Kamala Harris Uncomfortable with Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All Plan She Previously Endorsed
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) told wealthy donors Sunday night that she is uncomfortable with Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) Medicare for All bill, even though she co-sponsored Sanders’ legislation and championed Medicare for All for months on the campaign trail.
Harris told wealthy donors Sunday night in the Hamptons in Long Island, New York, that she found new reservations with Sanders’ single-payer healthcare plan, even though Harris was one of the original co-sponsors of the legislation when Sanders reintroduced the bill in April.
“I have not been comfortable with Bernie’s plan,” she said of Sanders’ Medicare for All legislation and proceeded to explain how her plan would keep Americans’ private health insurance.
However, in April, along with other presidential candidates Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Harris co-sponsored Sanders’ Medicare for All bill.
Sen. Harris has waffled on her support on single-payer healthcare and dodged questions over whether Medicare for All would eliminate private health insurance despite her strong backing of Medicare for All early in her presidential campaign. Sanders’ Medicare for All legislation would eliminate private health insurance except in some minor supplemental coverage.
Harris originally strongly came out in favor of Medicare for All and eliminating private health insurance. She said in January, “You don’t have to go through the process of going through an insurance company, having them give you approval, going through the paperwork, all of the delay that may require… Let’s eliminate all of that. Let’s move on.”
Less than 24 hours after her controversial remarks, a Harris spokesman said she does not believe in eliminating the private health insurance industry.
In July, facing backlash over her support for eliminating private insurance, Harris introduced her new Medicare for All plan, which would allow for private health insurance companies to offer Medicare plans as long as they comply with strict requirements on costs and benefits. Harris would pay for her plan by introducing new taxes on financial transactions.
However, despite her evolving healthcare views, a recent poll found that nearly two-thirds of American battleground state voters would prefer lowering healthcare costs compared to universal healthcare coverage.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) told Breitbart News in an interview in July that Republicans continue to propose solutions that would lower healthcare costs.
“What Republicans are doing if you look at our proposals, as in all the conversation I’m in with people, is driving down the costs. If you drive down the cost, more people will be able to afford health care, we want them to actually get health care,” Scott said told Breitbart News.