Warrencare Doesn’t Deserve to Be Called “Medicare for All”
Warrencare and Petecare are, as proposed, structurally identical. Why do pundits insist on calling Elizabeth Warren’s health care plan “Medicare for All”?

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks as South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg listens during the Democratic presidential primary debate at Loyola Marymount University on December 19, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

In case you missed it — Warrencare and Petecare are, as proposed, structurally identical. Both are split into two phases. In phase one of both plans, the president passes a public option. Then, in phase two of both plans, private insurance potentially goes away, though in both plans phase two is entirely contingent — in Warrencare on passing a second bill, and in Petecare on the withering away of private markets.
Medicare for All, meanwhile, has a completely different structure: it combines the public option and the abolition of private insurance into a single bill. To put it another way, Medicare for All has no contingent phase two.