Middle-Class Tax Hikes,” The Washington Post, 3/28/2019)

The Costs For Sanders’ New, Expanded Government Health Care Takeover Would Arguably Exceed Even The Gargantuan $32 Trillion Price Tag On His Last Proposal

“Bernie Sanders – the senator who first coined the term ‘Medicare-for-all’ – will unveil an updated, expanded version of his bill this morning. And it’s one that would dramatically overhaul the U.S. health-care system and promise an even more generous array of benefits to Americans. Sanders’s new Medicare-for-all bill will propose to cover long-term care -- a steeply expensive health benefit that shows progressives’ increasing willingness to lay out their pie-in-the-sky dreams, even if they are unrealistic. That goes far beyond what Sanders proposed when he first introduced Medicare-for-all in September 2017 -- and is much like a House version introduced in February by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)” (“The Health 202: Bernie Sanders Is About To Roll Out An Even More Expansive Medicare-For-All Bill,” The Washington Post, 4/10/2019)

• THE WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL BOARD, 2017: “[T]he government’s price tag would be astonishing. When Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) proposed a ‘Medicare for all’ health plan in his presidential campaign, the nonpartisan Urban Institute figured that it would raise government spending by $32 trillion over 10 years, requiring a tax increase so huge that even the democratic socialist Mr. Sanders did not propose anything close to it.” (Editorial, “Single-Payer Health Care Would Have An Astonishingly High Price Tag,” The Washington Post, 6/18/2017)

PREVIOUSLY: Democrats On Single-Payer ‘Medicare For All’ Proposals: ‘It’s A $30 Trillion Price Tag’ It ‘Would Bankrupt Us’

HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): “Right now it’s a $30 trillion price tag. What do people get for that in terms of care, and what do they pay for that along the way?” (The Washington Post, 4/04/2019)

REP. CHERI BUSTOS (D-IL), DCCC CHAIR: “I think the $33 trillion price tag for Medicare for all is a little scary.” (“Dem Campaign Chief: Medicare For All Price Tag ‘A Little Scary,’” The Hill, 3/06/2019)

FORMER NYC MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: “I think we could never afford that. We are talking about trillions of dollars…. [T]o replace the entire private system where companies provide health care for their employees would bankrupt us for a very long time.” (“Michael Bloomberg: Medicare-For-All ‘Would Bankrupt Us For A Very Long Time,’” CNN, 1/29/2019)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): “[N]o sane person will pass it [single payer health care]…. [Y]ou’d double everybody’s taxes. You want to do that? Let’s go.” (“Andrew Cuomo’s Case for 2020—No, Really,” The Atlantic, 3/03/2019)

“[Former Gov. Jerry] Brown [D-CA], who pledged to leave the state on firm financial footing, said earlier [in 2017] that he doesn’t understand the logic behind pushing another system like single-payer while Obamacare is imperiled. ‘Where do you get the extra money?’ he asked. ‘This is the whole question. I don’t even get ... how do you do that? ‘This is called “the unknown by means of the more unknown.” In other words, you take a problem, and say “I am going to solve it by something that’s ... a bigger problem,” which makes no sense.’” (“Why Universal Health Care Died In California,” The Sacramento Bee, 6/27/2017)

“Former president Barack Obama gently warned a group of freshman House Democrats Monday evening about the costs associated with some liberal ideas popular in their ranks, encouraging members to look at price tags, according to people in the room…. [S]ome people in the room took his words as a cautionary note about Medicare-for-all and the Green New Deal, two liberal ideas popularized by a few of the more famous House freshmen …” (“Obama Cautions Freshman House Democrats About The Price Tag Of Liberal Policies,” The Washington Post, 3/26/2019)

• “[H]e argued that voters care about the costs associated with policies and that Democrats should be ready to answer questions about how they will pay for an idea while making big promises to constituents.” (“Obama Cautions Freshman House Democrats About The Price Tag Of Liberal Policies,” The Washington Post, 3/26/2019)

JIM MANLEY, former Communications Director for former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV): “Democrats have to be careful here: If they’re going to pay for these programs, the math suggests middle-class taxpayers are going to be hit.” (“Democrats’ 2020 Policy Proposals Almost Certainly Require Middle-Class Tax Hikes,” The Washington Post, 3/28/2019)