House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday panned a Medicare for All proposal being forwarded by a number of Democrats currently running for president. Her implicit suggestion to fellow Democrats: Stick with less controversial topics and focus on winning elections next year instead.
For many senior living operators, the death of Medicare for All would be welcome, if only because it would be one less new healthcare program to absorb. The sector already is struggling with some facets of Obamacare, in addition to changing Medicaid rules in many states.
Pelosi said a Medicare for All program would be massively expensive and would force many people to lose private insurance coverage.
“I’m not a big fan of Medicare for All,” she said. “I welcome the debate. I think that we should have healthcare for all,” she said Friday during a Bloomberg Television interview. Pelosi’s comments would seem to all but kill the proposal, which Republicans also have rejected.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) recently unveiled a 9,500-word plan that lays out the rationale and execution of the single-payer program. Her proposal would take a decade to implement and would redirect $6 trillion that state and local governments already are spending on insurance. An additional $20.5 trillion would be created by redirecting employer contributions currently going to private health insurers, large corporations, defense outlays and the wealthy.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) originally proposed the concept. It is cosponsored by multiple Democrats in the presidential race.
Pelosi said Democrats instead should focus on winning the 2020 election. That means backing ideas that can draw wider support nationwide, she said.
