Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg released details of a healthcare plan that he has dubbed “Medicare for all who want it,” further distancing himself from progressive rivals who want to abolish private health insurance in favor of “Medicare for all.”
The proposal released Thursday, which doesn’t come with a price estimate, would automatically enroll low-income uninsured people into a government plan without cost to them. People with higher incomes who are uninsured would, as under Obamacare, get a federal subsidy and be prompted to enroll in insurance. The idea goes further than Obamacare, however, because people would get higher subsidies that lessen the cost of coverage and have the option to enroll in a government plan rather than a private plan.
“Health care is a human right,” the South Bend, Indiana, mayor said on Twitter. “But in America, it’s too expensive, too complicated, and too frustrating. I’m proposing a bold new approach — Medicare for All Who Want It — that lowers costs, creates real choices, and covers everyone.”
Buttigieg’s plan is similar to Democratic front-runner Joe Biden’s, but he goes further by more aggressively seeking to enroll the uninsured. Both Biden and Buttigieg’s plans to expand government coverage will receive backlash from the medical industry because they would reduce what medical providers get paid. Under the Buttigieg plan, healthcare providers would not be allowed to charge more than twice what Medicare pays for services provided out of network.
Still, the ideas are less disruptive than the Medicare for All Act authored by Bernie Sanders and supported by Elizabeth Warren, which would have everyone living in the United States enrolled into a single government plan. About 180 million people in America currently get coverage through private plans, the majority of whom get it through their jobs.
During the Democratic debate in Houston last week, Buttigieg criticized Sanders and Warren for their healthcare plans, saying they wanting to force everyone into a government plan because they don’t believe people can make the right decisions for themselves.
“I trust the American people to make the right choice for them,” Buttigieg said. “Why don’t you?”
A video his campaign released Thursday echoed that same message.
“I trust Americans to make our own decisions regarding the type of healthcare that makes the most sense for each of us and our families,” he said.
Buttigieg has said repeatedly that if private insurers don’t offer prices that are competitive with the government plan, then his plan will “create a natural glide-path to Medicare for All.”
