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Kamala Harris on Health Care

Democratic candidate for President (withdrawn); California Senator

 


Trump left us the worst public health epidemic in a century

HARRIS: Donald Trump left us the worst public health epidemic in a century. Donald Trump left us the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War. And what we have done is clean up Donald Trump's mess. What we have done and what I intend to do is build on what we know are the aspirations and the hopes of the American people. I believe very strongly that the American people want a president who understands the importance of bringing us together knowing we have so much more in common than what separates us. And I pledge to you to be a president for all Americans.

TRUMP: Everybody knows what I'm going to do. Cut taxes very substantially. And create a great economy like I did before. We had the greatest economy. We got hit with a pandemic. We did a phenomenal job with the pandemic. We handed them over a country where the economy and where the stock market was higher than it was before the pandemic came in. Nobody's ever seen anything like it.

Source: ABC News 2024 Presidential debate in Philadelphia , Sep 10, 2024

Cancel medical debt and cap drug costs

Some of the medical elements of Ms Harris's plan are, in theory, more welcome [than her plans on price-gouging & housing ]. She is right to want to bring down America's outrageously high medical costs. But as with any price controls, caps on the cost of insulin (at $35 a month) and out-of-pocket expenses for prescription drugs (at $2,000 a year) risk generating unwanted outcomes. Similar steps by the Biden administration to cap drug costs for seniors are now threatening to cause hefty increases in their insurance premiums.

Ms Harris has also said that she would work with states to cancel medical debts. Again, her aim is laudable: it is scandalous that so many Americans are saddled with medical debt. Yet just cancelling debt would only reset the clock for them, with debts once again piling up whenever they need medical attention. "Why are health care costs so high in the first place? That's a legitimate question but it does not lend itself to quick fixes," says [a Columbia University analyst].

Source: The Economist on 2024 Presidential hopefuls , Aug 21, 2024

Take on Big Pharma to cap prescription drug costs

Medicare has completed its first-ever negotiations with pharmaceutical companies over drug prices. Medicare will save $6 billion and Americans will save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs in the program's first year.

President Biden called on Congress to "give Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices for 500 drugs over the next decade." During her first campaign rally as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris pledged to "take on Big Pharma to cap prescription drug costs for all Americans."

Biden and Harris will hold a joint event in Maryland on Thursday touting the administration's efforts to lower costs for the American people. The Harris campaign said she will announce a policy proposal pertaining to prescription drug costs.

[For example] According to the Biden administration's negotiated price list, the 2023 list price for a 30-day supply of Januvia was $527. In 2026, Medicare will instead pay $113--or 79 percent less.

Source: Rolling Stone Magazine on 2024 presidential hopefuls , Aug 15, 2024

Prohibit medical debt from being included on credit reports

FACT SHEET: Vice President Harris Announces Proposal to Prohibit Medical Bills from Being Included on Credit Reports: Today, Vice President Harris announced a new action by the CFPB that would remove medical debt from credit reports of more than 15 million Americans, raising their credit scores by an average of 20 points and leading to the approval of approximately 22,000 additional mortgages every year.
Source: Vice Presidential 2024 press release: "Medical Debt" , Jun 11, 2024

Establish nursing home minimum staffing rule

Medicare and Medicaid pay billions of dollars per year to ensure that 1.2 million Americans that receive care in nursing homes are cared for, yet too many nursing homes chronically understaff their facilities, leading to sub-standard or unsafe care. When facilities are understaffed, residents may go without basic necessities like baths, trips to the bathroom, and meals--and it is less safe when residents have a medical emergency.

The Nursing Home Minimum Staffing Rule finalized today will require all nursing homes that receive federal funding through Medicare and Medicaid to have 3.48 hours per resident per day of total staffing, including a defined number from both registered nurses (0.55 hours per resident per day) and nurse aides (2.45 per resident per day). This means a facility with 100 residents would need at least two or three RNs and at least ten or eleven nurse aides as well as two additional nurse staff.

Source: Vice Presidential 2024 press release: "Care Economy" , Apr 22, 2024

Black women are 3 times more likely to die in childbirth

The United States of America, one of the wealthiest countries in the world has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality. And because folks voted and we were able to be there, we elevated the issue of maternal mortality--and particularly Black maternal mortality, because in this country, Black women are three to four times more likely to die in connection with childbirth than other women. And we said, "We've got to address this."

And because we are doing that, we see, for example, that in states before we started, only three of the states extended Medicaid coverage for postpartum care from 2 months to 12 months. And we issued the call and the challenge, and now 35 states have postpartum care up to 12 months.

Source: Remarks at the NAACP 114th Annual Convention , Jul 19, 2023

Trump knew the truth on coronavirus and covered it up

The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country. 210,000 dead. Over 7 million who have contracted this disease. One in five businesses closed. We're looking at frontline workers who have been treated like sacrificial workers. We are looking at over 30 million people, who had to file for unemployment. On January 28th, the vice president and the president were informed about the nature of this pandemic. They were informed that it's lethal in consequence, that it is airborne, that it will affect young people, and that it would be contracted because it is airborne. Can you imagine if you knew on January 28th, as opposed to March 13th, what they knew, what you might've done to prepare? They knew, and they covered it up. The president said it was a hoax.
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah , Oct 7, 2020

On pre-existing conditions: Republicans are coming for you

Joe Biden was responsible with President Obama for the Affordable Care Act, which brought healthcare to over 20 million Americans and protected people with preexisting conditions. Donald Trump is in court, trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. If you have a preexisting condition, they're coming for you. If you love someone who has a pre-existing condition, they're coming for you. If you are under the age of 26 on your parents' coverage, they're coming for you.
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah , Oct 7, 2020

COVID: track racial disparities; get vaccines to neediest

Q: Would you be prepared to shut this country down again [for the coronavirus pandemic]?

BIDEN: I will be prepared to do whatever it takes to save lives because we cannot get the country moving until we control the virus. That is the fundamental flaw of this administration's thinking to begin with. In order to keep the country running and moving and the economy growing, and people employed, you have to fix the virus, you have to deal with the virus. I would shut it down, I would listen to the scientists.

HARRIS: There are different needs based on different communities and that's why we talk about the need to track actually racial disparities -- disparities based on region, geographic region and do that now. So that when we have a vaccine, those communities that are most in need, will get them. That policy and that approach will be guided by the public health experts, unlike what we have seen now which are the politics guiding a public health crisis.

Source: ABC This Week 2020 National Convention David Muir Q&A , Aug 23, 2020

Supports single-payer without private insurance

Ms. Harris co-sponsored Bernie Sanders's Medicare-for-All legislation, and at a CNN town hall, she responded to a question about private health insurance by saying, "Let's eliminate all of that." She came under fire for the statement, and the blowback was a signal of the political sensitivity surrounding the issue of abolishing private coverage under a single-payer system. On the debate stage, the Democratic candidates were asked who would abolish private health insurance. Ms. Harris was among those who raised their hands. Mr. Biden -- who wants to build on the Affordable Care Act -- did not raise his hand.
Source: New York Times on 2020 Veepstakes , Jul 21, 2020

Federal funding for PrEP to prevent HIV/AIDS

Q: I was diagnosed with HIV when I was 20 years old. What will you do to combat the rate of HIV diagnosis in the communities that are most impacted, like mine, black gay men?

HARRIS: Gay black men are twice as likely to contract HIV and AIDS. One of the issues also that is relevant to this point is the affordability of medications such as PrEP, which is extremely expensive. I have been a leader in the US Senate to say that it should be covered by insurance and money should not be the barrier to access to PrEP, which is obviously a life-saving drug. In terms of HIV-AIDS rates among black men in particular, it is still much higher because the hierarchy still exists within the community around access to health care, housing, employment, and things of that nature. So I will, as president, I commit to you, deal with all of those, but also we need to deal with it in the context of having a commitment, which is my commitment, that within a generation we will end HIV-AIDS.

Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020 , Oct 10, 2019

Medicare-for-All with 10-year transition and private option

Q: This week you released a new health care plan which would preserve private insurance and take 10 years to phase in. Vice President Biden's campaign calls your plan "a have-it-every-which-way approach" and says it's just part of a confusing pattern of equivocating about your health care stance. What do you say to that?

HARRIS: I have been spending time in this campaign listening to American families, listening to experts, listening to health care providers, and what I came away with is a very clear understanding that I needed to create a plan that was responsive to the needs of the American people, understanding that insurance companies have been jacking up the prices for far too long. I listened to the American families who said four years is just not enough to transition into this new plan, so I devised a plan where it's going to be 10 years of a transition. I listened to American families who said I want an option that will be under your Medicare system that allows a private plan.

Source: July Democratic Primary debate (second night in Detroit) , Jul 31, 2019

Cover everyone; don't leave out 10 million Americans

HARRIS [to V.P. Biden]: Our plan will bring health care to all Americans under a Medicare for All system. Our plan will allow people to start signing up on the first day. Your plan, by contrast, leaves out almost 10 million Americans. So I think that you should be reflective and understand that the people of America want access to health care and do not want cost to be their barrier to getting it.

BIDEN: The plan costs $3 trillion [annually]. Ten years from now, after two terms of the senator being president, after her time. Secondly, it will require middle-class taxes to go up, not down. Thirdly, it will eliminate employer-based insurance. And fourthly, what happens in the meantime?

HARRIS: The cost of doing nothing is far too expensive. We are now paying $3 trillion a year for health care in America. Over the next 10 years, it's probably going to be $6 trillion. We must act. My plan is about immediately allowing people to sign up and get into coverage.

Source: July Democratic Primary debate (second night in Detroit) , Jul 31, 2019

Separate employment from healthcare, but not illegal

Sen. Michael BENNET: The plan that Senator Harris proposed would make illegal employer based health insurance in this country and massively raise taxes.

HARRIS: My plan does not offer anything that is illegal. What it does is it separates the employer from healthcare, meaning that the kind of healthcare you get will not be a function of where you work. I have me met so many Americans who stick to a job that they do not like, where they are not prospering simply because they need the healthcare that that employer provides. It's time that we separate employers from the kind of healthcare people get and under my plan, we do that as it relates to the insurance and the pharmaceutical companies, who will not be taken to task by Senator Bennet's plan. We will do that.

BENNET: We need to be honest about what's in this plan. It bans employer based insurance and taxes the middle class to the tune of $30 trillion

Source: July Democratic Primary debate (second night in Detroit) , Jul 31, 2019

For-profit insurers jack up co-pays and deductibles

Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand: The insurance companies, I'm sorry, they're for-profit companies.

Harris: In terms of the point that Senator Gillibrand is raising, I couldn't agree more. Senator Biden, your plan will keep and allow insurance companies to remain with status quo, doing business as usual, and that's going to be about jacking up co-pays, jacking up deductibles.

Source: July Democratic Primary debate (second night in Detroit) , Jul 31, 2019

Huge profits for insurance; pharma on backs of families

Sen. Joe Biden: Thirty trillion dollars [the cost of Medicare-for-All] has to ultimately be paid. And I don't know what math you do in New York, I don't know what math you do in California, but I tell ya, that's a lot of money, and there will be a deductible.

Kamala Harris: Let's talk about math. Let's talk about the fact that pharmaceutical and insurance companies last year profited $72 billion on the backs of American families. Under your plan, you do nothing to hold the insurance companies to task for what they have been doing to American families. Today diabetes patients, one in four cannot afford insulin. For those people who have overdosed from an opioid, there is a syringe that costs $4,000 that will save their life. It is immoral. It is untenable.

Source: July Democratic Primary debate (second night in Detroit) , Jul 31, 2019

$5000 deductible demonstrates flaws of for profit system

A parent who has seen their child has a temperature that is out of control, calls 911, what should I do? They say, take the child to the Emergency Room. They are sitting in the parking lot outside of the Emergency Room looking at those sliding glass doors while they have the hand on the forehead of their child, knowing that if they walk through those doors, even though they have insurance, they will be out a $5,000 deductible. That's what insurance companies are doing in America today.
Source: June Democratic Primary debate (second night in Miami) , Jun 27, 2019

Supports Medicare for All, even undocumented aliens

Q: What about Medicare-for-All?

A: I support Medicare-for-All, and the vision of what it will be includes an expansion of coverage. Medicare-for-All will include vision. It will include dental. It will include hearing aids.

Q: You support giving universal health care to people in this country illegally?

A: I'm opposed to any policy that would deny in our country any human being from access to public safety, public education, or public health, period.

Source: CNN SOTU 2019 interview of presidential hopefuls , May 12, 2019

Private insurance not victims under single payer

I support Medicare for all. And I support it for a number of reasons. That include the fact that there are a lot of people in our country who simply do not have access to health care because they cannot afford it. And that's unconscionable. On the issue of access to private insurance, you can get supplemental insurance. But let's not be duped by a messaging campaign by the insurance companies to have you into believing that you need to defend them. You need to defend yourself.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020: 5 candidates back-to-back , Apr 22, 2019

Make healthcare fundamental right, not privilege for wealthy

I believe we are at an inflection point in the history of our nation. What is the state of our union? And how must our leaders respond?

We need our leaders to speak the truth that we have an economy where the cost of health care, housing, and education are going up, but paychecks aren't growing fast enough to keep up.

Let's fight for an America where the economy works for working people. An America where health care and education are fundamental rights, not a privilege for the wealthy few.

Source: Democratic prebuttal to the 2019 State of the Union speech , Feb 5, 2019

End private health insurance with Medicare for All

Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls , Jan 21, 2019

We pay more for prescriptions than abroad: they negotiate

Compared with people in other wealthy countries, Americans face extraordinarily high prescription drug prices. In 2016, for example, the same dose of Crestor, a medication that treats high cholesterol, costs 62% more in the US than just across the border in Canada. This disparity exists with drug after drug. 58% of Americans take prescription drugs; and 25% find their medications difficult to afford.

Why are Americans paying so much more for the medications we need? Because, unlike many other advanced countries, the U.S. government doesn't negotiate prices on prescription drugs. When a government is purchasing medicines in bulk, it can negotiate a better price and pass those cost savings to consumers.

Medicare, which covers about 55 million people, could have incredible bargaining power to drive significantly lower prescription prices through negotiation. But lawmakers from both parties, at the behest of the pharmaceutical lobby, have prohibited Medicare from doing so.

Source: The Truths We Hold, by Kamala Harris, p.188-9 , Jan 8, 2019

Require pharmaceutical companies to allow generics

She filed a friend-of-the-court brief signed by thirty-one other state attorneys general in 2011 in a Supreme Court case looking to end the practice of drug companies paying competitors to keep generic versions of their drugs off the market.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2018 California Senate race , Aug 10, 2017

Companies should provide contraception under ObamaCare

Kamala Harris is attacking company owners whose religious beliefs may be at odds with stipulations found in ObamaCare. Harris' office filed a brief asking the Supreme Court to review whether businesses can be exempt from providing contraception coverage. Specifically, she's attacking businesses where owners may disagree with specific contraception types for religious reasons:

"Under the ACA, all Americans have the right to access affordable, quality healthcare, including contraception. For-profit companies should not be able to deny women access to healthcare based on the religious beliefs of the company's owners. The 10th circuit ruling should be reversed by the US Supreme Court."

The list of ObamaCare exemptions includes one on religion: anyone who is "conscientiously opposed to accepting any insurance benefits," which some say includes Muslim groups. This portion of the law was apparently written specifically for the Amish, but it may play a role in the fight over ObamaCare.

Source: Inquisitr.com coverage of 2015 California Senate race , Nov 26, 2013

Opposes repealing mandated health insurance.

Harris opposes the CC survey question on nationalized healthcare

The Christian Coalition Voter Guide inferred whether candidates agree or disagree with the statement, 'Repealing the Nationalized Health Care System that Forces Citizens to Buy Insurance or Pay Fines' The Christian Coalition notes, "You can help make sure that voters have the facts BEFORE they cast their votes. We have surveyed candidates in the most competitive congressional races on the issues that are important to conservatives."

Source: Christian Coalition Survey 16_CC5 on Nov 8, 2016

Other candidates on Health Care: Kamala Harris on other issues:
2024 Republican Presidential Candidates:
Former Pres.Donald Trump (R nominee)
Ohio Senator J.D. Vance (VP nominee)
Ryan Binkley (R-TX)
Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND)
Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ)
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL)
Larry Elder (R-CA;withdrew)
Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC)
Rep. Will Hurd (R-FL;withdrew)
Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR)
Perry Johnson (R-IL)
Mayor Steve Laffey (R-RI)
Former V.P.Mike Pence (R-IN;withdrew)
Vivek Ramaswamy (R-OH)
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC)
Secy. Corey Stapleton (R-MT)
Mayor Francis Suarez (R-FL;withdrew)

2024 Democratic and 3rd-party primary candidates:
V.P.Kamala Harris (D nominee)
MN Gov Tim Walz (VP nominee)
Pres. Joe Biden (D-DE,retiring)
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (I-NY)
Chase Oliver (L-GA)
Rep.Dean Phillips (D-MN)
Jill Stein (Green)
Cornel West (Green Party)
Kanye West (Birthday Party)
Marianne Williamson (D-CA)
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Health Care
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External Links about Kamala Harris:
Wikipedia
Ballotpedia





Page last updated: Sep 29, 2024; copyright 1999-2022 Jesse Gordon and OnTheIssues.org