{"id":2319186,"date":"2024-08-05T04:08:01","date_gmt":"2024-08-05T08:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kamala-has-long-planned-to-take-away-your-health-coverage\/"},"modified":"2024-08-05T04:16:55","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T08:16:55","slug":"kamala-has-long-planned-to-take-away-your-health-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kamala-has-long-planned-to-take-away-your-health-coverage\/","title":{"rendered":"Kamala Has Long Planned To Take Away Your Health Coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fkamala-has-long-planned-to-take-away-your-health-coverage%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2319186&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses \u2062Kamala Harris&#8217;s evolving \u2064stance on health care, particularly regarding \u200cher support \u2063for a single-payer system, which \u2064raises concerns about\u2062 the elimination of private health insurance. Initially, in January\u200b 2019, Harris advocated for a system that would provide universal access to \u200cmedical care without requiring insurance approvals, suggesting a\u200b desire to simplify the process but implying that many Americans could potentially lose their current coverage.<\/p>\n<p>As\u200b her presidential campaign progressed, Harris faced\u200c backlash for her position,\u2063 leading her to clarify her views multiple times. She attempted to reassure voters that she did not intend to ban all private insurance,\u200c suggesting that\u2062 her plan would streamline coverage while \u2064maintaining\u200b a role for private insurance. However, critics, including Jake Tapper, pointed out that the single-payer bill\u200b she supported could end most existing private plans.<\/p>\n<p>In her own \u200coutlined health care\u200d plan\u200b released in 2019, Harris proposed a \u200b10-year transition to an expanded Medicare system, which would\u2062 automatically enroll many into this\u200d new public system. This transition period raised concerns because it implied that existing insurance options, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-health-insurance-plan-would-grow-the-deficit-by-335b\/\" title=\"Biden&#039;s Health Insurance Plan Would Grow The Deficit By 5B\">employer-based coverage<\/a> and other federally\u200d designated programs, could effectively be\u2062 abolished, contradicting her \u2062earlier promises that people would be\u2063 able to keep their existing plans if they liked them.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, while her proposal aimed to secure universal coverage at \u2062lower costs, \u2064the possibility of stringent \u200bregulations could stifle private\u2064 insurance&#8217;s \u2064viability. Critics argue that her \u2063plan defers difficult decisions about the health coverage of millions of\u2062 Americans,\u2063 potentially \u2064passing\u2064 these challenges to future administrations. Harris&#8217;s health care \u2062proposals\u2063 depict\u200d a struggle to balance progressive ideals with political practicality, leaving many unresolved questions\u2063 about the\u200d future of health \u200ccoverage in the U.S.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>As Democrats crowned Kamala Harris the presumptive successor to Joe Biden &mdash; an event that transpired with nary an actual vote being cast &mdash; some noted that Harris previously expressed support for <a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/01\/31\/kamala-harris-reveals-medicare-means-ending-private-insurance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">banning private health coverage<\/a>. When Jake Tapper asked her in January 2019 about the single-payer bill by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., that she co-sponsored, which among other things would outlaw private insurance, Harris <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DJhuPtIsUI0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> the following:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Well, listen, the idea is that everyone gets access to medical care. And you don&rsquo;t have to go through the process of going through an insurance company, having them give you approval, going through the paperwork &mdash; all of the delay that may require. Who of us has not had that situation, where you&rsquo;ve got to wait for approval, and the doctor says, &lsquo;Well, I don&rsquo;t know if your insurance company is going to cover this?&rsquo; Let&rsquo;s eliminate all of that. Let&rsquo;s move on.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Harris&rsquo; series of statements (really, flip-flops) on this issue proved one of the reasons her desultory 2020 presidential campaign cratered so badly. And while the full history is more convoluted than the short clip from January 2019, Harris&rsquo; plan would largely have the same effects as her initial response to Tapper&rsquo;s question: Most if not all people who like their current health coverage could not keep it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Political Somersaults Over Maintaining Private Insurance<\/h2>\n<p>Following the controversy her initial comments generated, Harris undertook a series of &ldquo;clarifications&rdquo; about whether single-payer should retain a role for private coverage. Four months after her first interview with CNN, she argued in a follow-up discussion with Tapper that she didn&rsquo;t mean to ban all private insurance. She tried to claim she wanted to &ldquo;get rid of all the bureaucracy&rdquo; and &ldquo;all of the waste,&rdquo; but keep a role for private insurance.<\/p>\n<p>Harris also argued that the Sanders legislation she supported would keep private insurance &mdash; an assertion that even Tapper himself <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/video\/2019\/05\/12\/kamala_harris_clarifies_position_on_eliminating_private_health_insurance_thats_not_what_i_meant.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">proved skeptical about<\/a>. Tapper rightly noted that the Sanders bill would permit private insurance coverage only for the very few things <em>not<\/em> covered by the government-run plan, such as cosmetic surgery. Backed into a corner, Harris finally admitted that the concept of unions losing health plans they had and liked constituted a &ldquo;legitimate concern&rdquo; &mdash; a patronizing way of acknowledging an issue without addressing it.<\/p>\n<p>In July 2019, two months after her second go-round with Tapper on banning private insurance, Harris released an <a href=\"https:\/\/kamalaharris.medium.com\/my-plan-for-medicare-for-all-7730370dd421\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">outline<\/a> of her own single-payer plan just before a Democrat presidential debate. None other than Joe Biden&rsquo;s campaign <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2020-election\/democratic-debate-transcript-july-31-2019-n1038016\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">attacked<\/a> the proposal as a &ldquo;have-it-every-which-way approach.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>Banning Employer Plans<\/h2>\n<p>The details of Harris&rsquo; plan demonstrate that, while she theoretically wanted to leave a role for private insurance, most Americans would lose the coverage they have now. Consider this paragraph from <a href=\"https:\/\/kamalaharris.medium.com\/my-plan-for-medicare-for-all-7730370dd421\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">her plan<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Second, we will set up an expanded Medicare system, with a 10-year phase-in period. During this transition, we will automatically enroll newborns and the uninsured into this new and improved Medicare system, give all doctors time to get into the system, and <strong><em>provide a commonsense path for employers, employees, the underinsured, and others on federally-designated programs, such as Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act exchanges, to transition<\/em><\/strong>. This will expand the number of insured Americans and create a new viable public system that guarantees universal coverage at a lower cost. Expanding the transition window will also lower the overall cost of the program. (Emphasis mine.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The last two words of the second sentence, &ldquo;to transition,&rdquo; mean that practically all existing forms of insurance coverage outside Medicare &mdash; from employer-based coverage to Medicaid and the Obamacare Exchanges &mdash; would be abolished. So much for, &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qpa-5JdCnmo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">If you like your current plan, you can keep it<\/a>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>If the concept of &ldquo;transitioning&rdquo; hundreds of millions of Americans wasn&rsquo;t bad enough, Harris&rsquo; plan came with a second huge caveat: She claimed that &ldquo;private plans in the new Medicare system will be held to stricter consumer protection standards than they are today, such as getting reimbursed less than what the Medicare plan will cost to operate.&rdquo; This wording raises the possibility that federal bureaucrats could create a regulatory environment so strict that private plans couldn&rsquo;t operate in practice, even if the federal government didn&rsquo;t ban them explicitly.<\/p>\n<p>Harris wanted this &ldquo;transition&rdquo; to take place over 10 years, or longer than two presidential terms. Moving the effective date until after she had left office wouldn&rsquo;t &ldquo;lower the overall cost of the program&rdquo; once fully implemented, as she claimed, but it would mean she could potentially <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/07\/30\/kamala-harriss-health-plan-put-balloon-mortgage-american-taxpayers-wallets\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">punt difficult choices<\/a> &mdash; like how to pay for the full program or how to kick people off of their current insurance &mdash; to her successor.<\/p>\n<h2>Big Winner: Undocumented Immigrants<\/h2>\n<p>Even though Harris has taken just about every type of position on the issue of private coverage in a single-payer program, she hasn&rsquo;t waffled on one issue. In her May 2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/video\/2019\/05\/12\/kamala_harris_clarifies_position_on_eliminating_private_health_insurance_thats_not_what_i_meant.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">interview with Jake Tapper<\/a>, she made clear that she supports full taxpayer-funded benefits for individuals in the United States unlawfully: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m opposed to any policy that would deny in our country any human being from access to public safety, public education, or public health, period.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In taking that position, Harris stands far to the left of 1993-era Hillary Clinton, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WTVQQubdJ-w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">testified<\/a> before Congress:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We do not think the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blue-states-encourage-illegal-immigration-when-they-subsidize-health-care-for-undocumented-migrants\/\" title=\"Blue States Encourage Illegal Immigration When They Subsidize Health Care For Undocumented Migrants\">comprehensive health care benefits<\/a> should be extended to those who are undocumented workers and illegal aliens. We do not want to do anything to encourage more illegal immigration into this country. We know now that too many people come in for medical care, as it is. We certainly don&rsquo;t want them having the same benefits that American citizens are entitled to have.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Coming just as the Congressional Budget Office released a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbo.gov\/system\/files\/2024-07\/60165-Immigration.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report<\/a> claiming that the migrant &ldquo;surge&rdquo; will result in tens of billions of dollars in new federal spending on health care entitlements, the contrast between Harris&rsquo; position and that of old-guard Democrats should remind voters that the vice president has little interest in serving as a &ldquo;border czar&rdquo; who actually solves the crisis at the border. Just like she has little interest in allowing Americans to keep the health coverage they have and like.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Chris Jacobs is founder and CEO of Juniper Research Group, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/game-show-judges-assess-players-on-their-unknown-knowledge\/\" title=\"Game Show Judges Assess Players on Their Unknown Knowledge\">policy consulting firm based<\/a> in Washington, and author of the book &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/1645720020\">The Case Against Single Payer<\/a>.&#8221; He appeared in the 1995 &#8220;Jeopardy!&#8221; Teen Tournament and is on Twitter: <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/chrisjacobsHC\">@chrisjacobsHC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As Democrats designated Kamala Harris as the likely successor to Joe Biden\u2014an announcement made without any actual voting\u2014some pointed out that Harris had earlier shown support for eliminating private health insurance. In January 2019, when Jake Tapper questioned her about the single-payer legislation co-sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, which would prohibit private insurance among other things, Harris responded: &#8220;The goal is to ensure everyone has access to medical care without having to navigate through an insurance company for approvals or deal with paperwork delays. We&#8217;ve all faced situations where we had to wait for approval and our doctors were uncertain if our insurance would cover a procedure. Let&#8217;s remove those obstacles and move forward.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Harris&#8217;s inconsistent statements on this topic contributed significantly to the failure of her lackluster 2020 presidential campaign. Although the full context is more complex than her brief response in January 2019, her proposed plan would likely result in most people who prefer their current health coverage being unable to keep it.<\/p>\n<p>After facing backlash from her initial comments, Harris attempted several &#8220;clarifications&#8221; regarding whether single-payer should allow for private coverage. Four months later, during a follow-up conversation with Tapper, she claimed she did not intend to eliminate all private insurance but wanted to reduce bureaucracy and waste while still allowing some role for it. She also contended that the Sanders bill she backed would maintain private insurance options\u2014a claim that even Tapper questioned since the bill only allowed such coverage for limited services not included in the government-run plan.<\/p>\n<p>Under pressure, Harris acknowledged that unions losing their preferred health plans was a &#8220;legitimate concern,&#8221; though this was more of a dismissive acknowledgment than an actual solution. In July 2019, shortly before another Democratic debate, she unveiled her own single-payer proposal which was criticized by Biden&#8217;s campaign as a contradictory approach.<\/p>\n<p>The specifics of Harris&#8217;s plan indicate that while she claimed there would be room for private insurance, most Americans would ultimately lose their existing coverage. Her outline stated: &#8220;We will establish an expanded Medicare system with a ten-year phase-in period&#8230; This will expand insured Americans and create a new public system guaranteeing universal coverage at lower costs.&#8221; The phrase \u201cto transition\u201d implies that nearly all current forms of non-Medicare insurance\u2014including employer-based plans\u2014would be eliminated.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, although she suggested maintaining some form of private plans under stricter regulations within this new Medicare framework could lead federal regulators to impose such stringent requirements that these plans might become unviable even without an outright ban.<\/p>\n<p>Harris proposed this transition over ten years\u2014longer than two presidential terms\u2014which could allow her successor to handle challenging decisions like funding or transitioning individuals off their current plans after she&#8217;s left office.<\/p>\n<p>On one issue regarding healthcare policy however\u2014funding benefits for undocumented immigrants\u2014Harris has remained consistent; during a May 2019 interview with Tapper she stated unequivocally: \u201cI oppose any policy denying anyone access in our country from public safety or health.\u201d This stance places her significantly further left compared to Hillary Clinton\u2019s position from 1993 against extending comprehensive healthcare benefits to undocumented individuals due largely because it might encourage illegal immigration.<\/p>\n<p>With recent reports indicating significant increases in federal spending on healthcare entitlements due partly from rising migrant numbers at the border contrasting sharply with old-guard Democrats&#8217; views highlights how little interest Harris seems inclined toward genuinely addressing border issues or allowing Americans continuity in their preferred health coverage.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Jacobs is founder and CEO of Juniper Research Group\u2014a Washington-based policy consulting firm\u2014and author of &#8220;The Case Against Single Payer.&#8221; He participated in Jeopardy!&#8217;s Teen Tournament back in &#8217;95 and can be found on Twitter @chrisjacobsHC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":2319187,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Barack-Obama-Hug.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[37166,37167,37168,32438,32171],"class_list":["post-2319186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-health-coverage","tag-healthcare-policy","tag-insurance-reform","tag-kamala-harris","tag-political-commentary"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Barack-Obama-Hug.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2319186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2319186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2319186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2319187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2319186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2319186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2319186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}