Warren's Big Bet on Medicare for All Is Not Paying Off

[brooklynite]

Daily Beast

Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s once-ascendant presidential campaign has begun to dim. And among her fellow Democrats, including those in the field, there is a universally agreed upon culprit for the stall in the polls: her embrace and handling of Medicare for All.

The senator’s decision to back single-payer health care has long been considered by establishment Democrats as a self-inflicted wound, one that would prove to be a massive weight on her in a general election should she get there. One senior Democratic Party member—who is philosophically supportive of Warren’s candidacy—said he was “dumbfounded” by her decision to align herself so closely with the proposal. “She’s completely boxed herself in,” the member said. “I just don’t see why she did it or how she gets out of it.”

Both Warren supporters and Medicare for All advocates have dismissed such prognostications as the bed-wetting cynicism of a timid—and corporate-influenced—consultant class. And through it all they’ve had an easy rejoinder to the collective freakout: Beyond the moral argument for Medicare for All, polling has continually showed it to be popular.

But that now appears to be changing. A new national Quinnipiac University poll of the Democratic primary field showed Warren slipping dramatically, down 14 percentage points from their survey one month prior. And tucked into the survey was a possible explanation as to why. The pollsters tested support for Medicare for All and found that only 36 percent of the public said it was a good idea (52 percent said it was bad) compared to March 2019, when 43 percent said good idea, while 45 percent said bad.

[comradebillyboy]

1. Didn't this also happen to Kamala Harris after she embraced MfA?

Both Warren and Harris thought Bernie's positions were a lot more popular than they actually are.

[msongs]

2. she was for it then backtracked. looks indecisive. nt

[customerserviceguy]

3. And it plays into the narrative

that she's not authentic.

[Blue_true]

9. Good observation. I think that fully embracing it before she had worked

through the implementation details hurt her badly. I was shocked and disappointed that she painted herself into that corner.

[ritapria]

4. She was doing great until she began backtracking from MFA

Elizabeth began peddling the notion that MFA was for free - no increase in taxes ...That is silly ...Then she pivoted to the Public Option …….What does she believe in ? …….If you start talking like just another pol , people become disenchanted … She still has time to recover ...This race will zig and zag several times before it is over …...

[Blue_true]

10. No she wasn't.

Her inability to answer questions about it in debates had stalled her progress and actually caused her to drop in polls. Putting out the implementation details that she should have put out before she embraced Sanders' MFA plan then hurt her more, because then she looked somewhat disengenuous, even though she appears to have had people working on those implementation plans from Day 1 of her campaign.

What she should have said instead of fully embracing Senator Sanders' proposal was that she agreed with his end goal, but was in the process of having her staff work through the numbers and implementation details.

[Drunken Irishman]

17. Her backtracking was directly in response to the criticism.

I agree with you. I think she struggled articulating a sound position and it opened the door to some strong criticism...which led her to backtrack.

I'm concerned about how Warren responds to challenging campaign situations. This is very similar to how things played out earlier in the year with the whole ancestry flap. The DNA response was a self-inflicted and unnecessary move. It hurt her in the polls. To her credit, she bounced back but it took time and now she's slowly running out of it with the first votes in a few months.

This is why I'm okay with Biden...he seems to bounce back from tough moments way more effectively.

[Blue_true]

20. You get the last word.

The only reason why I am responding to your post is that I often don't respond to posts where people make a strong case in response to a post that I made, effectively giving them the last word on the matter.

Have a great time with what is left of this day. Eat all you want, make up for it over several weeks at your leisure.

[Drunken Irishman]

24. Thank you - sadly, I will be working tonight.

But I am thankful to have a job, so, I won't be complaining too much.

I hope you have a great day.

[Thekaspervote]

5. It was a losing idea from the first... and still is

[Blue_true]

11. I agree somewhat.

I believe that abrupt transition to MFA would be enormously destabilizing. But, an MFA type system longterm is the best model if we ever plan to lower healthcare costs and cover every American, as well as improve outcomes for patients.

[Hoyt]

6. One doesn't have to be smart to know that if you can't give it away, people don't want it.

Essentially, Warren and Sanders are saying it'll be "free," because they'll make wealthy pay for it.

People are likely wrong on MFA, but it's not a good idea to think we can convert them by early November 2020. I think MFA, or candidates that have tied our Party to MFA, is a big loser in general election.

[LonePirate]

7. This happens when Dems decry high medical costs but refuse to give up private insurance.

Private insurance is one of the largest culprits of high medical costs in this country. When people, Dems included, cling to their private insurance as the greatest thing imaginable, then those same Dems are not truly concerned by high medical costs.

[Blue_true]

12. The problem is that neither Senator Warren or Senator Sanders gave people

a good idea of what the tradeoffs would be. Senator Warren backtracked and tried to do that but the damage had been done. Senator Sanders still is blissfully immune to the need to explain tradeoffs and timelines to voters. People hate unknowns, they know what they have in health insurance. One can argue that what they have is inadequate, but without them having a way to measure MFA against what they have now and having no way to measure the tradeoffs, they are going to cling to what they know, that reality has nothing to do with being a democrat or a republican.

[LonePirate]

14. But Democrats should know better yet some still trusted the right instead of our party's left wing.

Of course, some Dems gleefully attacked MFA due to their connections to various guilty parties responsible for high medical costs in this country.

[Blue_true]

8. Her problem was her full-square embrace of Senator Sanders' poorly thought out proposal.

Then when painted in a corner, she rolled out the details of her own plan. She should have waited to embrace MFA until she had fully worked out the details of her own concept. I don't want to sound like I am doing a lecture to such a smart person, but in my opinion, she allowed the cart to go before the horse when dealing with healthcare reform, that never works out well.

[dsc]

13. Her pay for made the problem for well insured union members worse

Since she uses 98% of the current business contributions to health care to fund her plan meaning that those who are well insured union members will not be gaining any money (or at least very little money) but could see less money spent on their health care. Plus their companies will have to continue paying more money than others but won't get any benefit from doing so. I can see why this would be unpopular.

[The Mouth]

23. exactly

Telling a decent-sized generally active part of the base "We're going to take part of your coverage away from you" is not a good move. Pretty much a slap in the face to union members who have sacrificed wage increases and other benefits in exchange for decent health care.

That, and the wealth tax doesn't really play well. Sure, it *supposedly* will only be applied to the top percent, but so was the income tax initially.

[Cha]

15. then it wouldn't be "paying off" for Sanders,

either.

[crazytown]

16. Bernie "I will raise your taxes" got off lightly.

[Cha]

18. from his

base.

[crazytown]

19. Death row felons get the vote.

The Charleston church shooter gets the vote? He would be slaughtered in the GE.

[Cha]

22. I think so.

[Odoreida]

21. The big question is how to pay for it and ...

The way I see it, the only way to pay for it is to dump the aggressive foreign policy (which would be a good thing in and of itself).

But Warren won't say that, so she's vulnerable to those who say we can't afford it.

[PhoenixDem]

25. Well doh

MFA is political suicide