Interviews during 2017-2019: on Health Care
Donald Trump:
Improve Medicare by looking for fraud, waste and abuse
Q: How could your administration provide more support for the nation's army of roughly 40 million unpaid family caregivers?TRUMP: We're looking at that very seriously. These are incredible people.
They have been unrecognized for the job they do, and if they didn't do that job, we'd be swamped; our hospitals and our health care system would be swamped.
Q: That would be through Medicare or Medicaid?
TRUMP: We think so, yes. We're looking at that as being probably the best alternative. Management can be improved. One of the biggest ways of doing that, as you know, is look at fraud, waste and abuse.
By the way, [Medicare] Part D premiums are lower by around 12 percent. We've done a lot, but there is a big thing on fraud, waste and abuse, and we'll take care of that.
Source: AARP Survey on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Sep 28, 2020
Joe Biden:
Allow serious return on investment in new drugs, not gouging
Q: Your drug pricing policy?BIDEN: What I proposed is that for every new drug coming on the market--everything from dementia drugs to Alzheimer's to cancer to diabetes--we're going to put together a 25-person commission of scientific experts, and
every new drug you're seeking approval of will go before that commission. And you are going to indicate how much you invested to provide that drug. You'll get a serious return on your investment, but once that price is set, that's the only price you can
sell it for, or you're not going to get the drug approved. Once that is done, then you cannot come along and up the price exponentially. You can only up the price once it's set through inflation or if you can demonstrate there has been something
specifically done to improve the drug. The American public understands that there is so much price gouging for things that should be a basic right to access--things that allow you to live.
Source: AARP Survey on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Sep 28, 2020
Gloria La Riva:
Support right to die/assisted suicide
We support the right to choose or refuse medical treatment,
the right to die, and the right to assisted suicide.
Source: Socialist PSL Platform adopted by 2020 presidential hopeful
Aug 3, 2020
Kanye West:
Vaccines are the mark of the beast
On vaccines: "It's so many of our children that are being vaccinated and paralyzed. So when they say the way we're going to fix Covid is with a vaccine, I'm extremely cautious. That's the mark of the beast. They want to put chips inside of us,
they want to do all kinds of things, to make it where we can't cross the gates of heaven. I'm sorry when I say they, the humans that have the Devil inside them. And the sad thing is that we all won't make it to heaven."
Source: Forbes Magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Jul 8, 2020
Don Blankenship:
Eliminate the Food and Drug Administration
The federal government has no Constitutional provision to regulate or restrict the freedom of the people to have access to medical care, supplies or treatments. We advocate, therefore, the elimination of the federal Food and Drug Administration, as
it has been the federal agency primarily responsible for prohibiting beneficial products, treatments and technologies here in the United States that are freely available in much of the rest of the civilized world.
Source: Constitution Platform adopted by 2020 presidential hopeful
May 2, 2020
Justin Amash:
Private market with government backstop at state level
I think you can have some sort of government backstop, but it should be handled at the state level, not at the federal level. So you mostly want to have a private market and then you want to have some kind of backstop for people who don't have
proper coverage. And that might be some kind of expansion of a Medicaid-style system or something like that, that's handled at the state level and gives people the assurance that when they need healthcare, there will be someone to cover it.
Source: Reason magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
May 1, 2020
Joe Biden:
COVID19: make sure there's free testing & free treatment
[The next recovery package] will have to provide health care coverage for millions who lose their insurance, by allowing them to stay on their health care plans and covering the cost, as well as reopening enrollment for ObamaCare and creating the public
option I've been calling for. And we must--must--make sure not only that every American can be tested for coronavirus free of cost, but also make sure every American can be treated for coronavirus free of cost. Period.
Source: Medium.com blog on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 9, 2020
Joe Biden:
Lower Medicare eligibility age to 60
I have directed my team to develop a plan to lower the Medicare eligibility age to 60. Medicare benefits would be provided to them as they are to current Medicare recipients. This would make Medicare available to a set of Americans who work hard and
retire before they turn 65, or who would prefer to leave their employer plans or other plans before they retire. It reflects the reality that, even after the current crisis ends, older Americans are likely to find it difficult to secure jobs.
Source: Medium.com blog on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 9, 2020
Bernie Sanders:
Wrong to give company exclusive rights to drug treatment
Sanders demanded that the Trump administration immediately rescind its decision to grant pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences exclusive rights to the antiviral drug remdesivir, one of many drugs currently being tested
as a possible treatment for the novel coronavirus. In a statement, Sanders said it's "truly outrageous that after taxpayers put tens of millions of dollars into developing remdesivir,
Trump's [Food and Drug Administration] is exploiting a law reserved for rare diseases to privatize a drug to treat a pandemic virus."
"The Trump administration must rescind this corporate giveaway to Gilead and make any treatment and vaccine free for everybody," added the Vermont senator.
Source: Common Dreams on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 25, 2020
Democratic Party:
AdWatch: Trump called coronavirus "their hoax" & "fake news"
[TV ad, "Failed to Act"]Voiceover: The warnings were there
Headline: Before Virus Outbreak, a Cascade of Warnings Went Unheeded
Voice: Millions of Americans at risk
Text: 10 million Americans were expected to become ill
Voice: But Donald Trump
failed to act
Video: Donald Trump smiling for interview
Text: Jan.22: 6 cases
Reporter: "Are you worried about a pandemic at this point?"
Trump: "No, not at all; we have it under control; it's gonna be just fine."
CNN headline 2/25: Top
officials are warning that the spread of the coronavirus in the US appears "inevitable."
Text: Feb.26: 257 cases
Reporter: "Do you agree with that assessment?"
Trump: "Well I don't think it's 'inevitable.'"
Politico headline 2/28: On coronavirus
fears: President Trump blaming the "fake news"
Trump: "This is their new hoax."
Text: Mar.3: 359 cases; more than 20 deaths
[Note: Trump sued over the use of the word "hoax," noting that it referred to the Democratic response, not the virus]
Source: American Bridge AdWatch on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 21, 2020
Donald Trump:
AdWatch: Trump called coronavirus "their hoax" & "fake news"
[TV ad, "Failed to Act"]Voiceover: The warnings were there
Headline: Before Virus Outbreak, a Cascade of Warnings Went Unheeded
Voice: Millions of Americans at risk
Text: 10 million Americans were expected to become ill
Voice: But Donald Trump
failed to act
Video: Donald Trump smiling for interview
Text: Jan.22: 6 cases
Reporter: "Are you worried about a pandemic at this point?"
Trump: "No, not at all; we have it under control; it's gonna be just fine."
CNN headline 2/25: Top
officials are warning that the spread of the coronavirus in the US appears "inevitable."
Text: Feb.26: 257 cases
Reporter: "Do you agree with that assessment?"
Trump: "Well I don't think it's 'inevitable.'"
Politico headline 2/28: On coronavirus
fears: President Trump blaming the "fake news"
Trump: "This is their new hoax."
Text: Mar.3: 359 cases; more than 20 deaths
[Note: Trump sued over the use of the word "hoax," noting that it referred to the Democratic response, not the virus]
Source: American Bridge AdWatch on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 21, 2020
Donald Trump:
Cut pandemic response team in 2018, denied knowing about it
A video has emerged of Trump talking about cutting the US pandemic response team in 2018. Trump said that "some of the people we've cut they haven't been used for many, many years and if we ever need them we can get them very quickly and rather than
spending the money"."I'm a businessperson, I don't like having thousands of people around when you don't need them," he added. In a press conference he denied knowing anything about the cuts in 2018 when questioned.
Source: The Independent (UK) on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Mar 17, 2020
Joe Biden:
Coronavirus: Let the scientists speak; let them prepare us
Let the scientists speak. Let them tell us what is going on. Let them prepare us. Let them prepare the country. Let them be the ones explaining how they're going to provide the protective gear for hospitals that are intake hospitals. I would have
not have dismantled the organization we had put in place in the first place. I would have made sure we had American scientists in China insisting we know what is happening in China and I would be doing the same thing in Europe where it is now spread.
Source: CNN "State of the Union" on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Mar 1, 2020
Rocky De La Fuente:
Catastrophic insurance best way to reassess health care
We must lower costs, maintain or improve quality and have open access. We must readdress healthcare reform in a way that addresses cost and quality along with access. Catastrophic insurance coverage would
probably be the best starting point to begin the reassessment. From there, we could build upon that to ensure operational efficiency while minimizing the potential for abuse.
Source: The Lawton Constitution on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 1, 2020
Mike Bloomberg:
2011: We're going to cut back Medicaid and Medicare
In January 2011, Bloomberg argued we'd have to do something about Medicare and Medicaid."When you listen to them talk at a federal level, 'I'm going to cut the deficit.' You know, every new group that comes through--keep in mind 2/3 of the federal
budget is entitlements and debt service. Debt Service legally, you can't touch, entitlements means seniors. We're going to cut back Medicaid and Medicare, we're going to have to do something, but that's going to be a very tough lift," Bloomberg said.
Source: CNN K-File FactCheck on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 26, 2020
Donald Trump:
The coronavirus is very much under control in the USA
Twitter posting from @realDonaldTrump: "The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries.
CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!"
Source: Twitter posting on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Feb 24, 2020
Donald Trump:
2014: Criticized Ebola czar; 2019: put Pence in charge
President Trump announced that he'll be putting Vice President Mike Pence in charge of leading the administration's response to the coronavirus. The previous point person on the administration's coronavirus response was Health and Human Services
Secretary Alex Azar. Back in the Ebola crisis of 2014, Trump did the opposite. He criticized former President Obama for appointing an Ebola czar "with zero experience in the medical area and zero experience in infectious disease control."
Source: Axios e-zine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Dec 26, 2019
Bernie Sanders:
Medicare-for-All will lead to stability, not disruption
Every time somebody loses their job, every some -- every time some employer changes health insurance policy, there is disruption. That impacts tens of millions of people. When you have Medicare for all, you will finally have stability.
Everybody in the country will have comprehensive healthcare, covering all basic healthcare needs. We will save taxpayers, we will save the citizens of this country, on healthcare, substantial sums of money.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview of 2020 presidential hopefuls
May 19, 2019
Michael Bennet:
Public option better than Medicare for All
My suggestion on Medicare X creates a true public option, administered by Medicare, rather than threatening to take away insurance from 180 million people, 80% of whom like it, all the unions in America that have negotiated for their healthcare plans.
I think that the American people have waited long enough for universal healthcare.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview of 2020 presidential hopefuls
May 5, 2019
Seth Moulton:
Improve ObamaCare but not single-payer
Moulton is a fan of the Affordable Care Act but says he would welcome "improvements."
Unlike some of his competitors, he's not a fan of single-payer health care, which he says is "not perfect."
Source: CNN Town Hall with 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 23, 2019
Andrew Yang:
Public option would cost less than present system
I'm in the Medicare for all public option camp. Right now, we're spending twice as much on our health care to worse effects than other countries. We're spending 18 percent of GDP. And one of the things that is confusing about this is people are like,
where are you going to get the money? Which is completely incorrect. We're spending twice as much than other countries. If we channel our existing resources and negotiate lower drug prices, lower rates, we can get the access up and the prices down.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 14, 2019
Jay Inslee:
Public option; more access to Medicare by lowering age
We will be the first state in the country to offer a public option. We are integrating physical and mental health, so it can be more effective and cost effective. On the federal level, we've got to have more access to Medicare on the road to universal
access. And I believe that we need to reduce the age. I think we need to allow people to opt into Medicare when they want it. This is the way to what we need and have to have, which is universal health care in the country.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview of 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 14, 2019
Julian Castro:
Medicare for all, but allow private insurance
I want to make sure that we strengthen Medicare for the people who are on it and that we provide Medicare to everybody who wants it in this country, so that everybody can have the opportunity to get Medicare.
If somebody wants to have their own private health insurance plan, they ought to have that. What I don't believe is that anybody should go without health care or that the profit motive should ever keep somebody from getting the care they need.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 11, 2019
Jay Inslee:
Lower eligibility for Medicare; provide public option
We will have to expand federal health care dramatically. I believe we should lower the age for Medicare. I believe we should allow people to buy into Medicare so you can have Medicare for people who want it right now.
I think we should explore potentially enrolling, you know, new folks into health care when they're born.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 10, 2019
Kirsten Gillibrand:
Transition to Medicare for all through public option
Healthcare is a right and not a privilege. That's why I am for Medicare for all and I believe that the best way to get there is let people buy in and that is how we get the single payer over a very short transition period.
I don't think you can actually get to universal coverage unless you have a not for profit public option that is focused solely on human health.
The reason why we have a transition plan is because you're going to let Americans choose. If you let America choose basic care through
Medicare which is higher quality and far more affordable, I can't imagine that most Americans won't choose it.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 9, 2019
Mitt Romney:
Repeal Obamacare; Federal-state partnerships instead
I think what you're going to see from Republicans is a federal-state partnership, where the federal government sets the parameters and the states are given more flexibility to create ways to care for their own low-income individuals. I think you're
going to see proposals coming from our side that say, "Look, we can make the current system of private insurance, which 75, 80% of Americans have, we can keep that in place, get costs down, more flexibility. And Obamacare needs to be repealed."
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview of 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 7, 2019
Wayne Messam:
Health Care is a right, not a privilege
Messam tweeted in March that, "Healthcare is a right--not a privilege.
Far too many in this country are forced to decide between putting food on the table and paying for their prescription medications or visiting the doctor."
Source: Townhall.com on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 28, 2019
Cory Booker:
Medicare for all; start with commonsense reforms
In a system that is the most expensive system on the Planet Earth, we spend about 18 percent to 20 percent of our GDP on health care, and we still have folks that are struggling just to get by because our system doesn't go to patient care.
The ideal is that everyone should have access to health care. Health care is an American right, and the current system is definitely wrong.
I believe the best way to get there is by having Medicare for all. We can drive prices down doing commonsense things like using Medicare's bargaining power.
You raise your drug prices higher than other countries, we're going to have a definite penalty. We're going to take away your patent and let generics come in and undercut those prices.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 27, 2019
John Hickenlooper:
Against single payer; supports public option
We're at almost universal coverage in Colorado. We're about 95 percent coverage. And we did that by expanding Medicaid, by creating one of the most innovate and successful health care exchanges in the country.
I don't agree with the single-payer approach. I understand that we need a public option. Health care should be a right, not a privilege.
I want to support any way we can get to universal coverage. That should be our first and primary goal. But I also recognize that there are north of 150 million people that have insurance through your place of business.
I am more focused on how we make sure that we get to universal coverage, but at the same time, maintain and improve quality and controlling costs.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 20, 2019
Andrew Yang:
ObamaCare is only a good first step
- Yang has called the Affordable Care Act a good first step but believes the law didn't do enough to reform the nation's health care system.
- He would shift the country toward a single-payer system, with a focus on salaried physicians and
holistic medicine.
- The entrepreneur's health care platform also focuses on mental health.
- He has proposed funding artificial intelligence efforts that could improve mental health services and would create a "White House psychologist corps."
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Mar 19, 2019
Beto O`Rourke:
Medicare-X: government-run public option
- Health care: Create a government-run health insurance plan as one option for Americans.
- O'Rourke wants to create a health care "public option" he called "Medicare-X," which would offer all Americans a government-run insurance plan as a
potential choice.
- It would leave employer-sponsored health insurance and other core elements of the current system intact.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Mar 14, 2019
Pete Buttigieg:
Public option is step towards universal care
You take some flavor of Medicare, you make it available on the exchange as a kind of public option, and you invite people to buy into it. We've also just got to broaden access to it until everyone has health care.
I refuse to accept that when citizens of just about every developed nation in the world enjoy this, that we should settle for less.
Source: CNN Town Hall: back-to-back 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 10, 2019
Jay Inslee:
Take initial steps towards universal health care
Inslee backed the Affordable Care Act when it was up for a vote during his time in Congress. In 2013, as governor, he expanded Medicaid under the ACA in his state. Recently he introduced a public option health care plan to help stabilize the
state's health insurance exchange. Inslee said it would be an initial step toward creating universal health care in the state.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Mar 1, 2019
Amy Klobuchar:
Medicare-for-All for the future; public option now
Q: Your opinion on expanding ObamaCare?A: I believe we have to get to universal health care in this country. We have to make sure that we build on the work of the Affordable Care Act. We need to expand coverage so that people can have a choice for a
public option. You can do it with Medicare. You could also do it with Medicaid. This is a bill that I am an original co-sponsor of. It basically says let's expand Medicaid so you can buy into Medicaid and it will bring the prices down and we can cover
more people. The other part of the equation is doing something about prescription drugs. I have one of the original bills to push to have Medicare negotiate prices, lift the ban, bring in less expensive drugs from Canada and stop the practice where
pharma pays off generics to keep their products off the market.
Q: And Medicare for all?
A: I think it's something that we can look to for the future, but I want to get action now.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 18, 2019
Bill Weld:
Supports increased Medicaid access
Before Medicaid expansion was available to states, Weld petitioned the federal government as governor for additional Medicaid funding for Massachusetts.
He then relaxed the state's Medicaid requirements, partly to increase health care access but also to deal with a budget crunch.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Feb 15, 2019
Bill Weld:
More consumer choice instead of single-payer
Instead of arguing endlessly and fruitlessly about whether the Affordable Care Act should be repealed there are various commonsense health care issues that could be addressed immediately, across party lines. Consumers should be permitted to establish
personal health care savings accounts, and to choose their health care provider. They should be free to purchase pharmaceutical drugs across state lines and also in other countries. Their choice, not the government's.
Source: Speech in New Hampshire by 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 15, 2019
Howard Schultz:
ObamaCare is ok, but Medicare-for-All goes too far
Q: What about ObamaCare and Medicare-for-All?A: We have a health care crisis in the country on many levels. The Republicans have done everything possible to eradicate the Affordable Care Act without offering any plan -- this is the far right.
The far left is now suggesting Medicare for all. That is a $32 trillion number. Does anyone understand that Medicare-for-all also means that you will lose the choice of your doctor and your private insurance company?
Q: Your alternative?
One, I think everyone in America, every person deserves to have the right for affordable care. Second, there needs to be competition in the system so that the American people can get access to prescription drugs at lower prices, because right now the
government is not allowed under a federal law to negotiate with pharma. Third thing has been tested but not proven yet about interstate commerce among insurance companies.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 12, 2019
Howard Schultz:
President must take responsibility for V.A.
The U.S. government does some great things but the V.A. isn't one of them. I will fix the V.A. and I will be personally accountable if I run for president and I'm fortunate enough to win. No one in decades has fixed the V.A. with an annual budget of
$200 billion. It is criminal. We have layers and layers and layers of government bureaucracy. No one knows who's in charge. There's no transparency of records. Veterans are waiting weeks and months for prescription drugs. There's all kinds of problems.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 12, 2019
Amy Klobuchar:
Expand Medicare to age 55
Klobuchar would like to expand Medicare to include Americans age 55 and older, and possibly more. While she has long supported "single-payer, universal" government health coverage, the
Minnesota senator has not yet said if she would back the concept of "Medicare for All," which would replace private health insurance with a government health care system.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Feb 10, 2019
Amy Klobuchar:
Allow Medicare to directly negotiate prices
Lowering drug prices has also been a policy focus for Klobuchar; she introduced a bill to allow Medicare to directly negotiate prices,
and co-authored a bill with Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to speed up the availability of generic versions of high-cost drugs.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Feb 10, 2019
Bernie Sanders:
Pharma companies should justify high drug prices
Sanders sent a letter to Catalyst Pharmaceuticals asking it to justify its December decision to charge $375,000 annually for a medication that for years had been available for free. The drug, Firdapse, is used to treat Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome
(LEMS), a rare neuromuscular disorder. The disorder affects about one in 100,000 people in the US.In the letter, Sanders asked Catalyst to lay out the financial and non-financial factors that led the company to set the list price at $375,000, and say
how many patients would suffer or die as a result of the price and how much it was paying to purchase or produce the drug. For years, patients have been able to get Firdapse for free from Jacobus Pharmaceuticals, a small New Jersey-based drug company,
which offered it through an FDA program called "compassionate use." The program allows patients with rare diseases access to experimental drugs when there is no viable alternative. Catalyst received FDA approval of Firdapse in November.
Source: Yasmeen Abutaleb in Reuters on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Feb 4, 2019
John Delaney:
No Medicare for All, but yes universal health care
- Health care: Create universal health care program, but not "Medicare for All."
-
Delaney envisions creating a government health care program for all Americans under the age of 65, after which they could enroll in Medicare.
-
The plan would enshrine healthcare as a right for all Americans while still allowing people the choice of buying into the private market.
- Delaney opposes "Medicare for All," saying that Medicare works and should be left alone.
-
In Congress, he was a vocal supporter of the Affordable Care Act and was open to adding a public option, as well as expanding Medicare for people over the age of 55.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Feb 4, 2019
Julian Castro:
Would tax the richest to fund Medicare for All
Castro supports the "Medicare for All" system,
and wishes to tax the rich "0.05, 0.5 or 1 percent" of citizens in order to fund it.
Source: Townhall.com: "The 2020 Democrats" (presidential hopefuls)
Feb 4, 2019
Cory Booker:
Allow importing prescription drugs to lower Rx prices
- In early January, Booker joined Sanders to sponsor a series of bills to lower the cost of prescription drugs by tying prices to other developed countries; allowing the importation of medication from Canada; and directing the Department of
Health and Human Services to negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare.
- Two years earlier, Booker angered progressives when he voted against another Sanders-backed amendment to allow Americans to buy cheaper prescription drugs from Canada.
-
At the time, Booker cited concerns about the safety standards of imported drugs.
- Booker, who represents a state with a large number of pharmaceutical companies,
put a "pause" on campaign donations from the industry nearly two years ago after receiving criticism from Democrats. He later vowed to reject any corporate PAC contributions.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Feb 1, 2019
Cory Booker:
Backs Medicare-for-All
- Booker calls health care an "American right" and co-sponsored "Medicare for All" legislation introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
- The government-run plan would be phased in over four years and end the private insurance market as it
currently exists.
- It would be paid for by a tax on employers and increased taxes on capital gains and on incomes exceeding $250,000.
- Booker had previously defended the Affordable Care Act but stopped short of supporting a single-payer plan.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Feb 1, 2019
Kamala Harris:
End private health insurance with Medicare for All
- Health care: Move to universal, government-run health care, or "Medicare for All."
- Harris backs the "Medicare for All" bill sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
- That bill would establish government-run health care system that
allows every American to have access to care and end private health insurance as it currently exists.
-
The bill would pay for that system in part with a 6.2 percent charge on employers, a 2.2 percent fee on most families that would vary at some income levels, increased marginal tax rates for incomes $250,000 and higher, increased taxes on capital gains,
and an increased estate tax for the wealthiest.
- Harris has also introduced bills to increase access to mental health care and address high maternal mortality rates for black women.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Jan 21, 2019
Howard Schultz:
Single-payer health care is a false promise
Schultz earned praise for the benefits he provided Starbucks retail workers, including health-care coverage options for part-time employees. But he also has signaled a willingness to break with Democratic orthodoxy. "We have to go after entitlements,"
he said in the CNBC interview last year. He also dismissed as "false promises" the proposals for single-payer health care and guaranteed federal jobs that have become popular on the left, saying that they were fiscally unworkable.
Source: Washington Post on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Jan 18, 2019
Kirsten Gillibrand:
Basic Health Program: offer lower-priced health insurance
- Health care: Move to a universal, government-run health care system within four years.
- Gillibrand was a co-sponsor of the "The Medicare for All Act," a proposal led by
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., which would ban private health insurance and transition the U.S. to a government-run health system within four years.
-
The bill offers a few funding options, including a new tax on the wealthiest 0.1 percent, and a new premium based on income.
-
Gillibrand has also proposed expanding the "Basic Health Program," part of the Affordable Care Act, so that states can offer lower-priced health insurance to more people.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Jan 16, 2019
Tulsi Gabbard:
Supports Medicare-for-All; tax wealthiest 5% to pay for it
Gabbard co-sponsored a bill to create a government-run system to provide health care for all residents of the United States. That bill, "The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act," would pay for health care by increasing taxes on the wealthiest
5 percent of Americans, create a progressive excise tax on payroll and self-employment, tax unearned income, and also tax stock and bond transactions (not just the gains from those transactions).
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Jan 14, 2019
Julian Castro:
Medicare for all, paid for by tax on wealthy
- Health care: Create a universal health care system, "Medicare for all."
- Castro has called for "universal health care," also referring to it as "Medicare for all."
- He indicated he would consider paying for such a system by raising taxes on corporations and on the wealthiest "0.05, 0.5 or 1 percent" of Americans.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Jan 12, 2019
Beto O`Rourke:
Open to different ways to get to universal health care
We could expand Medicaid. We could introduce Medicare as an option on the exchanges. Concerned about rising premium costs? Let's control them with some downward pressure by introducing Medicare as an option, lower price,
expand selection and choice. There are many roads that will get us there. It may not happen all at once. It may take us some time. We can't allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Oct 18, 2018
Bernie Sanders:
Impose Medicaid requirements on states
Under the Sanders bill, Medicaid would continue to provide long-term services and supports (LTSS).
The bill envisions a four-year phase-in period for implementation. During this time, a transitional public plan option, similar to Medicare, would be offered through the marketplace with enhanced income-related subsidies available.
The Sanders bill would retain Medicaid for purposes of providing long-term services and supports, and would impose requirements on
states to maintain eligibility standards and expenditures on long-term services and supports at 2017 levels.
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Oct 9, 2018
Eric Garcetti:
I'm a single-payer guy
As he traversed early presidential primary state South Carolina this week, a full two years before the Democratic presidential primary race here, Democratic insiders commended Garcetti for getting a head start.On the stump,
Garcetti is light on policy specifics and heavy on the type of hope-and-change rhetoric that launched a little-known Illinois senator with an unusual name to the presidency in 2008. He voices progressive ideals but tries to do so less antagonistically.
He has described himself as "a single-payer guy" on health care. He called for stricter gun restrictions in the wake of this month's Florida high school shooting. He's pro-choice.
He prefers a "universal pathway to employment" over the universal basic income proposal some have offered. As a Mexican-American Jew, he proudly touts his own immigrant ancestry.
Source: J. Lovegrove in Post & Courier on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 24, 2018
Steve Bullock:
Protect ObamaCare before pushing to expand further
A number of skeptical Democrats had criticized Sanders' push Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, arguing that the party should be focused on preserving the ACA's gains before trying to build something new. Bullock was one of them.
But when I ask about the substance of Sanders' push for a universal Medicare system, he grows philosophical. "Divorce process and substance, and I think that we all know we spend way too much on health care. When we look at how the middle class hasn't
gotten ahead for the most part, look at how health care costs have been going up--maybe that could have gone to, actually, wages. We all know we're probably the only industrialized nation that doesn't provide health care.
There's a lot of ways to get there," he says. He then, unprompted, turns to the idea of liberal purity tests, amid talk among Sanders' supporters of punishing Democrats who opposed Medicare for All.
Source: Politico.com on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Oct 11, 2017
Tom Steyer:
We need transparency on all drug prices
Drug price transparency is a
key piece of any equitable health care system.
Source: Twitter posting by Tom Steyer, 2020 presidential hopeful
Feb 27, 2017
Page last updated: Nov 01, 2021