In case you missed it on Friday, Bernie Sanders confirmed that his single payer healthcare proposal would encompass illegal immigrants -- meaning that millions of people who violated the law to illegally enter sovereign US territory would be eligible for full access to the American healthcare system, courtesy of taxpayers' largesse. The Vermont Socialist, who honeymooned in the Soviet Union and flew a Soviet flag in his mayoral office, told a Miami audience late last week that his plan would "absolutely" cover non-citizens living inside the United States illegally. How many of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates can dare disagree with this, especially those Senators who've co-sponsored his legislation?
"The insurance companies and their drug companies are starting to spend tens and tens of millions of dollars to fight against Medicare for All," Sanders said. "And we will organize the American people around the concept that all people in this country have the right to health care, and at the end of the day, we are going to win that struggle." "Senator, would you include the 11 million undocumented immigrants in that?" a moderator asked. "Absolutely," Sanders said. "Absolutely. When I talk about health care being a human right, last time I heard that undocumented people are human beings as well."
This would obviously encourage more illegal immigration, which increasingly seems like an affirmative policy goal of "progressive" politicians. According to non-partisan estimates, so-called "Medicare for All" would cost between $32 and $38 trillion in new spending over the program's first ten years. This would come close to doubling the existing annual federal budget, which is already on track to run trillion-dollar deficits each year. Financing this mind-bogglingly pricey scheme will require gigantic, across-the-board tax increases on middle-income families, working class Americans, and every business in America. That's undeniable math. And by House progressives' own admission, the program would also directly kill one to two million American jobs.
In addition to the lack of accountability, longer wait times, government rationing, and massive tax hikes, one of the biggest political and policy drawbacks of a BernieCare-style system is its compulsory elimination of private health insurance. As we've discussed on several occasions, virtually all private coverage would become illegal under "Medicare for All," with minor exceptions for procedures like elective cosmetic surgery. The approximately 180 million Americans whose healthcare arrangements come through their employers, or directly from insurers, would have their plans permanently canceled and banned by law. This is a very unpopular idea, and thus far very few Americans are aware that Democrats' single-payer legislation would mandate this outcome:
Ironically, current Medicare recipients would also be thrown off of the existing program and forced into the new national, one-size-fits-all scheme. As an unpleasant but necessary reminder, Medicare is we know it -- even prior to its potential exponential expansion -- is rapidly going insolvent. Here's Manhattan Institute scholar and federal budget expert Brian Riedl once again delivering a reality check to anyone willing to listen, shouting fiscal truths in the bipartisan wilderness:
Once you've ingested that information, I'll leave you with Joe Biden being reasonable about Social Security reform in the past (he'll certainly abandon his previous views on this issue, as he has on others), as well as Elizabeth's new call for tax-related reparations for LGBT people:
Here's a quick video of Joe Biden calling for cuts to Social Security over the years. pic.twitter.com/D8XCW04qp3
— Walker Bragman (@WalkerBragman) June 21, 2019
It wasn’t until marriage equality became law that gay & lesbian couples could jointly file tax returns—so they paid more in taxes. Our government owes them more than $50M for the years our discriminatory tax code left them out. We must right these wrongs. https://t.co/OZQcfVilSs
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) June 23, 2019
As usual, Warren's "plan for that" entails taxpayer coercion and government intervention. If she's really interested in tax relief for gay people, she should start by repudiating and apologizing for her calls to repeal the GOP tax law of 2017, from which the overwhelming majority of all LGBT citizens -- and all citizens -- are benefitting, in spite of Democrats' relentless campaign of disinformation. Don't hold your breath.
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