Klobuchar clashes with Warren on health care: There’s a difference between a plan and a pipe dream

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) went after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) for her support of the "Medicare for All" single-payer health care plan during the Democratic presidential debate, saying "the difference between a plan and a pipe dream is something that you can actually get done."

66 comments

  1. If single-payer universal healthcare is such a “pipe dream”, how come every other developed country has done it decades ago with only about half the cost Americans current are paying per capita??

    1. No I mean the 50% of people living here [can’t really say citizens/Americans, can I?]who either pay no taxes at all or take out the same as they put in, Net Zeros. We are up to 1/2 now. Don’t really care what color, flavor or sexiness level they are. Because leeches come in lots of varieties.

    2. @gerald decaire he didnt say half the country is out of work he said half the country doesnt pay taxes…if you and your wife work and pay 10k a yr in taxes and get a 15k tax return because of the EIC….YOU DONT PAY TAXES, its pretty simple math you fucking idiot

    3. @Bone Slayer Ahhh I see. But now the MAGA hat-wearing moron would never consider that maybe, just maybe, companies need to ante-up to insure that the lowest paid worker at least makes enough money to fall into a tax-paying category. As for my being stupid, I studied biology at university and have a 140 IQ and present before thousands across the country. What do you do and what college did you attend? As for your bullshit on healthcare, wait times ARE longer in Canada for “NON EMERGENCIES.” Funny how you heartless types always conveniently leaves that out of the equation. Spinning much? Maybe a trip to FactCheck.org will clear those cobwebs in your MAGA hat-wearing head: “On most measures of patient-reported physician quality, Canada comes out slightly ahead of the U.S. The Commonwealth Fund report shows somewhat fewer reported physician errors, lab errors, medication errors and duplicate tests north of the border, and Canadians report more satisfaction with their doctors. General health is also better up north, according to the World Health Organization: Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy are both higher in Canada; infant mortality is lower, and maternal mortality is significantly lower. There are fewer deaths from non-communicable diseases, cardiovascular diseases and injuries in Canada, though marginally more deaths from cancer. It’s not clear how much of the divergence is attributable to medical care, rather than other standard-of-living differences between the two countries. (For instance, according to the United Nations’ Human Development Index, Canada has a much higher school enrollment rate than the U.S., though it also has a lower GDP per capita.) But these statistics simply don’t support the notion that universal, single-payer health care is crippling the health of Canadian citizens compared with that of U.S. citizens.” As you can see by the NON-PARTISAN article, things are not as you paint them. I swear I spend half my life fact-checking you moronic conservatives who never went to college but think they’re intellectual wizards simply because they can do a Google search. There’s a lot of nonsensical BS about one MRI per one million Canadian citizens coming from a FORBES article. FORBES leans far right as well in their bias and leans in favor of the billionaires and pharmeceutical companies and healthcare insurance companies. Hmmm, think they would want to paint things a little skewed? And I’ve scoured other sources that support your Libertarian or Republican POV like the Foundation for Economic Education which is a right-wing 501 educational foundation based in Atlanta, Georgia. FEE is an associate member of the State Policy Network. And guess who funds the FEE? The Koch Brothers! Conflict of interest much? And assholes like you are accusing us liberals of not doing our research? Don’t make me laugh. And your point about thousands coming to the US each year? Turns out rationing in Canada is determined by need and only the most severe cases get treated immediately. So those thousands that travel to the US are simply folks who have lots of money and don’t want to wait to have their NON-EMERGENCY issue treated, like maybe a knee replacement or cosmetic surgery. Get it? It’s all in the details fella’. How many people die each year in the US for want of health care? A 2002 study published by the Institute of Medicine found that 18,000 people died each year due to lack of health insurance. A study published by the Urban Institute put the figure at 22,000 deaths in 2006 and with Trump putting off even more people that figure is now around 30,000 (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/24/us-healthcare-republican-bill-no-coverage-death) How many people die each year in Canada for want of healthcare? ZERO! Here’s a list of 25 reasons Canadian healthcare is superior to the US’s: https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/12/26/25-ways-canadian-health-care-system-better-obamacare Now, go suck on a lemon!

    4. @gerald decaire i dropped out of the U of MN after my freshman year when i realized i could make more money starting my own business and not wasting 4 years of my life being indoctrinated by professors who had ZERO expeience in the courses they taught (my professors did but 95% of other didnt) and by your language of saying you went to “university” shows you are a soy boy EU faggott, i do not doubt that you might be college educated but i will bet my bottom dollar you DO NOT have an IQ of 140 putting you in the top 2.1% of the worlds population as you ve proven your incapable of thinking on your own…so run along little EU homo, go live in somalia or zimbabwe, the WHO says they re wonderful places to live, and its probably been fact checked by politifact which is in no way a leftist globalist organazation

  2. I’m middle class and I wouldn’t mind paying $5,000 more in taxes if it meant that me, my kids, my wife, my parents will all be taken care of if they get sick. $5,000 is NOTHING compared to what I would have to spend otherwise. Every SINGLE developed nation has public health care except us, so why the hell they keep saying its a pipe dream? It’s not a dream if it’s a reality somewhere!

    1. @IMA WAKE 2 Don Rickles you are not. Don’t quit your day job … someone needs to collect the tolls on the New Jersey Turnpike.

    1. @KOD and every nation that has socialized medicine pay tax rates that are insane…they DO NOT get free healthcare you fucking retards

    2. I agree with Warren healthcare costs in America is too much. They need to legislate to regulate the healthcare industry on their fee structures

    3. @HemiHead664 Medicare part D covers some drugs partially, other drugs not at all. But we also pay additional premiums to insurance companies for it. The corrupt GOP won’t even let Medicare negotiate drug prices. Medicare for all would cover everything.

    1. So did Warren pre November 2018. That’s why she doesn’t strongly defend Sanders’ Medicare For All, even though CNN keeps framing it as her plan. There wasn’t even mention of healthcare on her site till a couple of weeks back.

    2. @Bradley Schrock Scandinavia is 21 million, EU is 514 million people. If you need to lie about the facts to get your points across, your point likely sucks. Also, all other EU countries has similar public healthcare with VERY minor differences. You try and make the point that only Scandinavia has public healthcare, which is just not right.
      So to sum up, 514 million people in EU has public healthcare. Surely you can make it work for 330 million people.

    1. Oh look….nobody wants gov funded healthcare more than large multinationals…they save a fortune when they don’t have to cover the cost of medical benefits.
      And you whimps want to cry about tax reduction….
      You are aware it’s THEIR money?…trump didn’t GIVE them anything….he just TOOK less.

    2. @Elaine Mentz YOU’RE THE ONE ACCUSING HIM OF BEING A COMMUNIST, THEN BASE YOUR ARGUMENT ON YOUR HYPOTHESIS. IDIOT. YOU HAVE TO BACK IT UP WITH FACTS THAT HIS POLICY IS ADHERING FUNDAMENTALLY TO COMMUNISM PRINCIPLES IF YOU CAN’T THEN YOU ARE EITHER IGNORANT FOOL OR AGENDA-DRIVEN.

  3. Obamacare gives 30% of the money to insurance companies. That is one of the many ways we will save money with Medicare for all.

    1. But its her ‘view’ of things. And her ‘view’ is all the matters. Because as a voter you need to be spoken to like a child who can’t understand money.

    1. Monopolies lead to higher prices, which is why we prefer not to have them. Governments can also have monopolies. Competition drives down prices.

    1. @Mark Hill if you think these fucking retards are intelligent i ve got some swamp land in MN to sell you!!!

  4. Warren is right. When my fiancé’s health was deteriorating, his “amazing” medical insurance didn’t stay “amazing.” They routinely arbitrarily increased his medication costs and his necessary medical treatments. He died because he refused to spend $100 for his blood pressure patches (an $80 increase) which was only 1 of 4 medications to keep his blood pressure in check. He had a total of 9 medications he needed daily that he had to fill monthly, not including the steroid shots he got whenever he had a flare-up, but that patch was the foundation of his regimen. Nothing worked after he asked his doctor for a different cocktail and he died shortly after because of it.

    There needs to be a Medicare For All, that’s optional if you wanna risk keeping your current insurance. Big Pharma needs to be taxed and held accountable (without the option of banckrupcy😤). Citizens should have complete and total coverage with zero out of pocket expenses. I personally wouldn’t mind paying a higher tax because of it but nothing over 25% and anyone who makes more than me which is quite a few million ppl should be taxed more accordingly.

    It’s not that complicated. 🤦🏾‍♀️😤

    1. Of course Warren is right. Just like Bernie is right about it. They have both explained how it will work and paid for over and over again. I like Pete but I think he really does not understand what happens with catastrophic illness or chronic illness. Warren cited someone who is diabetic but she did not mention how the cost of insulin has skyrocketed. Nothing Pete is talking will fix that. It will stay exactly as it is now.

    2. @UCsgYro4-ADxUyPT6vPt3UUw Bernie has made this very point a million times by now. Warren probably has too. Pete’s “coming from mid-west” stuff is silly. He’s ignoring that EW grew up in Oklahoma and lived in minimum wage, single parent, home after her dad died. She knows all about not having a lot of disposable income. Pete’s father was a univ prof and he grew up in a middle class home.

    3. I “love” my health care plan too but I haven’t been sick! Ive barely even used it. I have about $1800 in my HRA but if I get diagnosed with something I’m in biiiiiiig trouble. I don’t pay any co-pays yet, but I will once that account is depleted. I don’t think a lot of people really know what they need to know about what their plan thru their job. Not until they are battling something serious and have to get on the phone to figure out what their coverage is offering. By then it’s too late. I don’t mind being taxed more as long as my insurance covers treatment and meds for whatever illness that may come.

    4. I work for an insurance company and people often do not understand that not EVERYTHING is covered even when you pay a premium. They don’t cover allot they just want to collect premiums

    1. I agree with his points.But one thing that makes me unable to support scrapping all private insurance at the same time based on legislation for an entirely new insurance program is that as an insurance retiree I can tell you that no politician I’ve heard speak yet understands healthcare insurance…zero. And that alone could cause a massive amount of suffering that hasn’t even been considered yet – not that I’ve heard discussed.

    2. Bethany Dee what do you think the consequences of M4A (implementation expanding by age groups over 4 years – not all at once) would be? What is it that they are all missing when it comes to insurance?

    1. I agree. I just paid $350 for a ultrasound out of pocket yesterday sooooo I’d rather walk into a doctor’s office and never see a bill again. And I have health insurance that costs me 2500 a year out of my check already raise my taxes….my money isn’t mine anyway

    2. The only bad thing about that is that a lot of Doctors will not be contracted and will only allow cash pay because the Medicare payment rate is not that great for a lot of Specialists which will mean that you will have to wait A LOT for an office visit and even more in the ER, believe me I work with the insurance companies and unfortunately a lot of Doctors don’t accept Obama care and patients have to wait months before being seen because the Doctors that do accept it are not many.

    3. @Nam Do Where did you get that percentage from? I know, pie in the sky.
      For the middle class they already pay private taxes for health care, Premiums, copays and deductables. What Medicare For All does is introduce a raise in Federal Tax: However what people are paying in premiums now, they will pay less in public tax. If single payer health care was not the best way of providing medical care, it would have lasted the nearly hundred years that has in Europe. You should stop listening to the wealthy class because they do not want you to have health care because it will cost them much more in new federal tax. As soon as a rich person tells you that anything is not good for you, you know all they are interested in is avoiding the increase in taxy they will have to pay. Right now the rich pay in less as a percentage of their income in taxes than the average middle/working class person. I now live in England because after I got ill here in England I could not afford what my care would cost back in NYC. People across Europe think the middle and working classes in the USA are gullible because anybody who is not would be backing Bernbie Sanders all the way. People listen to Trump and then say, we are never going to be a socialist country because they so notknow what socialism is: For the US to not be a socialist country would mean getting rid of the Armed Service, public schools, public fire fighters, the Library, Refuse Collection, Roads, railway tracks, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and all of the other social benefits people get like Snap Benefits. I could go on all day about these things but there are just so many socialist policies already in the US that we will always be a socialist country. We will also forever have people who listen to politicians and then vote against their own best interests. Just think about this: Why do the Rich Republicans and the Rich Democrats want you to have systems that robs the least wealthy and gives it to the most wealthy? Bernie Sanders scares the life out of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party because he is the only Presidential Candidate who wants to do the best for the Midlle and Working class people and the rich will have to pay their fair share of taxes with a President Sanders. To get point the people Bernie will is people like you and me.

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