Sen. Kamala Harris, has been trying to have it both ways on healthcare, claiming she supports the “Medicare for all” plan proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, while also insisting she opposes getting rid of private insurance. This is an untenable position.
As I’ve noted time and again, Section 107 of the Sanders bill bars private insurers from offering any of the same benefits that the new government-run plan promises to cover. Given that the Sanders plan promises to offer a sweeping array of new benefits, the role for private insurance would be effectively nonexistent. This would cause nearly 180 million people who are covered by private insurance to lose their current coverage within four years.
Harris could of course make the affirmative argument against private insurance and make the case that these people who lose their private coverage would end up with a better government plan. Even if she’d face blowback for such a position, at least it would be intellectually consistent. But that is not her current position. She claims that she opposes eliminating private coverage because there would still be a role for “supplemental” plans. This is misleading given the narrow opening for private insurance within the confines of the Sanders plan.
If you don’t want to take my word for it, however, here is a list of the covered benefits in the new government-run plan proposed by Sanders and backed by Harris. The very simple test to know whether you’d lose your insurance if Harris got her way is to look at the below list. If your current plan covers any of these benefits, it would be outlawed by Harris:
“(1) Hospital services, including inpatient and outpatient hospital care, including 24-hour-a-day emergency services and inpatient prescription drugs.
(2) Ambulatory patient services.
(3) Primary and preventive services, including chronic disease management.
(4) Prescription drugs, medical devices, biological products, including outpatient prescription drugs, medical devices, and biological products.
(5) Mental health and substance abuse treatment services, including inpatient care.
(6) Laboratory and diagnostic services.
(7) Comprehensive reproductive, maternity, and newborn care.
(8) Pediatrics, including early and periodic screening, diagnostic, and treatment services (as defined in section 1905(r) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396d(r))).
(9) Oral health, audiology, and vision services.
(10) Short-term rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices.
(11) Emergency services and transportation.
(12) Necessary transportation to receive health care services for individuals with disabilities and low-income individuals.
(13) Home and community-based long-term services and supports (to be provided in accordance with the requirements for home and community-based settings under sections 441.530 and 441.710 of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations), including—
(A) services described in paragraphs (7), (8), (13), (19), and (24) of section 1905(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396d(a));
(B) home and community-based services described in subsection (c)(4)(B) of section 1915 of the Social Security Act (including habilitation services defined in subsection (c)(5) of such section);
(C) self-directed home and community-based services described in subsection (i) of section 1915 of the Social Security Act;
(D) self-directed personal assistance services (as defined in subsection (j)(4)(A) of section 1915 of the Social Security Act); and
(E) home and community-based attendant services and supports described in subsection (k) of section 1915 of the Social Security Act.
