Kamala's rivals seize health care

Kamala Harris presented her health care plan in hopes of bridging party divisions and decisively responding to doubts about her positions in sight.

But for a month, the California Democrat is still struggling to refute the attacks of its major rivals, who make holes in its details and blame Harris for passing political calculation before conviction. Joe Biden's campaign announces it as a "do-it-all" plan as Bernie Sanders' camp has torn it up as "tinkering with various poll numbers".

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Harris's universal coverage plan has been hailed by more than a dozen health policy buffs and former Obama administration officials, some of whom prefer it over Sanders' version of Medicare for All. But on the political front, it's been a mess: it checks to see if a senator not known for her health expertise has the dexterity to make the difference between Sanders and Biden on a complicated policy. And questions accelerated on why Harris backed Sanders' plan for almost two years when it was unveiled in 2017, before admitting this week to doubts about the Vermont senator's proposal.

For Harris, hogwash health care also threatens to become a worrying symbol of why, after its momentum after the first debate, it has fallen back to the beginning of July. She is now voting closer to Pete Buttigieg and Beto O 'Rourke than Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

"I think that when Senator Harris trusts what she says and believes, she is very good," said Progressive Democratic strategist Rebecca Katz. "I'm just not sure what she believes in Medicare for all."

The issues that plague Harris's health plan lie in the midst of an intensification of the battle within the Democratic Party to define Medicare for all. The Sanders campaign argues that it's the only pure version, with the senator touting an aggressive plan to turn the entire US health care system into a four-year government-run health program. years. Sanders' campaign was postponed Thursday against a report that he was adjusting his plan to the union opposition, which the campaign denied. As part of Sanders' recent work proposal, unions would renegotiate their contracts to recover wages or benefits sacrificed for more generous health programs, as these plans would disappear with Medicare for All.

Many presidential candidates have attempted to capitalize on the apparent popularity of the term "Medicare for All" among voters, while distancing themselves from the rising taxes of the middle class and eliminating the companies of the United States. Private insurance, what critics say it would be the case.

The issue was motivated by a close fight in the Democratic primaries, said Larry Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which has conducted polls and interviews on how voters react to Medicare proposals for all.

"There is a group of activist voters very concerned about whether a candidate supports Medicare for all and, beyond that, what kind of insurance he supports," said Levitt.

But most voters did not focus on the nuances, he added.

The internal battle against Medicare for All could turn against the future candidate. Biden, Harris and Sanders all launched level attacks that Republicans could use again in general elections. It also means that Democratic candidates spent less time in debates and in the election campaign, addressing issues such as the high price of drugs and the Trump administration's efforts to scuttle the Affordable Care Act.

But the Democratic quarrels are not likely to ease anytime soon. And Harris is not the only candidate to question her health plan.

Biden, who wants to create a government-run alternative while retaining a role for private insurers, suggested almost casually that his government could "easily" add a public option a decade after the Obama administration been forced to withdraw from this idea despite full control of the Congress. Biden's plan, as written, would also leave 10 million uninsured people.

Meanwhile, Sanders and Warren continue to face questions about higher taxes, which Sanders was more willing to acknowledge.

But Harris gave his opponents more ammunition than any other candidate. At the beginning of the campaign, while remaining faithful to Sanders' plan, she wondered if she would prefer to eliminate private insurance. Harris raised his hand in the June debate, suggesting that she is supportive of the removal of private insurers, but that she misinterpreted the issue the next day.

Over the past few weeks in Iowa and Nevada, Ms. Harris announced that she had decided to set her own plan after conversations on the trail – with union members who wanted to have a breakout. A longer track to serve their negotiated health plans and with people who did not wish to abolish private insurers. . Compared to Sanders' proposal, the Harris plan has a longer implementation period of 10 years and maintains a role for private insurers by building on the existing Medicare Advantage program.

Speaking to Sanders' pivot, Harris said at a union forum held this month that other Democratic hopefuls had also embraced different health care plans over time.

"Most of us, I will speak for myself, saying," Hey, that's a good idea. I support him. The question becomes, "Is this the best idea?" Harris added. "And for me, this health insurance plan to which almost everyone has subscribed, I realized it was just not the best plan. And then, I decided to create mine.

During a fundraiser at the Hamptons last weekend, Harris acknowledged to donors that "for several months, I have not been comfortable with Bernie's plan, the plan Medicare for All. The admission – in front of a pool of wealthy supporters – questioned why Harris had co-sponsored the Sanders bill in 2017 and had remained for so long a supporter.

The Sanders campaign has surged. Sanders tweeted about Hamptons' remarks and his speechwriter, David Sirota, accused Harris and other Democrats of leaving Donald Trump irrelevant, while "attacking the now-supported Medicare for All framework." of the majority of the Democratic legislators of the American House ".

"The Harris Flip-Flop reminds us that, even though Medicare for All has received an enthusiastic response to the Bernie Fox Conference in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania," Sirota wrote in its newsletter, "It does not get no such response with the big fundraising circuit in the Hamptons. "

Harris spokesman Ian Sams said that although other candidates wanted to "play politics" or "apply ideological purity tests" on this issue, Harris focused on the need for to define his policy well.

"His plan covers everyone, removes co-payments and deductibles, gives Americans the choice between public and private plans and forces insurance companies to stop scamming people," he said. Sams in a statement. "Experts agree that it is the best plan to bring us to universal coverage and that in 2019, Democrats should present a bold vision to cover all Americans while being attentive to the real concerns of people as to how we will get there. "

Democrat health care experts are worried that the battle around Harris' plan and the broader battle around Medicare for All is threatening to overshadow the top priorities of the health policy of voters .

"I really do not think they should fight about it," said Arielle Kane, director of health policy for the Progressive Policy Institute. "The public as a whole does not understand the nuances of health policy – it just wants to know the great ideas and values ​​of the candidates.They can do their shopping? It's free? Will they be financially protected?