President Barack Obama’s former Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel slammed the Democrat party’s obsessive focus on socialized medicine in an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”
Click here to watch the video.
The Democrat plan, which they disingenuously call “Medicare for All,” would lead to a dramatic reduction in access and quality of healthcare for all Americans.
Emanuel started by throwing cold water on the left’s claims that their healthcare scheme would cover every person in the United States, including illegal immigrants:
“We have taken a position so far, and the candidates have…on basically Medicare for all, which is, we’re going to eliminate 150 million people’s health care, and we’re going to provide health care for people that have just come over the border.”
In reality, Emanuel slightly underestimates the damage –– Medicare for All would kick 180 million Americans off of their private coverage overnight.
Emanuel goes on to explain the obvious political cost for Democrats that support government-run healthcare:
“That is an untenable position for the general election…I just biked around Lake Michigan, nearly 1,000 miles, through Michigan and Wisconsin, two really important states. Nobody at a diner ran at me and said, take my healthcare away. Nobody. This is — this is reckless as it relates to — and you don’t have to take the position to win the primary. And you’re basically literally hindering yourself for the general election.”
It is safe to assume that Emanuel knows a thing or two about winning elections and vote-moving issues. After all, he was the chief strategist behind Democrats reclaiming the House of Representatives in 2006, and was most recently the Mayor of Chicago.
Emanuel’s comments are indicative that liberals are starting to wake up to the grim realities of socialized medicine. A recent study from the liberal Urban Institute estimates that the plan would require $32 trillion in new or higher taxes over the next decade.
Former Vice President and 2020 Democrat Joe Biden has also sounded the alarm on Medicare for all. Biden recently tweeted that the plan would require significant tax hikes on the middle class:
“Let’s put this in perspective: if you eliminate every single solitary soldier, tank, satellite, nuclear weapon, eliminate the Pentagon and it would only pay for 4 months of Medicare for All. 4 months.
Where do the other 8 months come from? Your paycheck.”
The fact is, there is no way to come close to paying for Medicare for All without dramatic tax increases on the middle class. The proposal released by Bernie Sanders contains $14 trillion in tax hikes, roughly 40% of the total cost of Medicare for All.
It is also important to note that a significant portion of Sanders’ $14 trillion tax increase relies on eliminating healthcare options for American families ($4.2 trillion) and a 7 percent tax on employers large and small ($3.5 trillion).
Some prominent Democrats are coming around to what conservatives have known for decades: socialized medicine will raise your taxes, decrease your access to quality healthcare, and destroy the U.S. healthcare system as we know it. Putting a new coat of paint on it and calling it “Medicare for All” doesn’t change this reality.