Like any good presidential candidate, Elizabeth Warren knows where she’s weak.
Her Democratic opponents were the first ones to point out that her plan-for-everything agenda lacks an adequate, comprehensive healthcare alternative, and Warren has spent the past few months trying to fix this. She’s still arguing that a mandatory Medicare-for-All program won’t affect middle-class taxpayers, but she is now offering them an alternative: a buy-in option that resembles Joe Biden’s and Pete Buttigieg’s.
Worried that her all-or-nothing rhetoric could affect her electability, Warren’s campaign is now actively advocating for a transition period, or a time frame in which people could hold onto their private health insurance plans while the government switches over to an all-inclusive plan.
“We’re going to push through healthcare that’s available to everyone,” Warren said during a town hall in Iowa this weekend. “You don’t have to, but it’s your choice if you want to come in and get full healthcare coverage. … And then, when people have a chance to try it, when you’ve had the choice — nobody has to — but when you’ve had the choice and tried full healthcare coverage, then we’ll vote. And I believe America is going to say, ‘We like Medicare for All.’”
Keep in mind: This isn’t really an alternative. Medicare for All will still be mandatory under Warren’s plan, but its implementation will be delayed. Critics, such as Buttigieg, have pointed out as much, reminding voters that this new “choice” will be taken away after three years.
Warren is betting that voters prefer her temporary choice to Buttigieg’s and Biden’s Obamacare mantra, “If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep your healthcare plan!” But that’s a hefty risk given her recent dive in the polls. Biden is still in the lead with 30% support, according to this week’s Quinnipiac poll, and Warren is at 17%. Compare that to mid-October, when Warren was polling at 23.4%, according to RealClearPolitics. Meanwhile, Sanders and Buttigieg continue to gain.
Clearly, Warren isn’t as good at selling Medicare for All as Sanders is. He’s never once walked back his plan, while she’s backed down just a bit to make up for lost ground. Hopefully, voters see this for what it is: an empty promise and an attempt to cover her tracks.
