And There It Is…Kamala Harris Wants To Gut Private Health Insurance

Matt Vespa / Townhall Tipsheet

We knew a far left wing platform was going to emerge this cycle. Heck, it happened in 2016, with the insurgent campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The Democratic Party’s era of even bigger government backed up with the promises of free stuff, along with economic ruin, is here to stay. Yes, there may be enough juice left in the Democratic Party establishment to prevent a truly left-wing whacko from clinching the party nomination for president. Then again, is it strong enough? Regardless, the far left wing of the party has grown to the point where at least one or multiple candidates will be competing on how slow or fast they want to turn this nation into Venezuela. The first up is Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), who announced her much-anticipated 2020 candidacy on MLK Day this month. During a town hall event hosted by CNN, the California Democrat decided to declare herself the frontrunner of the whacko wing of the party by saying she wants to eviscerate private health insurance (via NTK Network):

Kamala Harris supports a complete government takeover of healthcare, says regarding the free market: “Let’s eliminate all that. Let’s move on.” pic.twitter.com/0HmW2Pnn6d

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 29, 2019

CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Harris about her support for a Medicare for All bill sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), which if passed, would totally eliminate private insurance and whether that meant if Americans who like their insurance would not be able to keep it.

“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 paper work,” Harris said. “Let’s eliminate all of that, let’s move on.”

Like her 2020 candidacy announcement, this was expected. Over at Hot Air, citing The Washington Post, they noted that Harris’ California agenda would destroy us as it has the Golden State:

Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) will run for president proposing a nearly $3 trillion tax plan, billions in tax credits to low-income renters, a Medicare-for-all health-care system, and a reduction in cash bail for inmates charged with criminal offenses, her aides said…
Aides said Harris’s platform will incorporate Sen. Bernie Sanders’s Medicare-for-all health-care proposal, while also pushing enormous tax relief intended to help low-income renters and boost incomes for working-class families…

Harris, by contrast, is expected to run on both a single-payer health program projected to cost more than $30 trillion, as well as tax benefits that would significantly reduce federal revenue. Supporters say that reflects her willingness to try to use different solutions to solve big problems.

Here’s the thing, Harris. Americans actually like their employer-based, private health insurance. They like it so much that when you ask voters if they would support Medicare for All if it means cannibalizing such plans, support for single-payer goes down the toilet:

The public is divided over a single-payer health care system, with 47 percent favoring such an approach and 46 percent opposing it.

But when supporters are told that all health care costs would be covered under a single-payer system — but that it would eliminate employer plans and that there would be only one government plan — the numbers move to 36 percent favor, 55 percent oppose.

In fact, Americans are soon about to learn that they have a large tab to pick up with this left-wing goodie bag—and I’m going to be big they’re going to find a lot of it unpalatable.