2020 presidential candidates on Medicare for All
 Donald Trump Joe Biden Howie Hawkins Jo Jorgensen |
This page includes statements from the 2020 presidential candidates on Medicare for All. These statements were compiled from each candidate's official campaign website, editorials, speeches, and interviews. Click the following links for policy statements about related issues: healthcare, Affordable Care Act, and prescription drug costs.
The candidates featured on this page are the 2020 presidential nominees from the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, and Green parties.
Donald Trump Joe Biden Howie Hawkins Jo Jorgensen
Medicare for All
Republican candidates
Donald Trump
In an op-ed published in USA Today, Donald Trump said that Medicare for All "would end Medicare as we know it and take away benefits that seniors have paid for their entire lives."
The op-ed said: "By eliminating Medicare as a program for seniors, and outlawing the ability of Americans to enroll in private and employer-based plans, the Democratic plan would inevitably lead to the massive rationing of health care. Under the Democrats' plan, today’s Medicare would be forced to die. Democrats would give total power and control over seniors’ health care decisions to the bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. Government-run health care is just the beginning. Democrats are also pushing massive government control of education, private-sector businesses and other major sectors of the U.S. economy." [source, as of 2018-10-10]
Mark Sanford
Mark Sanford's campaign website does not include a position on Medicare for All.
His website says about healthcare, "Senator Rand Paul and I introduced the Obamacare Replacement Act in 2017. Among other things, it would legalize people buying the health insurance they needed, rather than the health insurance the government prescribed. It would allow people to deduct the cost of their insurance the way employers can with employees. It would bolster Health Savings Accounts, create competition across state lines and even incorporate some of the good ideas found in Obamacare – such as allowing children to stay on their parents plan until the age of 26 and protecting those with preexisting conditions. I also think a good healthcare system should be built around incentivizing good healthcare decisions. We spend more than all other industrialized nations and yet have poorer health care outcomes. There is something wrong in a system that will not differentiate between the smoker and nonsmoker, or the person who watches what they eat and drink and those that don't. Similarly, working to make certain that healthcare decisions are between a doctor and a patient – not a patient and a government or insurance bureaucrat, I believe vital." [source, as of 2019-09-10]
Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh said in a debate, "There is no more important issue in this country than this. We've got the American people living longer and longer and longer. That's a good thing. But how we pay for the health care for all of these Americans living longer and longer and longer. Neither the Republican Party or the Democrat Party want to talk about that. And you've got Democrats out there again well-meaning Democrats saying Medicare for all. Just have the government do everything. And then you've got Republicans out there saying nothing. Because they're afraid to talk about health care. It would be the issue I'd want to lead a discussion on." [source, as of 2019-09-24]
Bill Weld
Bill Weld's campaign website does not include a statement about Medicare for All.
Weld said about healthcare in a speech, "As to health care, instead of arguing endlessly and fruitlessly about whether the Affordable Care Act should be repealed – because let’s face it, we do not have a consensus in Congress – there are various commonsense health care issues that could be addressed immediately, across party lines. Consumers should be permitted to establish personal health care savings accounts, and to choose their health care provider. They should be free to purchase pharmaceutical drugs across state lines and also in other countries. Their choice, not the government’s." [source, as of 2019-02-15]
Democratic candidates
Joe Biden
Joe Biden proposes protecting and building on the Affordable Care Act instead of switching to a Medicare for All system.
Biden's campaign website says about Medicare for All: "Instead of starting from scratch and getting rid of private insurance, he has a plan to build on the Affordable Care Act by giving Americans more choice, reducing health care costs, and making our health care system less complex to navigate. Whether you’re covered through your employer, buying your insurance on your own, or going without coverage altogether, the Biden Plan will give you the choice to purchase a public health insurance option like Medicare." [source, as of 2020-08-13]
Michael Bloomberg
Mike Bloomberg said of Medicare for All, "I think you could never afford that. You're talking about trillions of dollars. I think you can have 'Medicare for All' for people that are uncovered, but to replace the entire private system where companies provide health care for their employees would bankrupt us for a very long time." [source, as of 2019-01-29]
Cory Booker
Cory Booker's campaign website says, "Cory believes that health care is a human right and that Medicare for All is the best way to safeguard that right for every American. On the path to Medicare for All, we must act with urgency for people across the country who need quality, affordable health care. This plan will immediately address one part of the broken system as we move toward guaranteed health care for all Americans."
The website goes on to say, "Currently, an individual can only receive Medicaid assistance for long-term services and supports if she either spends most of her income on her care or has less than a certain level of income (in most states, 222% of the federal poverty line, or $36,541 for a family of two) and has countable assets under $2,000 (or $3,000 for a couple). Cory would increase asset limits for long-term services and supports to $200,000 and income limits to 300% of the federal poverty line (approximately $49,380 for a family of two) — ensuring that all low- and middle-income seniors and people with disabilities have access to services through Medicaid. In addition, individuals that exceed the asset and/or income limits would be able to buy into the program, with cost-sharing determined on a sliding scale." [source, as of 2019-08-27]
Pete Buttigieg
Pete Buttigieg's campaign website says, "Through Pete’s Medicare for All Who Want It plan, everyone will be able to opt in to an affordable, comprehensive public alternative. This affordable public plan will incentivize private insurers to compete on price and bring down costs. If private insurers are not able to offer something dramatically better, this public plan will create a natural glide-path to Medicare for All. The choice of a public plan empowers people to make their own decisions regarding the type of health care that makes sense for them by leveling the playing field between patients and the health care system."
His campaign website lists the following policy proposals: "End surprise billing. Expand premium subsidies for low-income people to make marketplace coverage dramatically more affordable for individuals and families. Cap marketplace premium payments at 8.5% of income for everyone, which will primarily help middle-income individuals and families. Cap out-of-pocket costs for seniors on medicare, with a lower cap for low-income seniors. Ensure that non-profit hospitals truly serve their community by strengthening hospital community benefit requirements. Limit what health care providers, including hospitals, can charge for out-of-network care at twice what medicare pays for the same service. Make it easier to afford and find care for mental health and substance use disorder by enforcing parity. Tackle high administrative costs to further bring down the costs of health care in America. Empower the federal government to better monitor and challenge more health care mergers, which often raise the cost of care without improving outcomes." [source, as of 2019-09-19]
Julián Castro
Castro responded to a New York Times survey saying, "The best way to improve the health care system is to provide Medicare for all, with an option to choose either a complimentary or supplementary private insurance." [source, as of 2019-06-23]
Tulsi Gabbard
Tulsi Gabbard's official government website says, "We need real healthcare reform that brings down costs, increases access to quality care, and ensures basic health services are available to all Americans. As a cosponsor of H.R.676, the Expanded & Improved Medicare for All Act, Tulsi Gabbard is working towards a system that will provide universal healthcare to all Americans—a standard met by nearly every other major industrialized country in the world. We need a system that puts people first, ahead of the profits of insurance and pharmaceutical companies. The Medicare for All Act is an important step forward." [source, as of 2019-09-26]
Kamala D. Harris
Kamala Harris campaign website says, "Medicare works. It’s popular. Seniors transition into it every day, and people keep their doctors and get care at a lower cost. Let’s not lose sight that we have a Medicare system that’s already working. Now, let’s expand it to all Americans and give everyone access to comprehensive health care. Medicare for All will cover all medically necessary services, including emergency room visits, doctor visits, vision, dental, hearing aids, mental health and substance use disorder treatment, and comprehensive reproductive health care services. It will also allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices."
The campaign website continues, "First, when we pass my plan, all Americans will immediately have the ability to buy into Medicare. This is similar to the immediate, introductory buy-in provided in Senator Sanders’ Medicare for All bill. Right away, it will lower costs and give us a baseline plan as we transition to Medicare for All. Second, we will set up an expanded Medicare system, with a 10-year phase-in period. During this transition, we will automatically enroll newborns and the uninsured into this new and improved Medicare system, give all doctors time to get into the system, and provide a commonsense path for employers, employees, the underinsured, and others on federally-designated programs, such as Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act exchanges, to transition. This will expand the number of insured Americans and create a new viable public system that guarantees universal coverage at a lower cost. Expanding the transition window will also lower the overall cost of the program. Third, in setting up this plan, we will allow private insurers to offer Medicare plans as a part of this system that adhere to strict Medicare requirements on costs and benefits. This would function similar to how private Medicare plans work today, which cover about a third of Medicare seniors, and operate within the Medicare system. Medicare will set the rules of the road for these plans, including price and quality, and private insurance companies will play by those rules, not the other way around. This preserves the options that seniors have today and expands options to all Americans, while also telling insurance companies they don’t run the show." [source, as of 2019-08-20]
Amy Klobuchar
Amy Klobuchar's campaign website says her healthcare-related priorities include "Bringing down the cost of health care for everyone by putting a non-profit public option in place that allows people to buy into affordable health insurance coverage through Medicare or Medicaid." and "Strengthening Medicare and providing incentives for getting the best quality health care at the best price and expanding coverage for dental, vision and hearing under Medicare."
Klobuchar's website says that during her first 100 days in office, she will "propose legislation that gets us to universal health care, which includes creating a public health care option by expanding either Medicare or Medicaid, as well as improving the Affordable Care Act to help bring down costs to consumers through reinsurance, providing cost-sharing reductions, expanding premium subsidies, and continuing delivery system reform. Her legislation will also provide additional consumer protections and lower the costs of prescription drugs through aggressive reforms including lifting the ban that prohibits Medicare from negotiating the best possible price. These programs significantly reduce cost to consumers and help promote choice." [source, as of 2019-08-28]
Beto O'Rourke
Beto O'Rourke does not support Medicare for All. O'Rourke supports Medicare for America, which he described in the following way at a campaign event: "What it says is, if you like your employer-sponsored insurance, you like the network that you’re in, you like the doctors that you can see, you’re happy with that, you can keep it. If you do not like your employer-based insurance and want to enroll in Medicare, you can. If you have no insurance whatsoever or if you are under-insured today, you can enroll in Medicare as well." [source, as of 2019-03-20]
Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders supports Medicare for All.
Sanders' campaign website said the United States should be "joining every other major country on Earth and guaranteeing health care to all people as a right, not a privilege, through a Medicare-for-all, single-payer program." [source, as of 2019-08-23]
Thomas Steyer
Tom Steyer's campaign website says, "To give Americans a real choice, Tom supports the creation of a public option. Every American should have the ability to choose the plan that best suits their health care needs. But choice is only meaningful if there are good options available. Tom’s public option will compete aggressively with the insurance companies to drive down costs, expand coverage, and deliver quality health care." [source, as of 2019-11-19]
Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Warren co-sponsored the Medicare for All Act of 2019. She wrote in a Medium post, "There are two absolute non-negotiables when it comes to health care: One: No American should ever, ever die or go bankrupt because of health care costs. No more GoFundMe campaigns to pay for care. No more rationing insulin. No more choosing between medicine and groceries. Two: Every American should be able to see the doctors they need and get their recommended treatments, without having to figure out who is in-network. No for-profit insurance company should be able to stop anyone from seeing the expert or getting the treatment they need."
She continued, "We don’t need to raise taxes on the middle class by one penny to finance Medicare for All. By asking billionaires to pitch in six cents on each dollar of net worth above $1 billion, we can raise an additional $1 trillion in revenue and further close the gap between what middle-class families pay as a percentage of their wealth and what the top one-tenth of one percent pay." [source, as of 2019-11-01]
Andrew Yang
Andrew Yang's campaign website says, "To be clear, I support the spirit of Medicare for All, and have since the first day of this campaign. I do believe that swiftly reformatting 18% of our economy and eliminating private insurance for millions of Americans is not a realistic strategy, so we need to provide a new way forward on healthcare for all Americans. As Democrats, we all believe in healthcare as a human right. We all want to make sure there is universal affordable coverage. We know we have a broken healthcare system where Americans spend more money on healthcare to worse results. But, we are spending too much time fighting over the differences between Medicare for All, Medicare for All Who Want It, and ACA expansion when we should be focusing on the biggest problems that are driving up costs and taking lives. We need to be laser focused on how to bring the costs of coverage down by solving the root problems plaguing the American healthcare system." [source, as of 2019-12-16]
Green candidates
Howie Hawkins
Howie Hawkins' campaign website says, "The Hawkins Healthcare Plan outlined below treats health care as a human right and a public good. It starts by immediately implementing National Health Insurance, what is commonly called today a single-payer, improved Medicare for All. In the second phase, it builds out a National Health Service where health care facilities are publicly owned, health care workers are salaried, and the system is governed by community boards elected by the public (two-thirds of the seats) and health care workers (one-third of the seats). The second phase conducts a national assessment of unmet healthcare needs, develops a plan to meet those needs, implements the plan, and converts the system to a fully public and democratically-run healthcare service." [source, as of 2019-11-01]
Libertarian candidates
Jo Jorgensen
Jo Jorgensen's campaign website says that she opposes a single-payer healthcare system. [source, as of 2020-07-28]
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