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Elizabeth Warren Says She Will Release a Plan to Finance ‘Medicare for All’ Elizabeth Warren Says She Will Release a Plan to Finance ‘Medicare for All’
(about 3 hours later)
INDIANOLA, Iowa — Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said on Sunday that she will release a plan to finance “Medicare for all” in the coming weeks, bowing to critics from the left and the right who have criticized her for not outlining how she would pay for a single-payer health care system. INDIANOLA, Iowa — Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said on Sunday that she would release a plan to finance “Medicare for all” in the coming weeks, bowing to critics who have pressed her to explain how she would pay for a single-payer health care system.
Ms. Warren has become known for her towering stack of policy plans, having offered dozens of proposals on a wide variety of subjects. But on health care, she has not been similarly forthcoming, and her refusal to say whether she would raise taxes on the middle class to help finance “Medicare for all” has drawn sharp criticism from some of her Democratic rivals. Ms. Warren has become known for her towering stack of policy plans, having offered dozens of proposals on a wide variety of subjects. But on health care, she has not been similarly forthcoming, and her repeated refusal to say whether she would raise taxes on the middle class to help finance Medicare for all has drawn sharp criticism from some of her Democratic rivals.
In remarks at a town hall event on Sunday afternoon, Ms. Warren said, “I plan over the next few weeks to put out a plan that talks about, specifically, the cost of ‘Medicare for all’ and, specifically, how we pay for it.” Given her increasing status as a front-runner in the Democratic presidential field, Ms. Warren was certain to continue facing challenges on the issue. For weeks, she has sidestepped questions about raising taxes no matter who was asking and when. But it had been an open question whether it would remain politically tenable for her to continue simply aligning herself with Senator Bernie Sanders’s health care plan while declining to provide any detailed explanation of how she would pay for it.
Ms. Warren’s repeated refusal to directly answer that question stood in stark contrast to how she has talked about other policy areas — providing lengthy, detailed plans and explaining how she would create a tax on the wealth of the richest Americans in order to finance other major proposals like student debt cancellation and universal child care. Ms. Warren brought up the issue of Medicare for all at the end of a town hall event in Iowa on Sunday afternoon. “I plan over the next few weeks to put out a plan that talks about, specifically, the cost of Medicare for all and, specifically, how we pay for it,” she told the crowd at the event, held at Simpson College.
On the subject of health care, Ms. Warren has aligned herself with one of her top rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, saying on the debate stage in June, “I’m with Bernie on Medicare for all.” But Mr. Sanders has openly acknowledged that taxes would increase for the middle class, something Ms. Warren has been unwilling to acknowledge despite repeated questions from the news media. “This is something I’ve been working on for months and months, and it’s got just a little more work until it’s finished,” Ms. Warren added.
Instead, Ms. Warren has sought to reframe the question around the total costs that families would face under her plan. She has said that costs would go up for wealthy people and big corporations, but would go down for middle-class families. Speaking to reporters afterward, Ms. Warren did not directly answer when asked whether her financing plan would include taxes on the middle class.
“I will not sign a bill into law that does not lower costs for middle-class families,” she said at last week’s debate. Ms. Warren’s repeated refusal to explicitly say whether she would raise taxes on the middle class to help finance Medicare for all has stood in stark contrast to how she has talked about other policy areas — providing lengthy, detailed plans and explaining how she would create a tax on the wealth of the richest Americans in order to finance major proposals like student debt cancellation and universal child care.
Ms. Warren’s campaign had previously said that she was reviewing “revenue options” for paying for Medicare for all. But she has not offered details, and her lack of specificity has offered an opening for her opponents to criticize her. On the subject of health care, Ms. Warren has locked arms with Mr. Sanders, the Vermont senator, declaring on the debate stage in June, “I’m with Bernie on Medicare for all.” But Mr. Sanders has openly said that taxes would increase for the middle class, something Ms. Warren has been unwilling to acknowledge despite repeated questions from the news media.
Ms. Warren has sought to reframe the question around the total costs that families would face under Medicare for all. She has said that costs would go up for wealthy people and big corporations, but would go down for middle-class families.
“I will not sign a bill into law that does not lower costs for middle-class families,” she said at last week’s debate, a pledge she repeated in Iowa on Sunday.
Ms. Warren’s campaign had previously said that she was reviewing “revenue options” for paying for Medicare for all. But her lack of specificity — and her consistent refusal to provide a direct answer to the question about taxes — offered an opening for her opponents to criticize her.
Last month, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., called Ms. Warren “extremely evasive” on the subject, and at last week’s debate, he pressed the point further after Ms. Warren again declined to directly answer whether she would raise taxes on the middle class.Last month, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., called Ms. Warren “extremely evasive” on the subject, and at last week’s debate, he pressed the point further after Ms. Warren again declined to directly answer whether she would raise taxes on the middle class.
“We heard it tonight,” Mr. Buttigieg said. “A yes-or-no question that didn’t get a yes-or-no answer. Look, 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.”“We heard it tonight,” Mr. Buttigieg said. “A yes-or-no question that didn’t get a yes-or-no answer. Look, 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.”
Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota offered a similar critique. “At least Bernie’s being honest here and saying how he’s going to pay for this and that taxes are going to go up,” she said at the debate. “And I’m sorry, Elizabeth, but you have not said that, and I think we owe it to the American people to tell them where we’re going to send the invoice.”Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota offered a similar critique. “At least Bernie’s being honest here and saying how he’s going to pay for this and that taxes are going to go up,” she said at the debate. “And I’m sorry, Elizabeth, but you have not said that, and I think we owe it to the American people to tell them where we’re going to send the invoice.”
Ms. Warren did not provide details on Sunday about the contents of her forthcoming financing plan, and she noted that cost estimates for Medicare for all vary by trillions of dollars. “The different revenue streams for how to fund it, there are a lot of them,” she said.