Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) criticized Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) sweeping Medicare for All proposal on Tuesday, warning Americans that it will not end up looking like how she is describing it to be.
“Elizabeth Warren, this past weekend, came out with her health care plan and it is not surprising that it took so long for her to come out with it because it is dishonest and it is from fantasy land,” Barrasso told reporters during a press conference at the Capitol.
“She wants a complete takeover, by government, of American health care and if you are one of the 180 million Americans who gets your health insurance through work, you will lose it,” he continued. “And you will be forced on your one-size-fits-all health care government-run plan. And under this plan, two million Americans will lose their jobs.”
Warren recently outlined her single-payer health insurance plan, which is reported to carry a price tag of $52 trillion over the next decade, including $20 trillion in new spending. The Massachusetts lawmaker has not only claimed that middle class Americans won’t bear any of the tax increases to fund it, but also stated that it can be covered just by the billionaires in America.
“When you take a look at the costs and the taxes, they are so astronomical that now the Democrats are pushing the panic button,” Barrasso said. “In terms of the costs, it is going to cost more over the next 10 years than we were planning to spend on Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid combined.”
“And in terms of the taxes, the taxes she is proposing are on top of the taxes she’s already proposed to pay for her universal childcare, and for giving back money and forgiving college debt,” he continued. “And then on top of this, she wants to unleash the IRS, the Internal Revenue Service, to crack down on all American taxpayers.”
This is not the first time that the Wyoming senator has sounded the alarm on a Medicare for All program — Barrasso took to the Senate floor earlier in October to explain how the proposed universal health insurance “scheme” would be detrimental to Americans.
Prior to Warren introducing her own proposal, she was campaigning in support of legislation that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced into the Senate during his 2016 presidential campaign, and that he continues to endorse. Both Sanders and Warren have been competing for the far-left lane in order to win the Democratic nomination for the presidency.
While Sanders has been relatively open about his impending tax increases, Warren has steered clear of broaching the subject. She finally outlined last week how she would pay for her plan, putting forth a combination of federal and state spending that already exists on Medicare — as well as a host of new taxes on capital gains, financial transactions, employers, large corporations, and elsewhere.
However, a study by the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget contended that it would be “impossible” to fund Warren’s Medicare for All plan by simply taxing the wealthy, as she initially claimed.
“Do not be deceived,” Barrasso said. “If you are an American, under the Elizabeth Warren health care plan you will pay more, you will wait longer for worse care.”