Warren has her own plan for everything - except this

[turbinetree]

By STEVE PEOPLES 34 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Elizabeth Warren has a plan for that. But on health care, she’s with Bernie.

Warren, a Massachusetts senator and a leading liberal Democratic presidential candidate, has stood out in the 2020 race for her extraordinary focus on detailed plans to address the nation’s most pressing issues. Her website lists specific policies for 43 topics: gun violence, Social Security, the Electoral College and even family farmers.

But on the issue that matters most to many voters — health care — Warren is all in on her opponent Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” plan. The seeming inconsistency was highlighted during this week’s presidential debate by Democratic front-runner Joe Biden as he defended his own plan to expand the health care overhaul implemented by former President Barack Obama.

“The senator says she’s for Bernie,” Biden quipped. “Well, I’m for Barack.”

No issue has defined the early months of the Democrats’ 2020 presidential nomination fight more than health care, which has emerged as a powerful proxy in the broader fight for the Democratic Party’s soul in the age of Trump.

https://www.apnews.com/c9b93091a5cd468ea4c9381d58603cfc

-snip-

"Biden noted Medicare for All would cost taxpayers roughly $30 trillion. A fiery Sanders said the current system would cost $50 trillion while leaving more than 80 million American uninsured or underinsured.

Medicare for All, Sanders said, would cover everyone and eliminate all out-of-pocket expenses, deductibles and co-payments.

“I ... wrote the damn bill, if I may say so,” Sanders said as Warren looked on."

[comradebillyboy]

1. In my opinion Warren should put some distance between herself

and Sanders. She's viewed as his understudy by far too many people and that image huts her. Being perceived as a Bernie follower won't win her the nomination.

[elocs]

2. When something looks too good to be true, it's usually true and MFA fits that perfectly.

Lots of big promises, no rational explanation of how it will be passed into law or how many, many years that would take but it would be magically paid for and we would be in healthcare heaven.

But the ACA is here right now and if that cannot be improved how the hell would MFA ever be passed?

The United States is not western Europe or Canada or Australia. We are the 3rd most populous nation in the world with over 300 million people, a diverse and sharply divided population. What example is there of a nation like ours where something like Medicare for All that works?

As Democrats we have been for choice and even millions of non Democrats love having choices. But with MFA we would say it's our way only and if you like and prefer your own health insurance, tough luck. Because there is absolutely no way that MFA will work as perfectly and pie in the sky as predicted and many Americans are right to be suspicious of such lofty and far out promises.

[DrToast]

3. Well, she won't say what tax rates should be.

So I wouldn’t say she has a plan for everything. Or at least she won’t share it with us.

[BlueMississippi]

4. The ultra-left dreams always hit a cliff

when it comes to the actual tax rates required to sustain them.

If voters are told that you can have all these free programs but you'll be paying 60% in income tax and another 10% in several other taxes like wealth tax, transaction tax etc.; those dreams become nightmares.

Humans, by their very nature, don't like to pay for "other people" by nature. So old people oppose school funding saying "we don't have any kids." Urban people oppose funding for highway construction saying "we don't have a car and don't drive anywhere."

It takes a lot of persuasion to bring out the community spirit even when the issue is a zero-tax situation.

Republicans take advantage of this and turn people against the Democrats.

This is why incremental progress is far more doable than hitting people on the head with all these taxes and programs.

The united states isn't anything like NY14 -- quite the opposite.

Every American is part socialist, part libertarian, part capitalist, part altruistic and part greedy. The percentages of these parts varies but they are all there.

Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were able to thread the needle deftly between these parts, arousing the better angels and keeping the bad angels from getting alarmed.

There is a lesson there. Biden is following that playbook to a T. Others? Not so much.

[Fiendish Thingy]

5. Humans by nature don't like to pay for other people?

No, that's a uniquely American trait.

Go watch Michael Moore's "Where to Invade Next" to see people around the world who are happy to chip in for their fellow citizens well being, knowing the shoe could be on the other foot some day.

Go tell the millions of uninsured and underinsured people that incremental change is the best way forward.

[BlueMississippi]

6. Michael Moore

[Fiendish Thingy]

7. Substance-free response requiring no critical thinking skills

Moore correctly predicted Trump's election, and "Where to Invade Next" contains numerous interviews with people living in Social Democracies who support universal healthcare, free college, daycare, etc. it discusses taxes and a shared responsibility for the common good (something mentioned in our Constitution).

You can mock the messenger, but you, and Biden, can't ignore the message or the millions of voters, especially young voters, who support it.

[BlueMississippi]

10. The so called "young voters"

don't show up at the polls. They show up at rallies (especially if held near campuses) for the party atmosphere.

They do like free college tuition though -- but no one asks young people joining unions and trades if they want to pay for other people's college tuition. There more young people who are NOT college students and I'm sure they don't want their small earnings taxed even more so that other people's (usually affluent upper middle class) kids to go to college for free.

[DrFunkenstein]

11. No Mention of Roosevelt or Kennedy?

They threaded some needles in their time, too.

[McCamy Taylor]

8. Medicare 4A will save 1.5 trillion per year

[The Time is Now]

9. Policy wonk

Elizabeth Warren is the quintessential policy wonk. If she doesn't have a distinct health care plan of her own, I'm confident that she's done her homework and studied and agrees with what Sanders proposes. There are many areas of overlap between our candidates and I'd be happy with many of them. To me, Warren is the sharpest and one with a considerable record of getting things done, such as proposing and serving on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The first presidential candidate I voted for was McGovern and have, ever since, supported that Democratic candidate who had the best chance of moving the nation progressively leftward. As of today, Warren seems strongest to me, but, like others here, I'm delighted by how strong the field is.