Thursday night’s presidential debate featured nine Democratic candidates, some guy named Eric Swalwell, and a raucous debate over “Medicare for all.” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a presidential front-runner and longtime advocate of socialized healthcare, called on his colleagues to embrace his signature “Medicare for all” proposal, even admitting that he’s willing to raise taxes to do so.
However, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg attempted to throw water on this fire, at least, that’s what it seemed like. He responded to Sanders’ enthusiasm by saying, “Everybody who says ‘Medicare for all,’ every person in politics who allows that phrase to escape their lips, has a responsibility to explain how you’re actually supposed to get from here to there.”
Mayor Pete Buttigieg: “Everybody who says ‘Medicare for All,’ every person in politics who allows that phrase to escape their lips, has a responsibility to explain how you’re actually supposed to get from here to there.” https://t.co/McXNJ1huup #DemDebate
— ABC News (@ABC) June 28, 2019
When asked what he supports, Buttigieg said, “I would call it ‘Medicare for all who want it,'” insisting that “it will be a very natural glide path to a single-payer environment.”
.@PeteButtigieg on Medicare for All:
“I would call it Medicare for All who want it.”
“It will be a very natural glide path to a single payer environment” if people have the choice to jump in and then recognize it’s better than private.#DemDebate
— Taylor Popielarz (@TaylorPopielarz) June 28, 2019
Buttigieg fans look at this and see at least a relatively moderate approach. It’d be nice if this were true, seeing as government-run health insurance would cost at least $32 trillion, require a doubling of federal taxes, and throw hundreds of millions of people off their private health insurance.
But Buttigieg’s “moderation” on healthcare is a scam. He’s a fake moderate, and his stance on “Medicare for all” is no exception.
Buttigieg doesn’t actually oppose it. If you look closely at his actual stance, he’s just advocating for a slightly more gradual approach. His campaign website blatantly admits that “Medicare for all who want it,” or a Medicare buy-in, is just a pathway to the same socialist healthcare that would be so destructive and expensive. The “moderate” mayor even went so far as to suggest that his healthcare plan, paid for through taxes, would cover illegal immigrants.
It’s fine if Pete Buttigieg wants to run as a socialist. He just needs to stop pretending he’s doing something else.
