I've butted heads with California Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna a few times, most notably nearly four years ago over his misrepresentation of the role private health insurance would play under a theoretical Bernie Sanders-style "Medicare for All" system.
However, I also believe in giving credit where its due, and a new bill introduced by Rep. Khanna (with 29 cosponsors, most of whom seem to be members of the Progressive Caucus, as you'd expect) seems petty damned reasonable to me:
Here's the full transcript (verbatim) of Joe Biden's exchange with Lawrence O'Donnell about whether he'd veto some version of Medicare for All if it were to actually pass the House and Senate:
O'Donnell: "Let's flash forward: You're President, Bernie Sanders is still active in the Senate, he manages to get Medicare for All through the Senate; it's some compromise version, Elizabeth Warren's version or some other version...Nancy Pelosi gets a version of it through the House of Representatives; it comes to your desk. Do you veto it?"
Biden (after pausing to choose his words carefully): "I would veto anything that delays providing the security and the certainty of healthcare being available now. If they got that through and, some miracle, there was an epiphany that occurred, and some miracle occurred that said, 'it's passed', then you gotta look at the cost. I'd want to know how did they find the $35 trillion? What is that doing? Is it gonna significantly raise taxes on the middle class, which it will? What's gonna happen?
Osmel Martinez Azcue wanted to do the right thing, for both his own health and the health of the nation. When the Florida resident came down with flu-like symptoms shortly after returning from a trip to China, he immediately went to a local hospital to get tested for coronavirus.
A few weeks later, according to the Miami Herald, Azcue received an invoice for more than $3,000. His insurer claims he’s responsible for $1,400 of the total. He’s expecting even more bills to arrive over the next few weeks.
Disclosure: I publicly endorsed Joe Biden in the Democratic primary yesterday. It had nothing to do with this post, however. Shout-out to Pradheep Shanker for bringing this to my attention.
Updated w/my exchange with Rep. Khanna at the bottom
Update: I added "(nearly all)" to the headline for extra clarity given the subject of this entry.
Ro Khanna is a Democratic Congressman representing CA-17. He's also a top Bernie Sanders surrogate and a huge Medicare for All advocate.
About an hour ago, he was interviewed on NPR for about five minutes regarding the Caronavirus, tomorrow's California Presidential primary...and Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All plan.
Hey @Culinary226, check in with your government affairs people. There are not 60 votes in the Senate to ban the private health insurance you got in your union negotiations, nor will there be after the election. You're gonna be okay.
Yes, apparently the new strategy to win over support from organizations which don't like one of the core tenets of your preferred candidate is to reassure them that there's absolutely zero chance of that tenet ever actually happening.
Nevada’s most influential union is sending a subtle message to its members discouraging support for Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren over their health care stances even though the union has not yet decided if it will endorse a candidate in the Democratic presidential race.
The casino workers’ Culinary Union, a 60,000-member group made up of housekeepers, porters, bartenders and more who work in Las Vegas’ famed casinos, began distributing leaflets in employee dining rooms this week that push back against “Medicare For All,” the plan from Sanders and Warren to move to a government-run health insurance system.
The leaflet said “presidential candidates suggesting forcing millions of hard working people to give up their healthcare creates unnecessary division between workers, and will give us four more years of Trump.”
Health care is one of the biggest issues for the union, whose members have fought and negotiated for robust plans.
