One of corporate Democrats’ most common talking points against Medicare for All is that such a proposal would never make it through Congress. But Joe Biden, in an interview that aired Monday night, admitted that even if one did — with the approval of his own party — he would not necessarily jump at the historic chance to sign it into law.
Validating Sen. Bernie Sanders’ call for a debate with Biden on the details and merits of Medicare for All, the former vice president described Sanders’ plan as a budget-busting proposal — without mentioning studies showing it would save the U.S. trillions of dollars — and refused to commit to signing Medicare for All legislation if Congress sent it to his desk, claiming it could delay coverage expansion.
“I would veto anything that delays providing the security and the certainty of healthcare being available now,” Biden told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, who asked Biden how he, if elected president, would handle a situation in which Medicare for All legislation passed a Democrat-controlled Congress.
Biden’s remarks were widely interpreted as a suggestion that he would consider vetoing Medicare for All, which — under Sanders’ version — would be phased in over a four-year period, lowering the Medicare eligibility age to 55 in the first year and covering everyone in the U.S. by year four. A public option would also be established during the transition period.
“If Democrats passed a Medicare for All bill through the House and Senate, it would be one of the greatest legislative accomplishments in American history. It would realign American politics for a generation or more… and Joe Biden suggested that he might veto it,” tweeted journalist Walker Bragman.
Joe Biden just said he would veto Medicare-for-All because it would "delay" healthcare coverage.
His own healthcare plan leaves 10 million people uninsured.pic.twitter.com/mpW6Z58miB
— jordan (@JordanUhl) March 10, 2020
While criticizing supposed “delays” in coverage expansion under Medicare for All, Biden failed to mention that his plan — according to the former vice president’s own campaign website — would leave millions of Americans uninsured by only covering 97% of the U.S. population.
Biden also lied again about his own healthcare plan, falsely claiming that "everyone would be covered," when his own damn website says it would leave about 10 million uninsured. pic.twitter.com/IZ59xa6PCN
— austerity is theft 🇿🇦 (@wideofthepost) March 10, 2020
Biden insisted that he supports the “principle” behind Medicare for All — providing healthcare as a right — but opposes the policy because he believes it is impractical and would raise taxes on the middle class, a right-wing talking point that ignores the savings most U.S. families would see via Medicare for All’s elimination of premiums, co-pays, and deductibles.
“My opposition isn’t to the principle that you should have Medicare,” Biden said. “My opposition relates to whether or not, a, it’s doable, and, two, what the cost is and what the consequences to the rest of the budget are. How are going to find $35 trillion over the next 10 years without having profound impacts on everything from taxes for middle class, working class people, as well as the impact on the rest of the budget?”
A Yale study released last month showed that Medicare for All, contrary to Biden’s depiction of the policy as prohibitively expensive, would save the U.S. $450 billion annually in overall healthcare spending. The study also found that Medicare for All would save 68,000 lives each year.
“Joe Biden is pretending he’s worried about how much Medicare for All would cost,” tweeted writer and researcher Andrew Perez. “Odds are his plan would cost much more, just like this analysis of [Pete Buttigieg’s] plan found, because it adds new costs while preserving an extraordinarily brutal, inefficient system.”
Adam Gaffney, president of Physicians for a National Health Program, argued in a blog post for Health Affairs on Monday that Medicare for All is both economically and politically viable.
“At the end of the day, the vast majority of the nation could benefit from single-payer reform — and that fact makes it winnable,” Gaffney wrote. “Above all, however, we can be sure of one thing: not bothering to push for Medicare for All today will guarantee that it doesn’t happen tomorrow.”
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment. We are presently looking for 130 new monthly donors before midnight tonight.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy