Healthcare, opponent attacks: Highlights from the US Democratic debate

Democratic presidential candidates former Vice President Joe Biden, left and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., talk during a Democratic presidential primary debate hosted by ABC at Texas Southern University in Houston. Picture: David J. Phillip/AP

Democratic presidential candidates former Vice President Joe Biden, left and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., talk during a Democratic presidential primary debate hosted by ABC at Texas Southern University in Houston. Picture: David J. Phillip/AP

Published Sep 13, 2019

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Houston - Former Vice President Joe Biden

and U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders –

the trio leading public polling for the 2020 Democratic

presidential nomination – wasted no time in Thursday's debate

clashing over the best way to expand healthcare coverage for

Americans.

The divide among the candidates over the proposal known as

Medicare for All, which would cover every American under a

government health plan and essentially eliminate private

insurance, was again laid bare in the opening moments of the

Democratic Party's third presidential debate in Houston.

But after some sharp exchanges, several of the White House

contenders warned that too much acrimony would distract them

from the ultimate goal: defeating Republican President Donald

Trump next year.

Here are some early highlights from the debate:

'THE DAMN BILL'

The first question of the night went to Biden, asking him

whether liberals like Warren and Sanders had gone too far left

for mainstream Democrats.

Biden quickly pivoted to healthcare, challenging Sanders of

Vermont and Warren of Massachusetts to explain how they plan to

pay for what some analysts expect would be a $30 trillion

Medicare for All plan.

"Thus far, my distinguished friend, the senator on my left,

has not said how she's going to pay for it," said Biden,

referring to Warren.

Both Warren and Sanders were careful to avoid saying

explicitly that middle-class families would see higher taxes,

instead emphasizing that they would save money overall by

eliminating medical costs.

"Those at the very top, the richest and corporations, are

going to pay more," Warren said. "Middle-class families are

going to pay less."

Sanders acknowledged the cost of his signature plan – but

said studies show the status quo will cost Americans $50

trillion over the same time period.

"I wrote the damn bill, if I may say so," he said, repeating

his main applause line from the second debate in July.

Biden emphasized again that his plan would allow people who

like their private insurance to keep it, a key point of

distinction from Sanders' and Warren's approach.

"Let's be clear - I've actually never met anybody who likes

their health insurance company," Warren replied. "I've met

people who like their doctors."

When Sanders noted Americans spend far more per capita on

healthcare than Canadians, Biden interrupted, saying, "This is

America."

"Americans don't want to pay twice as much as other

countries," Sanders shot back.

From left, Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., entrepreneur Andrew Yang, former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke and former Housing Secretary Julian Castro. Picture: Eric Gay/AP

MEDICARE FOR ALL: A BOLD IDEA OR A BAD IDEA?

Other candidates seeking to make their mark on the stage

also took aim at Sanders' Medicare for All plan.

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who has run as a

moderate, said Sanders' proposal would force millions of people

off their insurance plans.

"While he wrote the bill, I read the bill," she said. "I

don't think that's a bold idea, I think that's a bad idea."

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg sought to contrast

his proposal to offer a government plan as an alternative, which

he describes as "Medicare for all who want it," with Sanders'

more sweeping reform.

"The problem is that it doesn't trust the American people,"

he said of the senator's plan. "I trust you to choose what makes

the most sense for you."

U.S. Senator Kamala Harris of California, who has released

her own Medicare for All plan, redirected the conversation

toward Trump, noting that the current administration has sought

to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act, commonly known as

Obamacare, in federal court.

"I think this discussion has given the American people a

headache," she said. "What they want to know is that they're

going to have healthcare and the cost."

'A HOUSE DIVIDED'

Although the candidates had a heated discussion about

healthcare in the first 40 minutes of the debate, several

stressed the importance of standing together as Democrats,

saying fighting one another would play into Trump's hands.

Moments after former U.S. Housing Secretary Julian Castro,

44, of Texas accused Biden, 76, of forgetting what he had just

said two minutes ago – a comment seemingly aimed at Biden's age

that many in the audience jeered – Buttigieg called for

civility.

"This is why presidential debates are becoming unwatchable,"

Buttigieg said. "This reminds everybody of what they cannot

stand about Washington. Scoring points against each other,

poking at each other."

Castro was unbowed. "That's called a Democratic primary

election. That's called an election. This is what we're here

for, it's an election."

"Yeah, but a house divided cannot stand," said Klobuchar,

quoting former President Abraham Lincoln.

That sentiment was echoed by U.S. Senator Cory Booker of New

Jersey, who said while they had differences on how to pay for

and deliver healthcare, every person on stage believed in

universal care.

"We cannot sacrifice progress on the altar of purity," he

said.

Reuters

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