‘Medicare For All’ Talk Likely To Be Center Stage At Dem Debate. But What About Other Health Topics?
While much of the health campaigning in the primaries has focused on how the different candidates will ensure health care coverage, there's large swaths of the cost conversation that haven't been touched -- such as hospital spending, health care deserts and even decisions over drug development. Abortion, as well, has been one of the least talked about topics in the previous debates. Will that change at Tuesday night's debate in Ohio when 12 Democratic presidential candidates take the stage?
Axios:
Four Health Care Questions For Tonight's Democratic Debate
If tonight’s Democratic debate is anything like the earlier ones, it will feature an extended back-and-forth about whether to eliminate private health insurance, and then move on from health care. But there’s a whole lot more that’s also worth asking about. (Baker, 10/15)
The Wall Street Journal:
Democratic Debates: What The Presidential Candidates Are (And Aren’t) Saying
A close viewer of the Democratic primary debates so far this year might come away with an informed understanding of the presidential candidates’ views on certain policy areas, such as immigration and health care. ... Everyone in the 2020 Democratic field has taken sides on Sen. Bernie Sanders’s Medicare for All plan. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has said she’s “with Bernie” on expanding government-run health insurance, while former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg have argued in favor of letting Americans keep their private insurance plans. Pete Buttigieg: “I propose Medicare for all who want it. We take a version of Medicare, we make it available for the American people, and if we are right, as progressives, that that public alternative is better, then the American people will figure that out for themselves. I trust the American people to make the right choice for them. Why don’t you?” (Secada and Stephenson, 10/15)
CNN:
Democratic Debate: 12 Candidates Face High Stakes On Biggest Primary Debate Stage Ever
Addressing the health care system -- perhaps the most important issue for progressive voters -- could offer an opening for Sanders, who is keen to reestablish himself as the dominant liberal in the race. He hinted at a more aggressive approach toward Warren in an interview with ABC News' "This Week on Sunday." "There are differences between Elizabeth and myself," he said. (Collinson, 10/14)
Kaiser Health News:
Think ‘Medicare For All’ Is The Only Democratic Health Plan? Think Again
If you tuned in for the first five nights of the Democratic presidential debates, you might think “Medicare for All” and providing universal care are the only health care ideas Democrats have. With four months to go before the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses, proposals on issues like the opioid epidemic have attracted less attention. That is because big-ticket policy ideas ― like enrolling all U.S. residents into a Medicare-style program and eliminating private insurance ― can help candidates stand out in the eyes of voters during a primary, said Robert Blendon, a professor of health policy and political analysis at Harvard University and director of the Harvard Opinion Research Program. (Huetteman, 10/15)
Video From KHN: Defining The Debate On Health Care Coverage Options
The Hill:
Progressives Fume At Buttigieg, Warn Him Not To Attack Warren At Debate
Progressives are warning South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg not to attack Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) at Tuesday night’s Democratic debate in Ohio. Buttigieg, who has emerged as a center-left contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, has drawn the ire of progressives in recent days for remarks viewed as swipes against more liberal contenders like Warren and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas). (Easley, 10/14)
CNN:
2020 Democratic Candidates: Voter's Guide To Where They Stand On The Issues
Democratic presidential candidates are unified in their goal of defeating President Donald Trump in 2020. But they differ on what they’d do if they reach the White House. Some are seeking to restore the country to where it was when President Barack Obama left office and build on his legacy, while others are proposing policies – the Green New Deal and "Medicare for All" chief among them – that would move the country in a new direction. (10/14)
Los Angeles Times:
Elizabeth Warren Flaunts Fitness As Candidates' Health Becomes Issue
As hundreds of people gathered for a recent Elizabeth Warren rally in Rock Hill, S.C., the heat built so much that one woman in the crowd passed out before the event started. The 90-degree day did not appear to slow Warren: She bounded up the steps to the stage and gave a kinetic, full-body wave to the crowd. Without saying a word, the 70-year-old presidential candidate sent a message: Her physical stamina belies her age. (Hook, 10/14)
Politico:
When Elizabeth Warren Ducked And Dodged On Medicare For All
Seven years before Elizabeth Warren said “I’m with Bernie on Medicare for All," she was campaigning for the Senate and didn’t want to talk about single-payer health care. Running a tough race against Republican incumbent Scott Brown, the first-time candidate repeatedly distanced herself from the idea. In one interview, she was grilled by New England Cable News host Jim Braude: He wanted to know if she’d support single-payer if she were “the tsarina” — in other words, if politics weren’t an obstacle. (Otterbein, 10/14)
The Hill:
Support Drops For Medicare For All But Increases For Public Option
Support is dropping for Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) "Medicare for All" health care plan, according to a poll released Tuesday. The Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll found that 51 percent of those surveyed in October favored Medicare for All, a proposal in which all Americans would get their insurance from a single government plan, compared to the 53 percent who said they supported it last month. (Hellmann, 10/15)
Meanwhile —
Politico:
Beto O’Rourke’s Campaign Found New Meaning In The Gun Debate. But Is He Hurting The Cause?
Tom Sullivan, a Colorado state lawmaker whose son, Alex, was killed in the Aurora theater shooting in 2012, met Beto O’Rourke one cloudless morning in September and, inside a glass-and-brick office building in downtown Denver, introduced him to several other people whose friends or relatives had been killed in mass shootings. They were seated at a table in a third-floor conference room of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, beside a largely untouched basket of bagels and a box of Starbucks coffee. Jane Dougherty, whose sister Mary Sherlach was murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in 2012, brought up the moment, at a presidential debate in Houston the previous week, when O’Rourke had said, “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47.” (Siders, 10/15)
