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 Progressive candidates favor the sweeping proposal, which would
replace private health insurance with a single government-run plan.
More moderate candidates have embraced less drastic measures they
say would achieve universal healthcare coverage while allowing
individuals to choose their plan.
Here is where each of the 10 Democrats who have qualified for
Wednesday's debate in Atlanta stand on Medicare for All:
MEDICARE FOR ALL OR BUST
Bernie Sanders
The U.S. senator from Vermont authored Medicare for All legislation
that would essentially abolish private insurance in favor of a
single government-run plan that covers every American. The ambitious
proposal would cost more than $30 trillion over 10 years, according
to independent analyses.
Sanders has acknowledged he would impose higher taxes on families to
help pay for the program, but has argued that the typical
middle-class family would save overall by eliminating virtually all
health expenses.
The bill would transform Medicare - now primarily for Americans aged
65 and over - into a universal system and ban employers from
offering healthcare plans to compete with the government. Aside from
prescription drugs, patients would face no out-of-pocket costs when
accessing medical services.
Several Democratic rivals, including former Vice President Joe Biden,
have criticized Sanders' plan as unrealistic.
Elizabeth Warren
Warren, a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, has endorsed Sanders'
proposal. Unlike Sanders, who has not explained specifically how he
would pay for the plan, Warren has released a detailed financing
proposal.
Warren has estimated Medicare for All would cost $20.5 trillion in
additional government spending over 10 years. That is lower than
what independent analyses have found, but Warren has argued that she
would achieve savings by lowering administrative costs and reducing
drug prices, among other changes.
She would rely on tax increases for corporations and the wealthy,
most notably billionaires, and said the plan would not raise taxes
for middle-class families "one penny."
The proposal was met with skepticism by several of her Democratic
rivals, including Biden, whose campaign accused her of engaging in
dishonest "mathematical gymnastics."
Warren said she would transition to Medicare for All gradually over
three years, including initial legislation to make Medicare
available to all Americans while preserving existing employer-based
insurance at first.
PREFERRING A PUBLIC OPTION
Joe Biden
The No. 2 to former Democratic President Barack Obama has criticized
Medicare for All as an effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (ACA),
Obama's signature healthcare law.
Instead, Biden has vowed to "build on" the ACA, popularly known as
Obamacare, by adding a public option that would leave the current
private insurance system in place.
His healthcare plan, estimated to cost $750 billion over 10 years
and paid for partly by higher taxes on the wealthy, would let people
enroll in a paid government healthcare plan as an alternative to
private insurance. The government plan would be modeled on Medicare
and available even to workers with employer-provided policies.
The proposal would also expand the ACA's subsidies for private
policies, making them more generous and extending them to more
people.
Pete Buttigieg
Like Biden, Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, favors a
public option, which would allow individuals to opt into a
government plan but would preserve the existing role for private
insurers.
Buttigieg, who has coined the phrase "Medicare for all who want it"
to describe the concept, has argued that a public option will
eventually lead to a single-payer system, because individuals will
find that Medicare is more cost-efficient than private policies.
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Amy Klobuchar
Unlike other fellow senators seeking the Democratic presidential
nomination, Klobuchar did not co-sponsor Sanders' Medicare for All
legislation.
Klobuchar, a moderate from Minnesota, has said she would improve on
the Affordable Care Act by adding a public option, giving people the
chance to choose a government-backed plan. She has criticized
Medicare for All as a "pipe dream."
Tom Steyer
Steyer, a billionaire-turned-Democratic mega-donor who entered the
race in July, has said he favors a public option that would allow
Americans to choose a government-backed plan.
STAKING OUT A MIDDLE GROUND
Kamala Harris
For months, the U.S. senator from California – an original
co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All legislation – struggled to
clarify whether she would eliminate private insurance in favor of a
single-payer health plan, as the Sanders bill envisions. On at least
two occasions, she appeared to answer in the affirmative before
walking back her statements.
Harris has since released her own Medicare for All plan, which
stands somewhere between the sweeping Sanders proposal and more
moderate alternatives.
Under Harris' proposal, all Americans would be covered by Medicare,
but private insurers would continue to play a role by offering plans
within the Medicare system similar to the current Medicare Advantage
program that allows recipients to choose private insurance plans
that offer extra benefits.
Her plan sets out a 10-year period to phase in the new system,
unlike Sanders' goal of four years. Harris has said she would use a
mix of new taxes on the wealthy and corporations to finance her
plan, although she has not offered a precise price tag.
Andrew Yang
Yang, an entrepreneur, supports the concept of Medicare for All,
arguing that the prevailing job-based insurance system discourages
businesses from hiring due to ever-rising costs, while forcing
people to stay in jobs they dislike for fear of losing their
healthcare coverage.
He has said he would not ban private insurers but does not believe
they would be able to compete with a no-cost government plan.
Cory Booker
Booker, a senator from New Jersey, was one of the co-sponsors of
Sanders' Medicare for All legislation and has repeatedly affirmed
his support for that bill.
But he has also said "pragmatism" may require a more incremental
approach, such as a public option, that would eventually lead to a
true single-payer system.
Like Harris, he has signed onto several alternative
Democratic-backed healthcare bills in the Senate that would create a
public option and lower the Medicare eligibility age from 65.
Tulsi Gabbard
The Hawaii congresswoman has said she supports Medicare for All, and
she is a co-sponsor of a version of Sanders' bill in the U.S. House
of Representatives.
However, Gabbard has also said she would prefer to allow people who
are happy with their employer-sponsored or union healthcare plan to
keep it, and she did not raise her hand in June at a debate when the
candidates were asked whether they favored eliminating private
insurance.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax in New York; Editing by Soyoung Kim and Bill
Berkrot)
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