Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg released a TV spot Monday that attacks the Medicare for All proposal favored by fellow candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
The campaign video, entitled “Makes More Sense,” takes aim at the Medicare for All plan, backed by Warren and Sanders, for abolishing private insurance plans in order to put all Americans on a single government-funded insurance plan. The ad includes several clips from news outlets spliced together explaining Buttigieg’s plan, which would allow people to keep their private insurance plans while maintaining the option of buying a Medicare plan. He calls it, “Medicare for all who want it.”
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Sanders, the Vermont democratic socialist, has been the most outspoken proponent of Medicare for All. Other Democratic senators, including Mark Warner of Virginia and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, have warned that the idea could hurt Democrats in the election.
Buttigieg released his blueprint for a new healthcare system last month, putting even more distance between himself and fellow contenders with more progressive healthcare reform proposals. His healthcare plan would automatically enroll low-income uninsured people into a government plan without cost to them. People with higher incomes would be prompted to sign up for coverage under Obamacare and receive subsidies to cover the cost. The subsidies under Buttigieg’s plan, though, would be higher than those under Obamacare and if a person decides that he or she does not want to enroll in an Obamacare exchange plan, he or she can buy into a government plan.
In a September debate, Buttigieg criticized Warren and Sanders for forcing Americans into government plans, arguing that they don’t trust Americans to make the right choices for themselves.
“I trust the American people to make the right choice for them,” Buttigieg said. “Why don’t you?”
