Democratic Hopefuls Argue the Role of Insurance Companies in Health Care

Health care issues dominated a second Democratic presidential debate in Detroit Wednesday with 10 more candidates sparring over whether private health insurance would have a place in the American system if they were leading the United States.

Former Vice President Joe Biden and California Sen. Kamala Harris argued over whether the best way to cover all Americans is through Biden's plan to add a public option to the existing Affordable Care Act (ACA) or through Harris’ new proposal that would eventually eliminate job-based health insurance.

"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,” Harris said. “It's misleading to suggest that employees want what their employer is offering only. They want choice and my plan gives that to them."

Health Care Dominates First Democratic Presidential Debate

Biden defended the Affordable Care Act and said his plan would cover more people more quickly than Harris’ would. “No one has to keep their private insurance. But if they like their insurance they should be able to keep it,” Biden said. Several of the other 10 presidential hopefuls agreed with Biden that Americans should have the choice between their current employer-based coverage and buying into a public plan. They included Sen. Michael Bennett of Colorado and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro.

"It doesn't make sense for us to take away insurance from half the people in this room,” said Bennett, adding the American people should be trusted “to make the right decision and have universal health care in this country.” Castro said he wants to “strengthen Medicare for the people who are on it and then expand it to anybody who wants it. I also believe that if somebody has a private insurance plan that is strong, that they want to hold on to, that they should be able to do that."

At the other end of the ideological spectrum, several of the potential Democratic nominees urged their fellow candidates to jettison private coverage.

"There's tens of millions of Americans who don't even have health insurance, tens of millions more who have health insurance they can barely make work because of copays, the deductibles, the premiums, the out-of-pocket expenses,” said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. “There's this mythology that somehow all of these folks are in love with their insurance in America."

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who is a cosponsor of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All bill, also lashed out at insurers. “They're for-profit companies,” she said. “They have an obligation to their shareholders. They pay their CEO millions of dollars."

Andrew Yang, a tech entrepreneur, agreed with Harris that it would be best to sever the link between health insurance and employment. “I can tell you flat out our current health care system makes it harder to hire, it makes it harder to treat people well and give them benefits,” Yang said, “We're going to get health care off the backs of businesses and families, then watch American entrepreneurship recover and bloom."