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Democratic front-runner Joe Biden was again the main target of his rivals at the second presidential debate on Wednesday, as many of the nine other candidates on stage took aim at his track record on race, criminal justice, immigration and healthcare. "Go easy on me, kid," the former vice president told Senator Kamala Harris of California with a smile as they greeted each other on stage before the debate began in Detroit. But neither one had any plans to go easy, and they went after each other in a series of tough exchanges. (Becker and Renshaw, 8/1)

In the opening moments of the debate, Mr. Biden took particular aim at Ms. Harris, accusing her of peddling “double talk” on health care and insisting that a range of liberal plans to displace the private health insurance system were too disruptive and too costly. He chided Ms. Harris for her proposal of a decade-long transition to a version of single-payer health care, urging voters to be skeptical “anytime somebody tells you you’re going to get something good in 10 years.” “My response is: Obamacare is working,” said Mr. Biden, who has proposed the creation of an optional, government-backed health insurance plan. (Burns and Martin, 7/31)

“To be very blunt, and to be very straightforward, you can’t beat President Trump with double-talk on this plan,” Biden said. Harris responded in general terms, saying health care is a right and that “the cost of doing nothing is far too expensive.” She also challenged Biden for touting the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, noting that Kathleen Sebelius, Obama’s secretary for health and human services, was supporting her plan. (8/1)

“You will lose your employer-based insurance,” Biden said of the Harris plan. He was playing to the political sensitivities of the issue because more than 150 million Americans currently have job-based health coverage, and many are wary of change, polls show. But Harris counterpunched by saying Biden’s plan, which would build on the existing Affordable Care Act, would still leave millions of Americans without affordable healthcare coverage. “We will ensure that everyone has access to healthcare,” Harris said. (Halper, Mehta and Beason, 7/31)

Harris' rising profile made her a target for the first time. Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet derided her recently released "Medicare for All" plan, which he said was not "honest" and would raise taxes to the middle class "to the tune of $30 trillion." (8/1)

Like in the first night of the second set of debates, the moderators spent a hefty chunk of time focusing on healthcare policy. But Wednesday’s candidates seemed clumsy in discussing the intricacies of healthcare, contrasting with the mostly policy-fluent discussion the previous night. ... The sharpest critique came from Bennet, who said Harris’ plan would essentially ban employer-based healthcare, which is how most working Americans get their insurance today. Harris countered by saying her plan would decouple employers from healthcare — which she touted as making benefits more flexible for workers — but her answer lacked the crispness that characterized her June debate performance. (Mason, 7/31)

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) criticized Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) during Wednesday's Democratic presidential primary debate, accusing him of "fearmongering" when he talks about tax increases being needed to pay for "Medicare for All." "I don't understand why Democrats on this stage are fearmongering about universal health care. It makes no sense," de Blasio said. (Jagoda, 7/31)

Kaiser Health News: Biden-Harris Debate Rematch Highlights Health Plan Differences
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio puzzled over the “mythology that people are in love with their private insurance.” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee boasted that his state just became the first to provide its citizens with a public option. Biden boldly repeated his version of a claim very similar to the one that once earned President Barack Obama PolitiFact’s 2013 Lie of the Year. At times the back and forth was fast and furious, and it seemed even the candidates were lost in the numbers they were firing across the stage. (Huetteman, 7/31)

Health-care experts said both candidates strained to explain key details. Biden misled viewers when he said during a heated exchange that his proposal would cover everyone — even though by his own plan’s admission, it would leave out 3 percent of Americans, or about 10 million people. Harris downplayed the impact of her proposal on employer-sponsored plans in an exchange with Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.), according to health experts. (Stein and Abutaleb, 8/1)

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker uttered it in his remarks on health care, chiding fellow Democrats for their infighting as Republicans wage a legal battle to undo the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits insurers from charging people more for being sick. “The person who is enjoying this debate the most tonight is Donald Trump,” he said. “There is a court case working through the system that’s going to gut the Affordable Care Act and actually gut protections on pre-existing conditions,” Booker said, citing litigation in which the Trump administration and Republican-controlled states seek to strike down Obamacare. (Tozzi, 7/31)

Some candidates appeared frustrated with the divisions on display on Wednesday. Booker, at one point, said that the intraparty dispute over Medicare for All was playing into Trump’s hands by drawing focus away from the president's own efforts to limit health care access. (Greenwood, 8/1)

The issue is not only top-of-mind for voters, but also nuanced enough that it will likely feature prominently in every future debate. Candidates who have dodged the tax implications of their health care plans will be pressed on the cost. And candidates who have taken more moderate positions will be pressed on gaps in coverage. (Siders and Shepard, 8/1)

Mr. Biden and Senator Kamala Harris of California squared off over differences in their approaches to expanding access to health insurance. Ms. Harris said: “Your plan, by contrast, leaves out almost 10 million Americans.” Mr. Biden said: “Your plan, no matter how you cut it, costs $3 trillion when it is in fact employed.” These statements are mostly true. Neither Ms. Harris nor Mr. Biden are backing the “Medicare for all” plan being promoted by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, which would replace all private insurance coverage with a government plan. Mr. Biden wants to expand the Affordable Care Act by offering a public option. He says his plan would cover 97 percent of Americans — a figure that Ms. Harris appeared to seize on to justify her statement that his plan would leave 10 million people uncovered. (7/31)

“The [Harris] plan … it will require middle class taxes to go up, not down," said former vice president Joe Biden. Biden’s claim that middle-class taxes would go up under Sen. Kamala D. Harris’s (Calif.) plan is better aimed at the Bernie Sanders version. Harris tried to inoculate against this type of attack by making a significant change earlier this week. Sen. Sanders (I-Vt.) would propose a 4 percent income-based premium paid by households. Sanders estimated that this would raise $3.5 trillion over 10 years, but the “typical middle-class family” would save more than $4,400 a year. But it would kick in on income of more than $29,000 for a family of four. (Kessler, Rizzo and Kelly, 7/31)

“I don’t know what math you do in New York. I don’t know what math you do in California,” he said, talking to de Blasio and Harris. “But I tell ya, that’s a lot of money, and there will be a deductible. The deductible will be out of your paycheck because that’s what we require.” “Yeah, let’s talk about math,” Harris responded, highlighting the $72 billion the pharmaceutical and insurance companies made last year. She told Biden that under his plan, the “status quo, you do nothing to hold the insurance companies to task for what they have been doing to American families.” (McCaskill, 7/31)

The two nights clearly divided the Democratic field into three versions of health care: the progressive wing led by Sanders and Warren, who support a Medicare for All plan that will eliminate private insurance and tax wealthy and middle class Americans for their health care coverage; the middle ground that would allow, but limit, private health insurance, and the moderates, such as Biden, Bennet and former U.S. Rep. John Delaney of Maryland, who support expanding the Affordable Care Act. (Gray and Egan, 8/1)

Sanders has acknowledged that middle-class Americans would see their taxes go up under his "Medicare for All" plan, but says they'd come out ahead because they'd no longer have to pay premiums, deductibles or copays. Under the Sanders plan, households making above $29,000 would be taxed an additional premium to pay for universal health care. (Luhby, 8/1)

If the first night was a showcase of the liberal-vs.-moderate split within the party, the second night put on display other divides and a thirst to have a nominee who represents the party’s growing diversity. Half of the 10 candidates onstage Wednesday at the Fox Theatre were minorities, making it a historically diverse lineup. “Mr. President, this is America,” Biden said, addressing President Trump, pointing to the diversity in race and experience onstage. “And we are stronger together because of this diversity. Not in spite of it, Mr. President. We love it, we are not leaving it. We are here to stay. And we’re certainly not going to leave it to you.” (Viser, Olorunnipa and Wang, 8/1)

In the early segments of the debate in Detroit, the former vice president stammered several times. But his performance, which grew stronger throughout the night, may help silence some questions about his viability as a potential nominee and chief foil of Mr. Trump. The session was the most combative of four debates held so far, two this week and two a month earlier. It exposed deep divisions among the candidates over how far the federal government should reach into the lives of Americans. (McCormick, Day and Collins, 8/1)

Democratic presidential candidates debated Wednesday for the second night in a row in Detroit. [Here] is a transcript from it. (7/31)

Former Vice President Joe Biden sought to gin up support for his presidential campaign's health care policy during Wednesday night's Democratic presidential primary debates. Biden's campaign sent a press release to supporters advertising the gift of a sticker reading "Obamacare: It's a BFD" after his fellow 2020 contenders attacked his health care policy that seeks to "protect and build on Obamacare." (Bowden, 7/31)

Professer Paul B. Ginsburg, director of the University of Southern California-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy, noted that the Medicare Advantage program, which allows private insurers to offer Medicare plans, is one of the fastest growing segments of Medicare. “It is very popular,” said Ginsburg. Harris’ proposal would, however, eliminate the employer-sponsored health insurance that many Americans currently rely on. (Cadei, 7/31)