Expect More Health Industry Spin At Thursday’s Democratic Debate
Expect More Health Industry Spin At Thursday’s Democratic Debate
Andrew Perez | September 11, 2019
Hospital, drug, and insurance companies battling plans that would cut into their profits by providing health care for all Americans are spending money like it’s 2009 again — and using the same playbook to frame the debate.
Major health insurance, hospital, and pharmaceutical trade organizations that oppose Medicare for All have reported spending $45 million on lobbying so far this year. They’ve also pushed misleading attack lines against efforts to enact a universal public health care system that are likely to be echoed in the Thursday night debate of 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls.
“When you talk about eliminating private health insurance, support flips, you get 58 percent opposed,” ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos told Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, in a June interview. “It gets even worse when you tell Americans they’re going to have to pay more taxes, which you have conceded.” He concluded: “It appears you’re pushing something people say they don’t want.”
Stephanopolous was referring to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll that tested arguments made by supporters and opponents of Medicare for All, but he only presented the polling for points made by opponents. It’s true that only 37 percent of people said they’d favor Medicare for All if it eliminated private health insurance or required them to pay more taxes — but 67 percent of people polled in the same survey said they’d support Medicare for All if it eliminated all health insurance premiums and reduced out-of-pocket costs.
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Hospital, drug, and insurance companies battling plans that would cut into their profits by providing health care for all Americans are spending money like it’s 2009 again — and using the same playbook to frame the debate.
Major health insurance, hospital, and pharmaceutical trade organizations that oppose Medicare for All have reported spending $45 million on lobbying so far this year. They’ve also pushed misleading attack lines against efforts to enact a universal public health care system that are likely to be echoed in the Thursday night debate of 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls.
“When you talk about eliminating private health insurance, support flips, you get 58 percent opposed,” ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos told Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, in a June interview. “It gets even worse when you tell Americans they’re going to have to pay more taxes, which you have conceded.” He concluded: “It appears you’re pushing something people say they don’t want.”
Stephanopolous was referring to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll that tested arguments made by supporters and opponents of Medicare for All, but he only presented the polling for points made by opponents. It’s true that only 37 percent of people said they’d favor Medicare for All if it eliminated private health insurance or required them to pay more taxes — but 67 percent of people polled in the same survey said they’d support Medicare for All if it eliminated all health insurance premiums and reduced out-of-pocket costs.
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