In an interview with Rachel Maddow airing Thursday evening, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton doubled-down on an attack that 2016 rival Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) single payer health care plan would “end all the kinds of health care we know.”
“It’s a bit concerning to me because it would basically end all the kinds of health care we know, Medicare, Medicaid, the CHIP program, children’s health insurance, TRICARE for the National Guard, military, Affordable Care Act exchange policies, employer-based policies,” Clinton said. “It would take all that and hand it over to the states.”
Clinton’s daughter Chelsea used a similar line of attack earlier this week, prompting scrutiny, with Sanders defenders and health policy experts pointing out that those health care programs would no longer be necessary in a single payer “Medicare for all” system where everyone would be covered under a government plan.
“Medicare for all is not the same if you’re turning it over to the states,” Clinton said Thursday. The Sanders campaign has previously countered that though his plan would offer health care through state-based programs, it would include national legislation to ensure everyone is covered.
In the Maddow interview Clinton argued that “the devil’s in the details when it comes to health care” and that Sanders should articulate how his plan would differ from universal health care legislation he introduced in 2013.
“So if you’re going to say free health care, Medicare for all, you owe it to voters to say this is what it will cost and you will have to contribute x from your payroll tax, x from the income tax,” Clinton said. “And if we’re still going to hand it over to the states, the states are going to have to come up with money from somewhere. And you’re going to have to kind of figure out how you work with the governor of that state.”
Sanders had said he planned to roll out a detailed proposal before the Iowa caucuses, but his campaign has recently hedged on fulfilling that pledge.
