Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) floundered when her 2020 Democratic presidential primary opponent and fellow Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) called out her health care plan.
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Bennet retorted by calling for the Democrats to be “honest” about how Harris’s plan “bans employer-based insurance and taxes the middle class” the same amount that will be collected by the federal government “over the next ten years.”
Harris responded by accusing the Colorado Democrat of using “Republican talking points” before saying that her Medicare for All plan would prevent employers from providing a health insurance option to their employees and claiming that the plan would give consumers a “choice” in their health care coverage.
“We cannot keep with the Republican talking points on this. You’ve got to stop. The reality is that under my ‘Medicare-for-all’ plan, yes, employers are not going to be able to dictate the kind of health care that their employees get. They will be able to make that decision. […] But it is misleading to suggest that employees want what their employer is offering only. They want choice and my plan gives that to them.”
Harris’s argument relies on the notion that employees are required to take their employer’s health insurance option if they provide one. However, while the lawrequires that companies with 50 or more full-time employees to offer a health insurance option to them, employees are not required to take their employer’s option if they do not so desire. – READ MORE