There She Goes Again: Harris Flip-Flops on Medicare For All, Campaign Says She Will Not Push It
The article discusses Vice President Kamala Harris’s recent shift in her stance on Medicare-for-All, highlighting her history of changing positions on various significant issues like fracking, mandatory gun buybacks, and taxation on tips. Critics suggest that Harris’s newfound conservative approach is a strategic move as she seeks re-election. Initially, she was a strong advocate for Medicare-for-All, even co-sponsoring Bernie Sanders’s legislation in 2017 and expressing her commitment to universal healthcare access. However, her campaign has indicated that she will not prioritize single-payer healthcare in her current campaign, even if she’d sign such legislation if passed by Congress. The discussion raises concerns about her consistency and credibility, with the author questioning her sudden policy changes just months before the election, invoking skepticism about liberal politicians who shift to more conservative views under electoral pressure.
As she has with every other meaningful position that Vice President Kamala Harris has taken in the past, she has now predictably flip-flopped on her support for Medicare-for-All.
Add it to the list of recent reversals that includes banning fracking, mandatory gun buyback programs, taxation on tips, and border security.
Curiously, Harris’ views on all of these issues have taken a sudden turn to the right.
Bob Casey just endorsed the most liberal nominee in U.S. history. pic.twitter.com/J0V6W7CUlh
— Dave McCormick (@DaveMcCormickPA) July 23, 2024
Maybe she realizes that the majority of Americans will not elect someone who was ranked the second-most liberal senator to serve in the 21st century, just after Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, according to The Hill.
The flip-flop on Medicare-for-All is the latest example of a supposed shift in policy preference.
In Jan. 2019, Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked then-presidential candidate Harris, “How important is it to your health care plan to get rid of private insurance companies? Because there is some confusion about that.”
“I’m glad you asked. Yeah. So, the bottom line and the most important is that everyone have access to health care,” Harris answered. “That is the goal. That is the purpose for me supporting the policy of ‘Medicare-for-all.’”
However, on Tuesday a “campaign official” told Doocy that “Harris will not push the subject of single-payer or ‘Medicare-for-all’ this go around, as she seeks her first term as commander-in-chief,” according to Fox News.
So it sounds like her campaign is saying it wouldn’t be a priority, but if Congress were to pass such legislation, it seems pretty likely she would sign it, given she “always” has supported “Medicare-for-All.”
Harris was the first to co-sponsor Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders Medicare-for-All bill in 2017, Americans for Tax Reform noted.
🚨Wow. Kamala Harris praised Bernie Sanders & fully endorsed his $34 trillion Medicare for All scheme that eliminates private health insurance.
“I want to give credit to Bernie Sanders…you brought us this far on Medicare for All, I support Medicare for All, and I always have.” pic.twitter.com/na8kcWDU4G
— Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) August 13, 2024
The projected cost at that time for such a program was approximately $33 trillion over ten years, or over $3 trillion per year. As a reality check, the federal deficit this year is projected to be nearly $2 trillion.
So massive tax increases would be required (over $26,000 per household per year) which would do great damage to the economy.
When Harris ran for president in 2019, she clearly stated Medicare-for-All was what she supported. She even authored a Medium article titled, “My Plan For Medicare For All.“
By that point, she had backed off from the full-on Bernie plan of forced Medicare-for-All somewhat, writing that she would allow private insurers to offer Medicare plans “that adhere to strict Medicare requirements on costs and benefits.”
But, the trick then would, of course, be how could private insurers offer competitive plans that have all the benefits of Medicare without the taxpayers picking up the cost? It would in effect force all the competitors out of the market.
A famous quip Ronald Reagan made during his 1980 presidential debate with then-President Jimmy Carter about Medicare and creating a national health plan could be directed at Harris now: “There you go again.”
Do not believe a liberal politician who suddenly has epiphanies that she must adopt more conservative views less than three months from the election.
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