DES MOINES, Iowa — Joe Biden agreed with an audience member that America is in the midst of a “class war” and said government-run healthcare was in order, but he also promised everyone attending that he wouldn’t raise their taxes should he be elected president.
“You should have a choice to buy into a public-option healthcare plan like Medicare, now. Folks, we can afford it. We can afford it,” the former vice president said at a rally in Des Moines on Wednesday. “I will not raise your taxes at all, we don’t have to do it if we’re smart enough to deal with taking away some of these ridiculous” tax loopholes.
Biden’s comment contrasts with the healthcare vision of his fellow front-runner Bernie Sanders. The Vermont senator’s “Medicare for all” proposal would eliminate private insurance altogether and put all Americans on a government-run system. Sanders has openly said that his plan would be financed through broad tax increases on almost everyone, but that it would save Americans money in the long term because there would no longer be things like copays and deductions.
Shortly after his guarantee of repealing some of the GOP tax cuts while simultaneously proclaiming that no one’s taxes in the room would increase, Biden addressed what appeared to be a masked woman in the audience who was shouting about the nation’s “class war.”
“That woman said there’s a class war. There’s a class war going on because we’re being sidelined,” Biden said before quickly moving on. “We’re one America and we do better when we act as one America … we don’t treat each other as enemies.”
Generally, Biden’s supporters have preferred a more moderate candidate, and rhetoric based around economic justice or “revolution” is more common at a Sanders event. Biden has labeled himself as an “Obama Democrat,” a deliberate contrast to the Vermont socialist.
While Biden has routinely criticized the GOP tax cut early on the campaign trail, he has also talked about how many of the wealthy people he knows are “good people” who would be willing to pay slightly higher rates.
