Warren’s $52T Plan To Pay For ‘Medicare For All’ Leans Heavily On Employer Taxes, Avoids Increase For Middle Class
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released her plan for "Medicare for All" Friday, after facing criticism for not detailing how she would pay for the overhaul to the health system. It would require the federal government to absorb $20.5 trillion in new spending, but Warren says that the middle class will not see "one penny" in tax hikes. She plans to carry over almost all existing health funding from employers and state governments while also levying a variety of new taxes on the rich, corporations and high-earning investors — including doubling her signature wealth tax on billionaires.
CNN:
Elizabeth Warren Releases Plan To Fund Medicare For All, Pledges No Middle Class Tax Hike
Warren released a plan Friday detailing how she would seek to pay for "Medicare for All" without raising taxes on the middle class "by one penny." The highly anticipated plan arrives amid a weeks-long onslaught from Warren's Democratic primary rivals, who accused the Massachusetts senator of misleading voters of hiding from the fiscal realities of financing a program that some experts have calculated could cost up to $34 trillion over a decade. (Luhby, Krieg, Lee and Santiago, 11/1)
Fox News:
Warren’s $52T 'Medicare-For-All' Plan Revealed: Campaign Still Claims No Middle-Class Tax Hikes Needed
So how would she pay for it? Among other proposals, Warren calls for bringing in nearly $9 trillion in new Medicare taxes on employers over the next 10 years, arguing this would essentially replace what they’re already paying for employee health insurance. Further, Warren’s campaign says if they are at risk of falling short of the revenue target, they could impose a “Supplemental Employer Medicare Contribution” for big companies with “extremely high executive compensation and stock buyback rates.” (Singman and Berger, 11/1)
The New York Times:
Elizabeth Warren Releases Plan To Pay For ‘Medicare For All’
Under Ms. Warren’s plan, employer-sponsored health insurance — which more than half of Americans now receive — would be eliminated and replaced by free government health coverage for all Americans, a fundamental shift from a market-driven system that has defined health care in the United States for decades but produced vast inequities in quality, service and cost. Ms. Warren would pay for the $20.5 trillion in new federal spending through a mix of sources, including by requiring employers to pay trillions of dollars to the government, replacing much of what they currently spend to provide health coverage to workers. (Kaplan, Goodnough and Sanger-Katz, 11/1)
The Associated Press:
Warren Health Care Plan Pledges No Middle Class Tax Increase
Her plan is built on transferring to the government 98% of the $8.8 trillion she estimates that employers will spend on private insurance for their employees. “We can generate almost half of what we need to cover Medicare for All just by asking employers to pay slightly less than what they are projected to pay today, and through existing taxes,” Warren wrote in a 20-page online post detailing her program. Companies with fewer than 50 employees would be exempted and — in a nod to unions whose support will be key in the Democratic primary — Warren said that employers already offering health benefits reached under collective bargaining agreements will be allowed to reduce how much they send to federal coffers — provided that they pass those savings on to employees. (Weissert, 11/1)
NBC News:
Elizabeth Warren Releases Her Plan To Finance 'Medicare For All'
Warren places most of the revenue burden on businesses and the wealthy. She plans to carry over almost all existing health funding from employers and state governments, while also levying a variety of new taxes on the rich, corporations and high-earning investors — including doubling her signature wealth tax on billionaires. Warren backs up her revenue and cost estimates with 44 pages of analysis from experts, including former IMF chief economist Simon Johnson, former Obama economic adviser Betsey Stevenson, Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi, and former Obama-appointed Medicare and Medicaid administrator Dr. Donald Berwick. (Sarlin and Vitali, 11/1)
Reuters:
Warren Details Medicare For All Payment Plan With No New Taxes For Middle Class
Warren acknowledged that a “key step in winning the public debate over Medicare for All will be explaining what this plan costs – and how to pay for it”, and said health insurance and drug companies would push back to protect their profits. “Serious candidates for president should speak plainly about these issues and set out their plans for cost control – especially those who are skeptical of Medicare for All.” (Becker and Ax, 11/1)
CNBC:
Elizabeth Warren Releases Plan To Pay For Medicare For All
As she saw her support swell in both national and early state polls in recent weeks, the 2020 presidential candidate faced more pressure about how she would fund a single-payer, government run health care system. (Pramuk, 11/1)
NPR:
Medicare For All: Elizabeth Warren Says How She Would Pay For It
Warren had promised at a recent debate that she would not sign a bill that raises healthcare costs for the middle class. Under a plan released Friday morning, the Massachusetts senator and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate goes further: Middle class Americans would no longer pay health premiums or copays, and would also not pay any taxes to replace those costs. However, she will boost what had been a 3 percent wealth tax on people with over a billion dollars to 6 percent. (Kurtzleben, 11/1)
Los Angeles Times:
Elizabeth Warren Announces $20-Trillion Medicare For All Proposal
With her proposal, Warren becomes the first of the Democratic candidates to fully describe how a Medicare for All plan would be paid for. Her chief rival on the party’s left, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who has campaigned in favor of a government-run medical plan for years, has outlined various options for financing, but has not committed to one. Warren argues in her plan that America could do away with private insurance — entirely eliminating premiums, deductibles and co-payments — and move everyone into a single-payer system without sacrificing care and without hiking taxes on the middle class. (Halper, 11/1)
The Washington Post:
Elizabeth Warren Proposes New Taxes To Fund Medicare-For-All But Says Middle Class Would Be Spared
Warren’s new health-care financing blueprint comes at a pivotal moment in the Democratic presidential primary, as the Massachusetts senator’s steady rise in the polls has prompted sustained attacks by competitors about how she would pay for her plans. As someone known to come up with politically savvy ways to sell dense policy ideas, communicating the gist of this 20-page proposal will be a major test of her candidacy. (Linskey and Stein, 11/1)
