During the fourth round of the Democratic debates, “moderate” Democrats including Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and Joe Biden attacked Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” plan.
One of the CNN moderators asked Warren if she would raise taxes on the middle class in order to pay for her “Medicare for All” bill. Per usual, Warren dodged the question, giving her usual response that costs at large will go down for middle class families.
Buttigieg attacked Warren for continuously dodging this question.
“This is why people here in the Midwest are so frustrated with Washington in general and Capitol Hill in particular. Your signature, Senator, is to have a plan for everything, except this. No plan has been laid out to explain how a multi-trillion dollar hole in this ‘Medicare for All’ plan that Senator Warren has put forward, is supposed to get put in,” Buttigieg said.
Mayor @PeteButtigieg grills @ewarren over her "Medicare For All" health care plan. #DemocraticDebate pic.twitter.com/FoPG449TbJ
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 16, 2019
Much of the intra-party fighting on health care between progressives like Warren and moderate-progressives like Buttigieg stems from whether or not to eliminate private insurance all together. Warren and Sanders believe that a government-run health care program should be the only health insurance available, while others see the elimination of private health care as detrimental to the American people.
Klobuchar stood by Buttigieg, attacking Warren for wanting to eliminate private health insurance, instead of offering a public option allowing citizens to buy into government-run health care, if they choose.
“I appreciate Elizabeth’s work. But again, the difference between a plan and a pipe dream is something you can actually get done,” Klobuchar said. “And, we can get this public option done and we can take on the pharmaceutical companies, and bring down the prices.”
Amy Klobuchar on "Medicare for All:" "I appreciate Elizabeth's work. But again, the difference between a plan and a pipe dream is something you can actually get done" #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/m2yyF3jQbF
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 16, 2019
While Buttigieg and Klobuchar took on Warren’s stance on the type of health insurance plans and price of plans, Biden attacked Sanders’ for holding the same ideas as Warren.
Biden has made it clear he wants to expand Obamacare and would not eliminate private health insurance. He also said increasing taxes on the middle class, as Sanders and Warren have alluded to, would be detrimental to the middle class.
“If you’re making, for firemen and a school teacher making $100,000 bucks a year, their taxes are gonna go up about 10 grand, that is more than what you will possibly save on this health care plan,” Biden said.
Sen. Sanders can't defend the middle-class tax increase in his Medicare for All plan so he attacks the healthcare industry. #DemocraticDebate pic.twitter.com/RdodrIrlTi
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) October 16, 2019
