Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumBiden goes after Warren and Sanders on M4A
Jake Johnson / Common Dreams
Speaking to reporters during a campaign event in Ohio on Wednesday, former Vice President Joe Biden accused Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warrenhis two top rivals for the 2020 Democratic presidential nominationof playing Trumps game and trying to con the American people by supporting Medicare for All.
I mean, look, I dont want to pick on Elizabeth Warren, but this is ridiculous, Biden said. The idea that someone is going to be able to go out and spend what turns out to be, if you add on everything thats going to be free beyond Obamacare, excuse me beyond Medicare for All, which is its going to come out to about 3.4 trillion dollars a year.
Biden went on to falsely claim that the $3.4 trillion estimate, for which he did not provide a source, is bigger than the entire federal budget.
The former vice president neglected to mention that the United States spent $3.65 trillion on healthcare in 2018, a number that is expected to rise rapidly over the next decade under the for-profit system Bidens public option plan would leave intact.
Biden also took aim at Sanders, falsely stating that the senator and author of the 100-page Senate Medicare for All Act of 2019 hasnt explained how he would finance Medicare for All.
God love Bernie, and it was really good, I really mean it, to see him so healthy and moving last night, said Biden. But Bernie, Bernie doesnt pay for half his plan
Look the last thing the Democrats should be doing is playing Trumps game and trying to con the American people to think this is easy. Theres nothing easy about it. If youre going to do it, tell us how youre going to do it. Its called truth in speaking.
As the New York Times reported Wednesday, Biden is under particular pressure because Ms. Warren has passed him in some national and early-state polls and joined him as a frontrunner, a status he held alone for months.
In response to Bidens attacks, Warrens communications director Kristen Orthman told the Times that instead of speaking to wealthy donors, our campaign spent the day calling and thanking over a thousand of our grass-roots supporters.
Other than that we have no comment, said Orthman.
A request for comment to the Sanders campaign was not returned as of press time.
As Common Dreams reported, Biden raised around $10 million less than both Sanders and Warren in the third quarter of 2019 despite his heavy reliance on big-money events.
Bidens remarks in Ohio on Wednesday came just hours after he joined South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg in launching a slew of misleading attacks on Medicare for All during Tuesday nights Democratic presidential debate.
For people making between $50,000 and $75,000 a year, their taxes are going up about $5,000 because the fact is, they will pay more in new taxes, Biden said of Medicare for All, a statement that earned him a mostly false score from PolitiFact.
Briahna Joy Gray, Sanders national press secretary, pushed back on the premise of Bidens attack on Twitter.
The average American family pays $20,000 in premiums, and Joe Biden is focused on $5,000 in taxes, said Gray. The math is clear. Americans shouldnt die because theyre poor. Period. Medicare for All.
Jake Johnson / Common Dreams
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Are these average families? I don't pay anywhere near 20k a year in premiums.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)The article is referring to the overall premium costs for the average sized family in addition to the employer contribution to their health care benefits. Here is a calculator offered by Kaiser to get an understanding some of the variables on healthcare insurance costs. Individually you might pay as much as $6,000 matched by your employer contribution. A better estimate would be about $12,000 to $16,000 a year (?)
Household Health Spending Calculator: https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
So, how does the taking all of the portion my employer pays away and dropping twice as much of the burden as I have no on me.....lower my costs as Bernie and Warren promise?
It doesn't. It ends up with me paying twice as much as before. I'm certainly not a billionaire that they say will be the ones paying more, but here we are.
The truth is that nearly everyone who has private insurance provided by their employer will end up paying more for M4A than they do now.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
emmaverybo
(8,144 posts)as also potentially paying more. Right now I pay no premium and my benefits reimburse my Medicare fee. I get excellent quality private insurance with no deductibles, low cost drugs, access to the best clinic in my locale, 100 percent coverage for hospitalization, tests, specialists. I am covered for urgent care and emergency services traveling abroad, even moving abroad.
As a Democrat, I want others to have affordable or subsidized healthcare. I want universal healthcare. But my fellows who vote in the GE dont all share my values. Even I think the taxation will be too high.
I would profit by student debt cancellation, but I am against the degree of amnesty offered when half what that would cost could help shore up social security or childrens school lunch programs or help families in hardship avoid foreclosure. Roll back the interest, forgive for low income, bring back forgiveness programs...no need to go wild with the nations credit card.
I hope Warren will prioritize her extensive list of plans, prune plans as needed. The existing social safety net is in trouble and social services throughout the nation are underfunded. There, we are talking people in dire need, not with college educations making over a hundred thousand a year. We are talking poor families. A plan for them should not be to give college debt amnesty to those doing well who can pay debt they incurred.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Celerity
(43,499 posts)https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/tracking-the-rise-in-premium-contributions-and-cost-sharing-for-families-with-large-employer-coverage/
Total family health spending
Family health spending includes both premiums and the cost-sharing charged when an enrollee uses services. Cost-sharing, or out-of-pocket spending, takes the form of deductibles, copayments and coinsurance, and can vary widely based on an enrollees plan and utilization. To look at both premiums and cost-sharing payments together, we added the average family premium for a family of four for those with employer coverage to the average cost-sharing for a worker, spouse and two children. This provides a fuller picture of the impact of healthcare on a households budget.
For most of those with employer coverage, the cost of the premium is split between the employer and employee. Looking only at the health spending for which workers are responsible (their families premium contributions and cost-sharing payments), the average family spent $4,706 on premiums and $3,020 on cost-sharing, for a combined cost of $7,726 in 2018. This represents an 18% increase in the health costs borne by employees and their families from five years earlier ($6,571 in 2013), outpacing the 8% increase in inflation and a 12% increase in workers wages over the same period.
As a result of increases in both premiums and out-of-pocket spending, average combined health spending by families and their employers has grown over time. Over the last decade, health costs incurred by families covered by large employers including premium contributions and out-of-pocket spending on health services has increased 67% from $4,617 to $7,726. Over the same decade, average health costs paid on behalf of workers by large employers in the form of premium contributions for family coverage increased 51% from $10,008 to $15,159.
On average, employees of large firms contribute about a third of the total cost of covering themselves and their families (34%), with employers picking up the reminder. In 2018, workers contributed about 20% of the total cost through their families premium contributions and an additional 13% in the form of cost-sharing. A decade ago the typical family covered 32% of the total cost of their coverage.
snip
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
uponit7771
(90,364 posts)... our medical industry in the US
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Response to YOHABLO (Original post)
elocs This message was self-deleted by its author.
BeyondGeography
(39,379 posts)Just as he played catch-up with Warren on Zuckerberg. This is what a very average candidate does.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided