After remaining vague for months about his plans to expand on the Affordable Care Act, Joseph R. Biden Jr. is planning to offer more details in a speech Monday, including changes to the law that would let more people get subsidies to help pay for their health insurance and reduce the maximum percentage of income they would have to spend on premiums.Mr. Biden, who has led the Democratic presidential field in the first months of the race, is setting himself apart from other leading candidates by calling for improving the 2010 health law, former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy, instead of replacing it with a single-payer system that would essentially eliminate private health coverage.He has argued that the country cannot afford to go down a policy path that involves replacing the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, with a more sweeping overhaul of the insurance system that he says would prove impossible to achieve in the short term. He will be introducing the new details of his health plan on Monday at a candidate forum sponsored by AARP, the lobby for older Americans, who are a large part of Mr. Biden’s base.For weeks, Mr. Biden has been previewing parts of his health care platform, particularly his plan to create a “public option,” or government-run health plan like Medicare, for all Americans. Such a plan would compete with private insurers and potentially drive down prices while letting people choose private insurance, either through a job or on the individual market, if they prefer.Many of Mr. Biden’s leading rivals, including Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, favor the single-payer system, which has come to be known as “Medicare for all.” Mr. Biden attacked that plan over the weekend, citing its $3 trillion price tag and saying it would raise taxes on the middle class.Mr. Sanders, in response, said Mr. Biden was “ignoring the fact that people will save money on their health care because they will no longer have to pay premiums or out-of-pocket expenses.”[Here’s where all the Democratic 2020 candidates stand on Medicare for all.]Speaking to reporters on Sunday, officials with the Biden campaign said his plan would cost $750 billion over 10 years and would be financed by rolling back the $1.5 trillion tax cut Congress passed last year and doubling the tax rate on capital gains for the wealthiest Americans, those with annual incomes of more than $1 million.The campaign officials emphasized how hard it was for Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden, his vice president, to get the Affordable Care Act through Congress in 2010. “It took a century of presidents thinking about and pushing for health reform before Obama and Biden were able to get it done,” one official said.They also pushed back against the idea, promoted by Mr. Sanders and others pushing Medicare for all, that the law is a “half measure” that left many without coverage or with coverage they could not use because their out-of-pocket
Joe Biden’s Health Care Plan Focuses on Shoring Up the Affordable Care Act
After remaining vague for months about his plans to expand on the Affordable Care Act, Joseph R. Biden Jr. is planning to offer more details in a speech Monday, including changes to the law that would let more people get subsidies to help pay for their health insurance and reduce the maximum percentage of income they would have to spend on premiums.Mr. Biden, who has led the Democratic presidential field in the first months of the race, is setting himself apart from other leading candidates by calling for improving the 2010 health law, former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy, instead of replacing it with a single-payer system that would essentially eliminate private health coverage.He has argued that the country cannot afford to go down a policy path that involves replacing the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, with a more sweeping overhaul of the insurance system that he says would prove impossible to achieve in the short term. He will be introducing the new details of his health plan on Monday at a candidate forum sponsored by AARP, the lobby for older Americans, who are a large part of Mr. Biden’s base.For weeks, Mr. Biden has been previewing parts of his health care platform, particularly his plan to create a “public option,” or government-run health plan like Medicare, for all Americans. Such a plan would compete with private insurers and potentially drive down prices while letting people choose private insurance, either through a job or on the individual market, if they prefer.Many of Mr. Biden’s leading rivals, including Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, favor the single-payer system, which has come to be known as “Medicare for all.” Mr. Biden attacked that plan over the weekend, citing its $3 trillion price tag and saying it would raise taxes on the middle class.Mr. Sanders, in response, said Mr. Biden was “ignoring the fact that people will save money on their health care because they will no longer have to pay premiums or out-of-pocket expenses.”[Here’s where all the Democratic 2020 candidates stand on Medicare for all.]Speaking to reporters on Sunday, officials with the Biden campaign said his plan would cost $750 billion over 10 years and would be financed by rolling back the $1.5 trillion tax cut Congress passed last year and doubling the tax rate on capital gains for the wealthiest Americans, those with annual incomes of more than $1 million.The campaign officials emphasized how hard it was for Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden, his vice president, to get the Affordable Care Act through Congress in 2010. “It took a century of presidents thinking about and pushing for health reform before Obama and Biden were able to get it done,” one official said.They also pushed back against the idea, promoted by Mr. Sanders and others pushing Medicare for all, that the law is a “half measure” that left many without coverage or with coverage they could not use because their out-of-pocket
0 Comments