Don’t Back Down on Medicare for All
Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has long been a Medicare for All champion, but his current health care proposal would allow for private insurance alongside a public option — a setup bound to undermine support for the public plan.
Abdul El-Sayed’s health care plan offers a public option alongside private insurance. But the Left should accept no substitutes for a single-payer plan: one that offers high-quality insurance for all and eliminates the private insurance industry. (Sarah Rice / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Matt Yglesias, on Abdul El-Sayed’s health care plan:
. . . leftists have absolutely savaged non-leftists who put incremental ideas on the table, including even transformative ones like Pete Buttigieg’s Medicare for All Who Want It. . . . if El-Sayed can create a permission structure for characterizing “Medicare for All” as an aspirational statement of values rather than a specific piece of legislation, he will be doing a tremendous favor to all kinds of center-left Democrats. . . .
There’s a reason why Yglesias specifically brings up Pete Buttigieg’s plan: that’s exactly what El-Sayed is calling for. Leftists seems surprised about this whenever I bring it up, because the Democratic nominee has been at pains throughout his campaign to highlight his support for what he calls “Medicare for All” (M4A). But if you look at his actual platform, his position is clear:
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.