September 12, 2019

Tonight's healthcare debate looked a lot like the last one in the beginning. Bernie and Elizabeth Warren arguing for Medicare for All, Biden arguing to keep the ACA in place with tweaks, and everyone yelling at each other except for Amy Klobuchar.

Finally, GSteph turned to Senator Kamala Harris for her response. She offered one line of description of her plan and then the rest of her answer was a stark reminder that there's something more at stake than the battle between the ACA and Medicare for All.

Here's a rough transcript:

So, under my Medicare for All plan, people have the choice of a private plan or a public plan, because that's what people want. And I agree, we shouldn't take choice from people.

But here's the thing. Everybody on this stage, I do believe, is well-intentioned and wants that all Americans have coverage and recognizes that right now 30 million Americans don't have coverage. But at least five people have talked, some repeatedly on this subject, and not once have we talked about Donald Trump.

So let's talk about the fact that Donald Trump came into office and spent almost the entire first year of his term trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. We all fought against it and then the late, great John McCain, at that moment at about 2:00 in the morning, killed his attempt to take health care from millions of people in this country. Fast forward to today and what is happening? Donald Trump's Department of Justice is trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act.

Donald Trump's administration is trying to get rid of the -- the ban that we placed on denying people who have pre-existing conditions coverage. Donald Trump is trying to say that our kids up to the age of 26 can no longer be on our plans. And frankly, I think this discussion has given the American public a headache. What they want to know is they're going to have health care and cost will not be a barrier.

Let's focus on the end goal. If we don't get Donald Trump out of office, he's going to get rid of it all.

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