As Democrats crowned Kamala Harris the presumptive successor to Joe Biden — an event that transpired with nary an actual vote being cast — some noted that Harris previously expressed support for banning private health coverage. When Jake Tapper asked her in January 2019 about the single-payer bill by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., that she co-sponsored, which among other things would outlaw private insurance, Harris said the following:
Well, listen, the idea is that everyone gets access to medical care. And you don’t have to go through the process of going through an insurance company, having them give you approval, going through the paperwork — all of the delay that may require. Who of us has not had that situation, where you’ve got to wait for approval, and the doctor says, ‘Well, I don’t know if your insurance company is going to cover this?’ Let’s eliminate all of that. Let’s move on.
Harris’ series of statements (really, flip-flops) on this issue proved one of the reasons her desultory 2020 presidential campaign cratered so badly. And while the full history is more convoluted than the short clip from January 2019, Harris’ plan would largely have the same effects as her initial response to Tapper’s question: Most if not all people who like their current health coverage could not keep it.
Political Somersaults Over Maintaining Private Insurance
Following the controversy her initial comments generated, Harris undertook a series of “clarifications” about whether single-payer should retain a role for private coverage.
