Biden’s Health Plan Built Around Shoring Up ACA, Creating Public Option. Here Are Some Details That Need Hashing Out.
As moderates coalesce around former Vice President Joe Biden a brighter spotlight falls onto his health plan. Because "Medicare for All" has dominated the Democratic race so far, the details of the moderates plans have been largely skated over in favor of simply calling it the moderate alternative. But there are still many questions to be sorted out.
The Democratic presidential nomination has essentially boiled down to a two-way race, and healthcare policy is a key point of contrast between former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Moderate Democrats have coalesced around Biden as the leading alternative to self-proclaimed democratic socialist Sanders, who wants to push for a single-payer healthcare system. While Sanders' Medicare for All plan has been scrutinized on debate stages, Biden's healthcare plan to strengthen the Affordable Care Act and create a public insurance option has garnered significantly less discussion so far. (Cohrs, 3/4)
Swing-seat Democrats aim to repeat 2018 success in 2020: Run on protecting and expanding the Affordable Care Act, with former Vice President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket. Both of those prospects became more clear-cut after this week, with Biden consolidating the non-Bernie Sanders vote and the Supreme Court deciding to take up a Republican challenge to the ACA, likely after the election. Biden jumped on the news, calling it a 鈥渓ife-and-death reminder how much is at stake鈥 in the election. National Democrats used the court鈥檚 announcement to boost its challengers and vulnerable incumbents, noting that their top GOP Senate targets have voiced support for the lawsuit against the ACA. (Rubin, 3/6)
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is trying to expand federal taxation on a scale not seen since World War II, pursuing policies that would end the nation鈥檚 run as one of the industrialized world鈥檚 lowest-taxed countries. Mr. Sanders鈥檚 combination of taxes on wealth, income, financial transactions, corporate profits, payrolls, estates and capital gains would hit rich Americans from every direction. If Congress were to pass all his plans, the total U.S. tax burden鈥攊ncluding federal, state and local taxes鈥攚ould resemble Canada鈥檚 or Germany鈥檚 rather than being near the bottom of the pack of rich nations. (Rubin, 3/6)
Vulnerable Senate Republicans are dodging questions about whether they support a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Affordable Care Act.聽The Supreme Court said this week it would take up the case, thrusting the issue to the forefront and posing a headache for Republicans in tough races this year. President Trump supports the lawsuit, which would strike down the entire health law, but ObamaCare鈥檚 popularity has risen to a record high, posing a danger for Republicans in seeking to strike it down. (Sullivan, 3/6)
Kaiser Health News:
KHN鈥檚 鈥榃hat The Health?鈥: A 鈥楽uper Tuesday鈥 For The Health Debate?
The Super Tuesday presidential primaries have left only two major Democratic candidates standing: former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Whoever prevails to face off against President Donald Trump in November will shape how the party confronts Republicans on health care. Meanwhile, Congress and the Trump administration are working to address the continuing spread of the novel coronavirus, while the Supreme Court heard its first major abortion case in four years and agreed to decide the fate 鈥 for the third time 鈥 of the Affordable Care Act. (3/5)
