MIAMI — Kamala Harris is walking back a debate night answer that she would eliminate private health insurance.
During her first Democratic primary debate appearance in Miami Thursday night, Harris, along with socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, raised her hand to indicate that she supports doing away with private healthcare insurance in favor of a government-run healthcare system.
But after the debate, the California senator claimed that she misinterpreted the question. In an interview Friday morning, Harris said that she does not support eliminating private insurance.
“The question was would you be willing to give up your private insurance for that option, and I said yes,” Harris said. “That is certainly what I heard.”
Debate moderator Lester Holt had asked candidates during the debate, “Many people watching at home have health insurance through their employer. Who here would abolish their private health insurance in favorite of a government-run plan?”
Harris is a co-sponsor of Sanders’ “Medicare for all” bill, which would essentially eliminate virtually all private health insurance plans in favor of a government-run single-payer system. Plans considered “duplicative” would be illegal.
Lily Adams, Harris’ communications director, said that Harris was trying to communicate that she would enroll herself in a government plan, not make the system “Medicare for all except for me.”
“She would definitely put herself into a ‘Medicare for all’ system,” Adams said.
This isn’t the first time Harris has stumbled when confronting the issue of private insurance during her campaign.
At a CNN town hall in January, Harris appeared to indicate that she supported eliminating private health insurance.
“Who of us has not had that situation, where you’ve got to wait for approval, and the doctor says, ‘Well, I don’t know if your insurance company is going to cover this?’ Let’s eliminate all of that. Let’s move on,” she said when asked about “Medicare for all” eliminating private insurance.
In response Harris’ town hall answer, fellow Democratic California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said that disagreed with Harris and was “not there yet” on eliminating private health insurance. Feinstein has endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden in the Democratic presidential primary over Harris.
In a February CNN town hall, Harris noted that “Medicare for all” would outlaw private companies as “the main source” of private insurance, but said that there would “still be access to supplemental” insurance.
[Opinion: Kamala Harris has the least defensible healthcare position of any Democratic candidate]
