2019-2021 Town Halls: on Health Care


Joe Biden: Protect workers and schools from COVID with funding & PPE

Q: What plan do you have to keep us from contracting COVID-19 virus in our workplace?

BIDEN: We should have national standards laid so people can go to work safely. That requires us to have rapid testing, the protective gear, some Federal funding, particularly kids going back to school, making sure there's testing and tracing. There's a whole range of things we should have done. The President disregarded it. So there's a lot of empty chairs, and it's got to stop.

Q: Could you see a scenario where you downplayed critical information so as not to cause panic?

BIDEN: Not at all. If he had just acted one month, one week earlier, he would have saved 37,000 lives. But he knew it. He knew it and did nothing. It is close to criminal.

Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 drive-in with Anderson Cooper Sep 17, 2020

Joe Biden: Wearing a mask is a patriotic requirement, not slavery

Q: Barr said lockdowns were the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in U.S. history other than slavery.

BIDEN: Wearing this mask is about making sure no one else gets sick. It's not to protect you so much is to make sure you don't infect someone else. I call that a patriotic requirement. Did you ever think you'd hear an Attorney General say that following the recommendations of the scientific community to save lives is equivalent to slavery. You lost freedom because you didn't act. Freedom to go to that ball game, the freedom of your kid to go to school, the freedom to see your mom or dad in the hospital.

Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 drive-in with Anderson Cooper Sep 17, 2020

Joe Biden: Add public option to ACA, healthcare is a right

Q: What is your plan to make healthcare affordable, so Americans don't need to drain their savings when care is necessary.

BIDEN: First of all, in the middle of this pandemic, what is the President doing? He's in Federal Court--Federal Court trying to do away with the Affordable Care Act. What I would do is reinstate the Affordable Care Act and add a public option. So would go without being able to be covered for what they need. Healthcare is an absolute right.

Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 drive-in with Anderson Cooper Sep 17, 2020

Pete Buttigieg: Make it OK to publicly talk about mental health struggles

We also have to build up a culture broadly for veterans, yes, but for the country as a whole, where it's OK to talk about mental health struggles before they become deadly. It has got to become as normal and as acceptable to talk about a struggle with depression or bipolar disorder or addiction as it to talk about fighting cancer or having a knee surgery coming up. That's a cultural shift that the president can lead.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 with Don Lemon Feb 24, 2020

Joe Biden: Public option for ObamaCare; $50 billion for research

Q: How do you plan to fix the Affordable Care Act's problems?

BIDEN: I would restore all the cuts this president has made in the Affordable Care Act, across the board. I add what they call a public option, and that is a Medicare-like option. If you wanted to buy into that option or if you didn't have the money, you would be able to get it for free. So it's Medicare if you want it. If you qualify for Medicaid and you don't have it in your state, you're automatically enrolled. There is no waiting for anything.

Secondly, we make sure we reduce drug prices, as well, allowing Medicare to be able to negotiate with the drug companies the cost of drugs. And I would invest over $50 billion to focus on the diseases that cause the most damage and cost the most--cancer, Alzheimer's, and obesity.

We should have a department that says what we're going to do is spend the money needed that the drug companies are unwilling to spend or unable to spend to make sure that we find cures.

Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 with Anderson Cooper Feb 20, 2020

Amy Klobuchar: Take on Big Pharma, to make drugs more affordable

Q: Young black gay men are the most impacted population affected by HIV and AIDS. What are remedies?

KLOBUCHAR: Make sure the HIV community can get the drugs they need. That means the PrEP drug and that means to take on pharmaceutical companies to make drugs more affordable. The second thing is to make sure we keep the protections of the Affordable Care Act. Make it easier for the generics to get online. Bring in less expensive drugs from other countries to start competition.

Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020 Oct 10, 2019

Amy Klobuchar: More mental health resources for LGBTQ

Q: How would you address mental health disparities experienced by the LGBTQ community?

KLOBUCHAR: Second cause of death of teenagers right now is suicide, with the numbers for LGBTQ being higher. Get rid of the stigma by treating mental illness like any other disease. Making sure insurance companies are offering the insurance and coverage. More beds. And prevention lines, hot lines, all of those kinds of things. More counselors in the schools to work with LGBTQ youth.

Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020 Oct 10, 2019

Beto O`Rourke: Distribute PrEP to everyone, at reduced cost

We have absolutely failed our fellow Americans in making sure that we prevent the spread of HIV in America. Though we know that Truvada, the brand name for PrEP, has up to a 99% effectiveness rate in stopping the spread of HIV for those who are taking it, of the 1.3 million of our fellow Americans who are at risk today, less than 10% are regularly taking Truvada. And though you and I, as the U.S. taxpayer, invested in the research and development, the clinical trials, the purchase of those Medications [costs] up to $2,000 per month for one person, which helps to explain why we have absolutely failed in making sure everyone gets that care. Forty thousand new cases of HIV just last year in 2018. We can do something about this. And as president I will. We will bring down that cost. If Gilead fails to honor their commitment to the taxpayer, to our fellow Americans, we will take over that patent and we will make sure that PrEP is distributed to every person in America who needs that.
Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020 Oct 10, 2019

Cory Booker: Forbid charging more for drugs in U.S. than elsewhere

Q: A drug called Truvada provides almost absolute protection against becoming HIV-positive. A monthly supply costs less than $6 to make. However, its manufacturer charges more than $1,600. What actions would you take to address this cost barrier?

BOOKER: We're going to use Medicaid, Medicare to negotiate down prices, taking patents away from companies that unjustly raise their prices, creating a law that you cannot raise the price of drugs higher in this country than you're selling in others.

Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020 Oct 10, 2019

Elizabeth Warren: AIDS drugs should be available at cost for all

Q: Would you commit to calling for funding increases to end the AIDS pandemic?

WARREN: Yes. I want to see us bring down the cost of drugs that are generic. This drug will be off-patent by then. And I commit that in my administration we will let out a government contract to produce that drug and make that drug available at cost both here in the United States and all around the world.

Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020 Oct 10, 2019

Joe Biden: By 2021, ACA says insurance must pay for expensive HIV drugs

Q: With the high prices of prep and other drugs that help prevent HIV, what is your plan to make it more accessible, particularly to those in the most vulnerable communities and those without insurance?

BIDEN: Under the Affordable Care Act, there is a provision that by 2021, it will be available to anyone who has insurance, and all will be eligible for insurance. It will be available and the insurance companies must pay for it.

Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020 Oct 10, 2019

Kamala Harris: 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

Pete Buttigieg: Good care for all and affordable prevention for all

Q: What is your plan for reducing HIV contractions among the African American population?

BUTTIGIEG: I propose Medicare for all who want it. But whether you're on that public plan or on a private plan, we require that everyone be treated with equity. That includes not just treatments for HIV, things that can be done to prevent the transmission of HIV. It's why we need a prescription drug plan like the one I'm putting forward that caps the amount that anybody would have to pay.

Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020 Oct 10, 2019

Tom Steyer: Big Pharma charges Americans 10x what they charge abroad

Q: Truvada and similar prophylactic treatments are not a cure for AIDS. How do we deal with the ongoing high expense?

STEYER: We have a group of corporations led, really, by the drug companies who've bought our government. If you look at how we're being treated under law by those companies, it is somewhere between infuriating and scary. They charge us more than they charge any other people in the whole world, sometimes 10 times more for the same drugs. And in this case, they're actually working to preserve long-term extremely valuable monopolies for themselves. But it's much bigger than that. These companies are controlling what's going on in the government. They charge us what they want. We can't go to Canada to buy the same drug much cheaper. And in fact, the government is prevented legally from negotiating with them. What's going on here is we're going to have to break ultimately the power of these corporations to own our government and to control what happens to us.

Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020 Oct 10, 2019

Tom Steyer: Directly fund academic research to find cure for AIDS

Q: Pharmaceutical companies have no incentive for them to develop a cure because they continue to profit from people that have HIV for the rest of their lives. As president, how would you finance the science of developing a cure so that we can scale back the avarice of the pharmaceutical industry?

STEYER: The way that we can go after that is by directing science through universities, through research to solve the problem. So if you look at what Mr. Trump has done, he has cut research funding across the board in every one of his different budgets. I think that's the exact wrong thing to do. What we should be doing in a case like trying to come up with solutions to AIDS, with cures for AIDS, is going directly to the best scientists and funding them as much as necessary, as much as conceivably effective to make sure that we solve this problem.

Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020 Oct 10, 2019

Amy Klobuchar: Ensure vets get equal support for mental health

Being sick physically should be treated the same as being sick mentally. That means having the type of psychiatrists and psychologists and counselors that we need. Insurance companies have got to handle mental health things just like they handle physical health things.

When it comes to the veterans, a lot of them go home to small towns. Sometimes they don't have the kind of access especially if they're in the reserve. So they're just coming back sporadically to our V.A. facilities. We have to do a lot better job when they're coming back to evaluate them, to see what they need, to touch base with them.

Source: CNN Town Hall 2020: 5 candidates back-to-back Apr 22, 2019

Amy Klobuchar: Supports public option for Medicaid & Medicare

First of all, we need to bring down premiums -- and they're affecting everyone. You can do that many ways. One of my major proposals is to bring back that Public Option idea that's been floating around, that should have been put in, in the first place. That gives you a choice. You could do it with Medicaid, you can do it with Medicare, so that you have a less expensive option to pick from.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020: 5 candidates back-to-back Apr 22, 2019

Amy Klobuchar: Take on Big Pharma on prices & lack of competition

I would bring down the cost of pharmaceuticals. We need competition by having negotiation for Medicare prices. We should bring in less expensive drugs from other countries, like Canada. We can stop this horrible practice where big pharmaceuticals pay off, they literally pay off generics to keep the prices and the competition off the market. That's bad and we can fix this.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020: 5 candidates back-to-back Apr 22, 2019

Bernie Sanders: Single payer will transform health care for the better

Over a four-year period we're going to transform our health care system. First year, we go from 65 years of age for eligibility to Medicare down to 55, and we cover all of the kids in the country. And, despite what President Trump says, we expand benefits for senior citizens. Medicare doesn't cover dental care. It doesn't cover eyeglasses. It doesn't cover hearing aids. We do that. Health care is a human right, not a privilege, and the best way is through a single-payer program.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020: 5 candidates back-to-back Apr 22, 2019

Kamala Harris: 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

Marianne Williamson: Make Medicare for All a public option

I'd like to see a Medicare-for-All type of plan that's presented as a public option. I think a lot of people would gravitate to that. In addition, if people want private insurance, if they like their private insurers, or want to augment it, then they should be able to. The issue is why are we going to do that. The reason we are going to do that is because you are a citizen of the United States. No citizen in the richest country of the world should have to be worrying about this.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary Apr 14, 2019

  • The above quotations are from 2020 Presidential Primary CNN Town Halls.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Health Care.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by Bernie Sanders on Health Care.
  • Click here for more quotes by Pete Buttigieg on Health Care.
2020 Presidential contenders on Health Care:
  Democrats running for President:
Sen.Michael Bennet (D-CO)
V.P.Joe Biden (D-DE)
Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I-NYC)
Gov.Steve Bullock (D-MT)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN)
Sen.Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Secy.Julian Castro (D-TX)
Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI)
Rep.John Delaney (D-MD)
Rep.Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)
Sen.Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Gov.Deval Patrick (D-MA)
Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
CEO Tom Steyer (D-CA)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Marianne Williamson (D-CA)
CEO Andrew Yang (D-NY)

2020 Third Party Candidates:
Rep.Justin Amash (L-MI)
CEO Don Blankenship (C-WV)
Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI)
Howie Hawkins (G-NY)
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Howard Schultz(I-WA)
Gov.Jesse Ventura (I-MN) 		Republicans running for President:
Sen.Ted Cruz(R-TX)
Gov.Larry Hogan (R-MD)
Gov.John Kasich(R-OH)
V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN)
Gov.Mark Sanford (R-SC)
Pres.Donald Trump(R-NY)
Rep.Joe Walsh (R-IL)
Gov.Bill Weld(R-MA & L-NY)

2020 Withdrawn Democratic Candidates:
Sen.Stacey Abrams (D-GA)
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC)
Sen.Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Sen.Mike Gravel (D-AK)
Sen.Kamala Harris (D-CA)
Gov.John Hickenlooper (D-CO)
Gov.Jay Inslee (D-WA)
Mayor Wayne Messam (D-FL)
Rep.Seth Moulton (D-MA)
Rep.Beto O`Rourke (D-TX)
Rep.Tim Ryan (D-CA)
Adm.Joe Sestak (D-PA)
Rep.Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
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Page last updated: Apr 07, 2021