Tom Steyer: Every American has a right to affordable healthcare
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer hits back at Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren's $52 trillion 'Medicare-for-all' plan.
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer wants viewers to know there's a "better way" than Sen. Elizabeth Warren's $52 trillion 'Medicare-for-all' plan.
The plan, first reported by Fox News, proposes a host of tax increases to pay for it while still claiming the middle class would not face any additional burden. Costs would be covered by a combination of existing federal and state spending on Medicare and other health care, employers, financial transactions, the ultra-wealthy, large corporations, and savings.
The Mass. Democrat's proposal was immediately hammered by both Republicans and her Democratic rivals in the 2020 primary. Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign said the "unrealistic plan" leaves only two options: "even further increase taxes on the middle-class or break her commitment to these promised benefits."
"The mathematical gymnastics in this plan are all geared toward hiding a simple truth from voters: It's impossible to pay for Medicare-for-all without middle-class tax increases," Biden deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said in a statement.
Independent estimates have predicted that 2 million people would lose their jobs as the private health insurance industry collapses and providers need fewer people to manage billing, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Appearing on "Cavuto LIVE" with host Neil Cavuto, the billionaire Steyer said that while everyone knows "we need to drive down the cost of healthcare," he doesn't believe "we have to scrap a system where 160 million Americans get their healthcare through their employment and tell them they can't do that anymore, they're going to go there for their healthcare or they're breaking the law."
"I think Americans should be allowed to make the choice for themselves about what's the best option," he told Cavuto.
He told Cavuto that he thought projecting was unrealistic.
"Any time you're talking about changing 20 percent of the American economy -- which is what healthcare is -- and having an entirely new system for everybody, you're talking about a lot of assumptions," he said.
"And when you're talking about 10 years into the future...I know 10 years out is a long way and things can change radically from what we expect today," he said.
"I don't think we need to change everything in society in order to drive down the cost of health care for everybody and make sure that every American has a right to affordable healthcare. I think that a public option does it without turning everything upsidedown and allowing Americans to make a choice for themselves," said Steyer.
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"Regardless of what plan we're talking about...we're not going to get it until we break that corporate stranglehold on that government," he concluded.
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