Warren Feels The Heat As Rivals Pile-On Over Her Alleged Hedging On ‘Medicare For All’ Costs

The New York Times: Warren Draws Fire From All Sides, Reflecting A Shift In Fortunes In Race
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts faced a sustained barrage of criticism from her Democratic rivals at a presidential debate in Ohio on Tuesday, tangling with a group of underdog moderates who assailed her liberal economic proposals, while former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. appeared to fade from the fray after parrying President Trump’s attacks on his family. The debate confirmed that the primary race had entered a new phase, defined by Ms. Warren’s apparent strength and the increasing willingness of other Democrats to challenge her. (Burns and Martin, 10/15)

Politico: Warren's Charmed Campaign Just Entered A Brutal New Phase
Warren’s biggest gains have come since the last debate, so Tuesday's debate was the natural point for a more full-throated engagement from the other candidates. Until now, three elements central to Warren’s candidacy have received relatively little pressure from her opponents as she has slowly ticked up in the polls. (Lizza, 10/16)

The New York Times: 6 Takeaways From The October Democratic Debate
For a candidate who has risen in the polls based on her policy acumen and specifics, Ms. Warren’s unwillingness to address the question of whether her “Medicare for all” plan would require higher taxes on the middle class was striking. And her opponents put her on the defensive. (Goldmacher and Epstein, 10/16)

The Washington Post: Warren Faces First Sustained Attack In Debate That Begins With Unified Condemnation Of Trump
Warren fought back against the attacks, casting her challengers as too small-minded or timid for the moment, or as part of an entrenched political system that is dominated by corporations and the wealthy. “Look, I understand that this is hard, but I think as Democrats, we are going to succeed when we dream big and fight hard, not when we dream small and quit before we get started,” Warren said. (Olorunnipa, Janes and Viser, 10/16)

The New York Times: ‘Medicare For All’: Elizabeth Warren And Pete Buttigieg Clash At Debate
Pete Buttigieg directly criticized Elizabeth Warren over health care at Tuesday night’s debate, saying that she had not been forthcoming about whether she would raise taxes on the middle class to help finance “Medicare for all.” Ms. Warren, the Massachusetts senator, was asked if she would raise taxes on the middle class, and she responded by focusing on the costs that middle-class families would face. “I will not sign a bill into law that does not lower costs for middle-class families,” she said. (Kaplan, 10/15)

CNN: Ideological Divide In Democratic Primary Exposed As Moderates Gang Up On Elizabeth Warren
"I don't understand why you believe the only way to deliver affordable coverage is to obliterate private plans," Buttigieg said to Warren. "We're competing to be president for the day after Trump. Our country will be polarized, more than now. After everything we have been through, after everything we are about to go through, this country will be more divided. Why divide this country over health care when there's a better way to deliver coverage for all?" (Reston, 10/16)

Los Angeles Times: Elizabeth Warren Faces Debate Attacks Over Healthcare
“This is why people here in the Midwest are so frustrated with Washington in general, and Capitol Hill in particular. Your signature, Senator, is to have a plan for everything — except this,” South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg said to Warren. “No plan has been laid out to explain how a multi-trillion-dollar hole in this Medicare for all plan that Sen. Warren is putting forward is expected to get filled in.” (Mehta, 10/15)

Kaiser Health News: Health Care Stayed Front And Center At Democratic Debate
While the debate began on the topic of impeaching President Donald Trump, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont soon steered the discussion back to kitchen-table issues. “I think what would be a disaster, if the American people believe that all we were doing is taking on Trump,” he said. “We’re forgetting that 87 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured.” (Huetteman, 10/16)

The New York Times: Amy Klobuchar Goes After Elizabeth Warren Over Health Care Plan In Debate
Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator who has championed a single-payer system, said taxes would go up for “virtually everybody.” But he added that the tax increase would be substantially less than what people currently pay for premiums and out-of-pocket health care expenses. “At least Bernie is being honest here, and saying how he’s going to pay for this and that taxes are going to go up,” Ms. Klobuchar, of Minnesota, said after his comments. “And I’m sorry, Elizabeth, but you have not said that and I think we owe the American people to tell them where we will send the invoice.” (Zraick, 10/15)

Politico: Klobuchar Charges At Warren
“I want to give a reality check here to Elizabeth because no one on this stage wants to protect billionaires — not even the billionaire wants to protect billionaires,” Klobuchar said, referencing Tom Steyer, the environmental activist and former hedge fund manager participating in the debate. “We just have different approaches. Your idea is not the only idea.” Warren responded in part that “the rich are not like you and me,” asserting that “the really, really billionaires are making their money off their accumulated wealth, and it just keeps growing.” She added: “Look, I understand that this is hard, but I think, as Democrats, we are going to succeed when we dream big and fight hard, not when we dream small and quit before we get started.” (Forgey, 10/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Warren Pressed On Health-Care Plan At Democratic Debate
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas joined in the critique of Ms. Warren, saying “sometimes, I think that Senator Warren is more focused on being punitive or pitting some part of the country against the other, instead of lifting people up and making sure that this country comes together around the solutions.” Ms. Warren appeared puzzled, telling Mr. O’Rourke, “I’m really shocked at the notion that anyone thinks I’m punitive.” (Thomas, Siddiqui and McCormick, 10/16)

Reuters: Warren Comes Under Attack On Healthcare, Taxes At U.S. Democratic Presidential Debate
"I have made clear what my principles are here, and that is that costs will go up for the wealthy and for big corporations and, for hard-working middle-class families, costs will go down," [Warren] said. The expansive Medicare for All proposal, based on the government-run healthcare plan for Americans over age 65, has sharply divided Democratic presidential contenders. Some analysts have said it would cost $32 trillion over a decade. Many other Democratic candidates back a Medicare-based plan as just one option for Americans seeking healthcare coverage. (Hunnicutt and Renshaw, 10/16)

NPR: 6 Takeaways From The 4th Democratic Presidential Primary Debate
But while a similar line from Warren at an earlier debate got thunderous applause, it didn't land the same way this time, and Klobuchar was ready with a response, going after Warren for, in her view, dismissing others' plans because they weren't hers. "You know, I think simply because you have different ideas doesn't mean you're [not] fighting for regular people," Klobuchar said. (Montanaro, 10/16)

Bloomberg: Is Elizabeth Warren The Frontrunner? 2020 Dems Critique Senator
In the middle of the debate, O’Rourke’s campaign took another swipe at Warren. “Beto has been very clear that he will not raise taxes on those who make less than $250,000 a year. Senator Warren has not provided the same level of clarity,” said O’Rourke campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt. “Warren needs to be straight with middle-class people about the taxes they would face under her plans.” (Kapur, 10/15)

Politico: Dems Go After Warren, And Other Big Moments From Tuesday’s Debate
Sanders, noting (again) that he “wrote the damn bill” on Medicare for all, said that “deductibles are gone. All out-of-pocket expenses are gone ... At the end of the day, the overwhelming majority of people will save money on their health care bills. I do think it is appropriate to acknowledge that taxes will go up. They will go up significantly for the wealthy and for virtually everybody, the tax increase will be substantially less -- substantially less than what they were paying for premiums and out-of-pocket expansions.” (Caputo and McCaskill, 10/15)

And news outlets fact check the candidates' health care claims —

Kaiser Health News and Politifact HealthCheck: Biden Gets Too Specific On ‘Medicare For All’ Tax Hikes
Sparring over “Medicare for All” and universal health care, former Vice President Joe Biden leaned on a new variation of his attack line, highlighting potential costs to middle-class Americans. “For people making between $50,000 and $75,000 a year, their taxes are going up about $5,000 because the fact is, they will pay more in new taxes,” Biden said. (Luthra, 10/16)

Kaiser Health News and Politifact HealthCheck: Warren Trots Out Her Own Harvard Law Research
In a back-and-forth about “Medicare for All” and the cost of health care, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) directed the discussion back to medical debt and bankruptcy — citing her own work from Harvard Law School. “Back when I was studying it, two out of three families that ended up in bankruptcy after a serious medical problem had health insurance,” Warren said. This is a new emphasis in the ongoing debate over health care costs, and the debate over what role health care plays in American finances. Instead of focusing on uninsurance, Warren stepped into whether the insurance people currently have is sufficient. (Luthra, 10/16)

The New York Times: Fact-Checking The Democratic Debate
What Mr. Sanders said: “I do think it is appropriate to acknowledge that taxes will go up. They’re going to go up significantly for the wealthy and for virtually everybody, the tax increase they pay will be substantially less than what they were paying for premiums and out-of-pocket expenses.” This lacks evidence. Mr. Sanders’s health care plan would substantially increase the amount that the federal government spends. Estimates of its precise cost vary, but according to an estimate from the conservative Mercatus Center, which Mr. Sanders has mentioned approvingly, federal spending would need to increase by about 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, triple what the government spends on the military. (10/15)

The Washington Post: Transcript Of The Fourth Democratic Debate
A field of 12 candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination met onstage in Westerville, Ohio, for a fourth primary debate, this one hosted by CNN and the New York Times. Below is a transcript of the debate; we’ll update it as the text becomes available. (10/16)