U.S. Democrats go after Trump, differ on healthcare in debate

[Jonathan Fairfield]

U.S. Democrats go after Trump, differ on healthcare in debate

By James Oliphant

 

Democratic U.S. 2020 election presidential candidates including author Marianne Williamson, former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Kamala Harris, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Senator Michael Bennet and Rep. Eric Swalwell debate during the second night of the first Democratic presidential candidates debate in Miami, Florida, U.S. June 27, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Segar

 

MIAMI (Reuters) - Top Democratic presidential contenders launched repeated attacks on President Donald Trump during a debate on Thursday, but for a second consecutive night there was sharp disagreement over the best way to boost access to healthcare insurance coverage.

 

Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders trained their sights on Trump immediately as the second night of Democratic debates began.

 

"The American people understand that Trump is a phony, that Trump is a pathological liar and a racist and that he lied to the American people during his campaign," said Sanders, a U.S. senator running second to Biden in opinion polls among Democrats vying to challenge the Republican president in the November 2020 election.

 

Biden, the former vice president making his third run for the White House, said Trump's tax cuts for the wealthy and other economic policies were increasing economic inequality in the United States.

 

"Donald Trump has put us in a horrible situation. We do have enormous income inequality," Biden said. "The one thing I agree on is we can make massive cuts in the $1.6 trillion in tax loopholes out there, and I would be going about eliminating Donald Trump's tax cuts for the wealthy."

 

Sanders and Biden shared the stage with eight other Democrats, including two other top-tier candidates: Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and U.S. Senator Kamala Harris of California.

 

The debate also included U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and Kirsten Gillibrand, former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell, self-help guru Marianne Williamson and entrepreneur Andrew Yang. All six are polling nationally around 1% or less.

 

But like the Democrats who debated on Wednesday, the contenders disagreed on the best way to expand healthcare coverage. Asked who would back a plan that eliminated private insurance, only Sanders and Harris raised their hands.

 

Like the previous night, the Democrats frequently talked over one another, shouting to get their points across as some of the lesser-known contenders tried to get noticed.

 

"Americans don't want to witness a food fight. They want to know how we're going to put food on their table," Harris said at one point.

 

Sanders defended his big-spending plans for a Medicare-for-All healthcare plan, saying it would reduce premiums for many but that some in the middle class might pay more.

 

"Yes, they will pay more in taxes but less in healthcare for what they get," Sanders said.

 

Representative Eric Swalwell, 38, urged Biden, 76, to pass the torch to younger candidates.

 

"I was 6 years old when a presidential candidate came to the California Democratic convention and said it’s time to pass the torch to a new generation of Americans," Swalwell said. "That candidate was then-Senator Joe Biden."

 

"He was right when he said that 32 years ago. He is still right today,” Swalwell said.

 

Biden responded: ""I'm still holding onto that torch. I want to make it clear."

 

(Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-06-28

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[bristolboy]

What I don't understand is the insistence on Medicare-For-All as the only righteous health care program. The goal of any national system should be universal health care. Many countries achieve this through strict control of private insurance. Politically, Medicare for All is a nonstarter. About half of all Americans get their health care through work. Most are reasonably satisfied with it. And most, I think, would be alarmed at a mandatory government takeover. Given the botched rollout of the ACA, who can blame them? Far better to have a Medicare option open for whoever wants to take advantage of it regardless of age. Over time, as deductibles in group and individual plans continue to grow, more and more people will opt for the Medicare plan.

[Tug]

I like it mr Bristol this last group was better than the first they all sounded good Kamala came out swinging I like her and joe Biden it’s time to cull the heard so they can get deeper into telling us their ideas!

[Puchaiyank]

People without a political affiliation might ask...is this the best America has to offer?  Sad.

[bristolboy]

8 minutes ago, Puchaiyank said:

People without a political affiliation might ask...is this the best America has to offer?  Sad.

People without a political affiliation might ask about Trump..is this the worst America has to offer? 

Let's hope so.

[Boon Mee]

35 minutes ago, Puchaiyank said:

People without a political affiliation might ask...is this the best America has to offer?  Sad.

That's all the Democrats have. 

What an absolute clown show! 

[Emdog]

4 hours ago, bristolboy said:

What I don't understand is the insistence on Medicare-For-All as the only righteous health care program. The goal of any national system should be universal health care. Many countries achieve this through strict control of private insurance. Politically, Medicare for All is a nonstarter. About half of all Americans get their health care through work. Most are reasonably satisfied with it. And most, I think, would be alarmed at a mandatory government takeover. Given the botched rollout of the ACA, who can blame them? Far better to have a Medicare option open for whoever wants to take advantage of it regardless of age. Over time, as deductibles in group and individual plans continue to grow, more and more people will opt for the Medicare plan.

Are you from Bristol, UK?

A simple overlooked fact is that universal health care is far cheaper than hit or miss coverage. I'm American, retired here. I get to pay for Medicare every month but since expats never get ill, there is no coverage for me here. Unless I bought a "supplement" to medicare, out of pocket expenses still can be great.... ever priced drugs in USA? All that paperwork in US has to add to cost. Canada is about half the price of USA for similar level of care. Notice the blue parts of lines: out of pocket. That's not coverage.

"The goal of any national system should be universal health care." Agreed. So why wait? Taxes would go up, but how about giving pay raise equal to amount employer was paying for health care? Americans would come out ahead. Even my hard core business owning Republican brother agrees with me on this.

Health care for profit industry has done a good job of brainwashing public.

[blazes]

Kamala Harris would be an ideal candidate to go up against Trump.  Like Trump, she is a narcissist, completely without principle and without any core beliefs other than getting to the White House. 

 

Hmm, just realised I spent a whole sentence there describing Crooked Hillary.

 

PS  (I wanted to puke as I saw Van Jones, normally an intelligent guy, fawning all over Harris on the CNN panel.  And all because she came up with a quip (long planned) about putting food on Americans' tables.  Vile woman.)

 

[thaibeachlovers]

5 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Top Democratic presidential contenders launched repeated attacks on President Donald Trump during a debate on Thursday,

LOL. They've got nothing else but Trump hatred, IMO. I doubt it's enough to win on so long as the economy is doing well, and Trump hasn't lost any wars.

Edited June 28, 2019 by thaibeachlovers

[lannarebirth]

5 hours ago, bristolboy said:

What I don't understand is the insistence on Medicare-For-All as the only righteous health care program. The goal of any national system should be universal health care. Many countries achieve this through strict control of private insurance. Politically, Medicare for All is a nonstarter. About half of all Americans get their health care through work. Most are reasonably satisfied with it. And most, I think, would be alarmed at a mandatory government takeover. Given the botched rollout of the ACA, who can blame them? Far better to have a Medicare option open for whoever wants to take advantage of it regardless of age. Over time, as deductibles in group and individual plans continue to grow, more and more people will opt for the Medicare plan.

Disagree, but good for you for stating your own opinion.

[Thainesss]

What an embarrassment for the Democrat Party. Healthcare for illegal aliens? Raising taxes on the middle class? Taxpayer paid abortions? Decriminalizing illegal border crossings? Reparations to people who were never slaves and paid by people who never owned slaves? Going after law abiding Americans with strict gun policies? 

 

Wow. They couldn’t hand Trump a better campaign strategy. 

 

The list of far, FAR leftwing ideas coming out of these “debates” is astonishing and very informative as to what the new left want to do with the country. 

 

I dont ever ever want to hear again that the left “is not for open borders” because that’s exactly what they are, and are actively and openly attempting to change the demographics of a nation to achieve power. 

 

No rational, decent person could cast a vote for the left. 

 

 

[quandow]

2 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

That's all the Democrats have. 

What an absolute clown show! 

ALMOST as bad as the Republicans.

[quandow]

2 hours ago, blazes said:

Kamala Harris would be an ideal candidate to go up against Trump.  Like Trump, she is a narcissist, completely without principle and without any core beliefs other than getting to the White House. 

 

Hmm, just realized I spent a whole sentence there describing Crooked Hillary.

 

PS  (I wanted to puke as I saw Van Jones, normally an intelligent guy, fawning all over Harris on the CNN panel.  And all because she came up with a quip (long planned) about putting food on Americans' tables.  Vile woman.)

 

THANK you! She is absolutely Hillary 2.0.  She started spewing nonsense of planning not to take PAC money after she had been quietly accepting PAC checks, building up her war chest before the announcement. She has ALREADY been purchased by her corporate masters.

[bristolboy]

2 hours ago, lannarebirth said:

Disagree, but good for you for stating your own opinion.

Nothing of actual substance to contribute?

[IAMHERE]

Produce/Educate more people to be doctors. Simple solution. The Medical School Output is kept to a minimum by the strongest union in America.

[Cryingdick]

So open borders, nobody deported foreign here illegally, we pay for all medical care for those that come. So what's stopping anybody from getting off a plane and just staying? I realize you can do that now but the risk of being deported stops many. Many of my friends would like tome to the USA. Is it true that with the dems plan they could just come?

 

Do they realize it isn't just 11 million people that would require a path to citizenship at that point? Look at the lines at any USA embassy around the world we would get hundreds of millions of people if they did this. It's an absolutely crazy idea.

[bristolboy]

5 hours ago, Emdog said:

Are you from Bristol, UK?

A simple overlooked fact is that universal health care is far cheaper than hit or miss coverage. I'm American, retired here. I get to pay for Medicare every month but since expats never get ill, there is no coverage for me here. Unless I bought a "supplement" to medicare, out of pocket expenses still can be great.... ever priced drugs in USA? All that paperwork in US has to add to cost. Canada is about half the price of USA for similar level of care. Notice the blue parts of lines: out of pocket. That's not coverage.

"The goal of any national system should be universal health care." Agreed. So why wait? Taxes would go up, but how about giving pay raise equal to amount employer was paying for health care? Americans would come out ahead. Even my hard core business owning Republican brother agrees with me on this.

Health care for profit industry has done a good job of brainwashing public.

Here's a graph showing how health care is financed in the Europe. You'll note that some of the best countries in quality and coverage mostly use non governmental insurance.

https://www.oecd.org/health/health-systems/Health-at-a-Glance-Europe-2018-CHARTSET.pdf

This chart comes from page 28

Edited June 28, 2019 by bristolboy

[Tug]

6 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

That's all the Democrats have. 

What an absolute clown show! 

Not at all some are bad some have some good ideas now your boy by comparison is the poster boy for corruption and a chronic lying accused rapist he is destroying every relationship we have with our allies personally I’d like to see joe with Harris as vp unstoppable and if joe kicks the bucket we will be ok and the women folk will be impowered 

[Jingthing]

4 hours ago, Thainesss said:

...

 

No rational, decent person could cast a vote for the left. 

 

 

If by the left you mean "trump" then we're on the same page!

More seriously. that's where we're at now in American politics. 

Neither side sees the other side as decent rational Americans. Or even worse, the other side is seen as EVIL. 

I don't know the way out of that short of splitting the country up. 

[thaibeachlovers]

23 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

If by the left you mean "trump" then we're on the same page!

More seriously. that's where we're at now in American politics. 

Neither side sees the other side as decent rational Americans. Or even worse, the other side is seen as EVIL. 

I don't know the way out of that short of splitting the country up. 

That would be into 3 then. West coast, middle, east coast.

[Thainesss]

25 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

If by the left you mean "trump" then we're on the same page!

More seriously. that's where we're at now in American politics. 

Neither side sees the other side as decent rational Americans. Or even worse, the other side is seen as EVIL. 

I don't know the way out of that short of splitting the country up. 

 

The only real evil is coming from the left and their open, transparent drive to change the demographics of their homeland because they can’t win elections based on the merit of their ideas. They want to change the demographics, change the rules of the game (electoral college) and make villains out of huge swaths of the country.

 

THATS the real evil. 

 

And they don’t care who they chew up in the process. 

 

As as long as the right stays on message and let’s the left trip over themselves trying to be the most “progressive” you’re gonna get another 4 years of trump. 

[Cryingdick]

8 minutes ago, Thainesss said:

 

The only real evil is coming from the left and their open, transparent drive to change the demographics of their homeland because they can’t win elections based on the merit of their ideas. They want to change the demographics, change the rules of the game (electoral college) and make villains out of huge swaths of the country.

 

THATS the real evil. 

 

And they don’t care who they chew up in the process. 

 

As as long as the right stays on message and let’s the left trip over themselves trying to be the most “progressive” you’re gonna get another 4 years of trump. 

 

I can't believe that the fact that want completely open borders and admitted it, is being taken so well by some people. What's to stop for example, a plane full of Russians, Gambians, Polish etc. from simply landing and never leaving? Now we are going to pay for their healthcare as well?

 

Maybe the next step in politics is racing to flood the country with the people from countries that will vote for you? Trump could encourage half of Poland to come. After that it is a race to see how can have more babies to keep the count up. 

 

One thing about Europe is they meter out very carefully who they give healthcare to. If you leave for 6 months you are no longer eligible. Last nights debate was total insanity. If you are going to vote for crazy then you might as well vote for Williamson just for the LULZ. 

 

On the bright side I think that was the beginning of the end for Bernie. He was a raving maniac.

 

 

Edited June 28, 2019 by Cryingdick

[Jingthing]

 

The only real evil is coming from the left and their open, transparent drive to change the demographics of their homeland because they can’t win elections based on the merit of their ideas. They want to change the demographics, change the rules of the game (electoral college) and make villains out of huge swaths of the country.

 

THATS the real evil. 

 

And they don’t care who they chew up in the process. 

 

As as long as the right stays on message and let’s the left trip over themselves trying to be the most “progressive” you’re gonna get another 4 years of trump. 

Can't win elections?

2018.

 

 

The overconfidence of "trump" fans pleases me. Keep it up. A very good sign!

 

 

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

 

 

[Thainesss]

9 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Can't win elections?

2018.

 

 

The overconfidence of "trump" fans pleases me. Keep it up. A very good sign!

 

Yep, 2018 when you’re people were being conservative in their ideas and basically keeping quiet, running on Mueller & “Republicans Bad”. 

 

Now the left is flapping their mouths & barfing up some of the most wacko ideas that most citizens don’t even like, all on national television for the world to see. 

 

Yall just keep it up. Sprinkle in a little AOC too. She’s always good for the party. 

[Slickrick]

All these people can say any crazy thing they want but it won't matter.

[Cryingdick]

3 minutes ago, Slickrick said:

All these people can say any crazy thing they want but it won't matter.

 

The fact is even if they did win they can't do basically anything they promise. They aren't talking about a complete win. They talk about how to end the filibuster because it is guaranteed that they don't take the senate in their best case scenario. This is why McConnell didn't exercise the nuclear option for Trump awhile back. 

 

The republicans would simply to do the dems what they have been doing all along. It would be gridlock at best.

[lannarebirth]

4 hours ago, Jingthing said:

If by the left you mean "trump" then we're on the same page!

More seriously. that's where we're at now in American politics. 

Neither side sees the other side as decent rational Americans. Or even worse, the other side is seen as EVIL. 

I don't know the way out of that short of splitting the country up. 

 

As they say "be the change you want to see in the world", but frankly I think you thrive on this division, as do many many others.

[bristolboy]

6 hours ago, Thainesss said:

 

Yep, 2018 when you’re people were being conservative in their ideas and basically keeping quiet, running on Mueller & “Republicans Bad”. 

 

Now the left is flapping their mouths & barfing up some of the most wacko ideas that most citizens don’t even like, all on national television for the world to see. 

 

Yall just keep it up. Sprinkle in a little AOC too. She’s always good for the party. 

Actually what the Democrats were running on was health care and it proved devastating to the Republicans. The Republicans were running on immigration and it proved devastating...to the Republicans.

[thaibeachlovers]

4 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Actually what the Democrats were running on was health care and it proved devastating to the Republicans. The Republicans were running on immigration and it proved devastating...to the Republicans.

IMO the only real difference between the GOP and the Dems is immigration and health care. However, universal healthcare is probably not even a consideration for any that wish to remain in the GOP.

It would be ironic if the Dems won and instituted universal healthcare, only to see their desire for millions of poor people to immigrate make it too expensive to afford.

[bristolboy]

13 hours ago, blazes said:

Kamala Harris would be an ideal candidate to go up against Trump.  Like Trump, she is a narcissist, completely without principle and without any core beliefs other than getting to the White House. 

 

Hmm, just realised I spent a whole sentence there describing Crooked Hillary.

 

PS  (I wanted to puke as I saw Van Jones, normally an intelligent guy, fawning all over Harris on the CNN panel.  And all because she came up with a quip (long planned) about putting food on Americans' tables.  Vile woman.)

 

I know what you mean about Harris being vile.

I found it particularly repugnant that she settled a lawsuit for fraud having cheated people out of a total of 25 million in fees for a so called real estate university.

And then there was the fact she used charitable funds to buy a portrait of herself to hang at at her golf club. Also used those funds to pay off a fine imposed on her.

Add all those contractors she stiffed.

She's despicable.