Democratic presidential candidates clashed in some of the strongest terms yet over the “Medicare for All” policy dividing the field at the Nevada debate on Wednesday night.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who has slipped in the polls recently, in particular went on the attack in ways that she has not before.
She said former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s plan was “thought up by his consultants” and compared Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s (D-Minn.) plan to a “Post-it note” saying “insert plan here.”
Warren has backed Medicare for All but wants to start first with an optional government plan, highlighting the tightrope she has tried to walk on the issue.
She described her approach as “if we don’t get it all the first time, take the win” and then come back for more.
That is a contrast with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the emerging front-runner in the race, who has prided himself on not accepting any middle ground on health care short of full-scale Medicare for All, despite the difficulty in getting the plan through even a Democratic-controlled Senate.
“Two-thirds of the Democratic senators are not even on that bill,” Klobuchar said, calling Sanders’s plan unrealistic.
The Culinary Union in Nevada, a powerful force in the state, has made waves by criticizing Sanders’s plan for taking away the health benefits they negotiated and replacing them with a new government plan.
Sanders sought to offer reassurance that the government plan would be even more generous.
“I will never sign a bill that will reduce the health care benefits they have,” he said of the union.
However, Buttigieg called it “condescension and arrogance” to say the government knows better than unions as to which health insurance plan is best.
Like Klobuchar, Buttigieg is pushing for an optional government health insurance plan that would allow people to retain their private insurance.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Joe Biden attacked former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg — who has rocketed to a high standing in the polls after spending millions on ads — for previously calling the Affordable Care Act a “disgrace.”
“I am a fan of ObamaCare,” Bloomberg, a former Republican, said.
“Didn’t you call it a disgrace?” Biden interjected.
“Let me finish, thank you,” Bloomberg replied, before pivoting to President Trump.
“What Trump has done to it is a disgrace,” Bloomberg said.