Following Tuesday night’s Democratic primary debate hosted by CNN, far-left MSNBC host Chris Matthews questioned presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) about the costs of her “Medicare for All” policy proposal.
Matthews repeatedly asked Warren how much the plan would cost taxpayers, though he never did receive an answer from the senator. Clearly frustrated with Warren’s refusal, Matthews later knocked the progressive lawmaker on-air. “Warren wouldn’t answer that question,” he complained.
“Medicare for All” will cost taxpayers more money, Matthews told Warren. “You guys dodged that tonight. … How much will your taxes go up?”
Warren refused to answer, suggesting the real question is, “How much are your costs going to go up?”
“I know that argument, but you’re covering it,” pressed Matthews.
“‘Medicare for All’ is cheaper than our current system — that’s the Republicans’ version,” Warren said.
“I know the argument,” answered Matthews, “that you put it all together and you reduce the cost of healthcare premiums, and you get more benefits, therefore you come out ahead, but will you pay more in taxes? Why don’t you want to answer that question?”
“It’s a question about where people are gonna come out economically,” contended Warren.
“That’s not my question,” Matthews said. “That’s not my question. That’s not my question. My question is how much will taxes go up.”
Warren, again, refused to answer. “The question is about costs,” she said, about how much you’re “digging in your pocket” to pay healthcare costs.
“Will your taxes go up?” the MSNBC host asked, again. “Will your taxes go up? … There is no answer to the question, will your taxes go up.”
Matthews then moved on with the interview.
Warren and presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) both support a radical universal “Medicare for All” program that would end private insurance and cost an estimated $32 trillion, $10 trillion more than the current national debt.
“Look at the business model of an insurance company,” Warren has argued, according to CNBC. “It’s to bring in as many dollars as they can in premiums and to pay out as few dollars as possible for your health care. That leaves families with rising premiums, rising co-pays, and fighting with insurance companies to try to get the health care that their doctors say that they and their children need. Medicare for All solves that problem.”
Not all Democrats are on board with the controversial plan, however. Former congressman John Delaney, for example, has called the proposal “political suicide.”
During Tuesday night’s debate, Delaney bluntly told Sen. Sanders that his “math is wrong.”
“It’s been well-documented that if all the bills were paid at a Medicare rate, which is specifically — I think it’s in section 1,200 of their bill — many hospitals in this country would close,” said the businessman and presidential hopeful.
“We don’t have to go around and be the party of subtraction … telling half the country who have private health insurance that their insurance is illegal,” Delaney suggested, adding, “The question is, why do we have to be extreme? I’m starting to think this isn’t about health care, this is about an anti-private sector strategy.”
As reported by The Hill, Warren’s proposal to erase student loan debt and eliminate tuition at public colleges could cost $1.25 trillion, while her environmental spending plan comes with a $2 trillion price tag.
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