WEBVTT 00:01.966 --> 00:04.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: Next, we return to a new series we're launching on the policy positions of 00:04.433 --> 00:07.033 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% the 2020 presidential candidates. 00:07.033 --> 00:12.033 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% Tonight, Lisa Desjardins explores the various approaches to reforming health care coverage 00:13.400 --> 00:15.333 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% that some prominent contenders are advocating. 00:15.333 --> 00:17.300 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% First, some background. 00:17.300 --> 00:22.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: In the big-name, big-field Democratic race for president, health care 00:22.966 --> 00:23.966 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% is the biggest issue. 00:23.966 --> 00:26.500 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% SEN. 00:26.500 --> 00:27.166 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D-NY), Presidential Candidate: We want health care as a right, and not a 00:27.166 --> 00:28.666 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% privilege. 00:28.666 --> 00:29.400 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: Much of it echoing one candidate. 00:29.400 --> 00:31.466 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% SEN. 00:31.466 --> 00:33.566 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), Presidential Candidate: Is health care a human right, or is it not? 00:33.566 --> 00:37.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' Medicare for all legislation is co-sponsored 00:37.666 --> 00:42.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% by no less than four other senators and one congresswoman for president. 00:44.733 --> 00:47.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% The Sanders bill would create one government-run health care system, ending private health 00:47.633 --> 00:49.633 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% insurance. 00:49.633 --> 00:53.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Medicare and Medicaid enrollees would transition into the new system. 00:53.033 --> 00:58.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% It wouldn't impact the Veterans Affairs or Indian Health Services coverage. 00:59.833 --> 01:03.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% But even as the most Democratic contenders so far seem to agree, look carefully. 01:04.266 --> 01:07.566 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% There is divide over how far to go and how fast. 01:07.566 --> 01:12.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% The day he announced his presidential run, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, when asked, 01:13.933 --> 01:15.400 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% said he wouldn't end private health insurance. 01:15.400 --> 01:17.433 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% SEN. 01:17.433 --> 01:19.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CORY BOOKER (D-NJ), Presidential Candidate: Even countries that have vast access to publicly 01:19.900 --> 01:22.300 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% offered health care still have private health care, so, no. 01:22.300 --> 01:26.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: Also in favor of keeping private health insurance are Senators Kirsten 01:26.200 --> 01:31.200 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% Gillibrand of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, that vs. California Senator 01:33.266 --> 01:36.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Kamala Harris, who told a CNN town hall in January she does want to end private insurance. 01:37.400 --> 01:39.500 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% SEN. 01:39.500 --> 01:41.200 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), Presidential Candidate: I believe the solution -- and I actually feel 01:41.200 --> 01:44.766 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% very strongly about this -- is that we need to have Medicare for all. 01:44.766 --> 01:45.766 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% That's just the bottom line 01:45.766 --> 01:47.833 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) 01:47.833 --> 01:50.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: Later, her communications team walked that back, saying she is open 01:50.166 --> 01:52.566 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% to other plans as well. 01:52.566 --> 01:57.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Fully government-run health care is the broadest idea, but many Democratic candidates also 01:59.566 --> 02:02.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% support smaller takes on that, like expanding Medicare to start 10 years earlier, at age 02:04.766 --> 02:09.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% 55, or offering a so-called public option, which would be a government-run health insurance 02:10.066 --> 02:13.000 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% plan, possibly like Medicare. 02:13.000 --> 02:17.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg told "NewsHour"'s Judy Woodruff he likes a government option 02:17.933 --> 02:20.466 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% now as a first step. 02:20.466 --> 02:21.933 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), Mayor of South Bend, Indiana: take a version of Medicare or something like 02:21.933 --> 02:25.033 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% it, make it available as a public option on the exchange. 02:25.033 --> 02:28.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Then this will be a very natural glide path to a single-payer environment. 02:28.433 --> 02:33.433 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% LISA DESJARDINS: Meanwhile, polling shows this is good political territory for Democrats. 02:33.433 --> 02:38.433 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% A Kaiser Family Foundation survey last month showed a majority, 56 percent, of Americans 02:40.466 --> 02:43.800 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% they surveyed favor a Medicare-for-all style national health plan, while 42 percent oppose. 02:46.033 --> 02:51.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% A whopping 77 percent support lowering the Medicare buy-in age to 50. 02:53.033 --> 02:57.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Put Minnesota Senator Amy Klobachar in the camp of too soon for full-blown government 02:57.666 --> 02:58.233 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% run health care. 02:58.233 --> 03:00.433 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% SEN. 03:00.433 --> 03:02.500 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), Presidential Candidate: I think it's something that we actually wanted 03:02.500 --> 03:05.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% to do back when we were looking at the Affordable Care Act, and we were stopped, was trying 03:06.033 --> 03:07.566 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% to get a public option in there. 03:07.566 --> 03:11.466 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: All of this is a shift left from recent years. 03:11.466 --> 03:16.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% For example, the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010 after Democrats dropped the idea of 03:17.066 --> 03:19.133 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% a public option. 03:19.133 --> 03:22.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% For much of the country, it's also changed from last year, when most Democrats running 03:22.300 --> 03:27.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% for Congress focused on saving the Affordable Care Act and its protections for sick people. 03:29.700 --> 03:32.966 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% Now the conversation on the Democratic presidential trail is about expanding past, sometimes far 03:34.333 --> 03:36.866 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% past, the Affordable Care Act. 03:36.866 --> 03:40.100 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% The candidates have some different takes on health care. 03:40.100 --> 03:42.433 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% And to talk about that, Dylan Scott joins us. 03:42.433 --> 03:45.900 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% He covers health care and domestic policy for Vox. 03:45.900 --> 03:49.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Let's jump right into the terminology, which I think could become an issue for the next 03:49.600 --> 03:50.600 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% year. 03:50.600 --> 03:51.600 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% We hear Medicare for all. 03:51.600 --> 03:54.066 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% We hear universal health care. 03:54.066 --> 03:56.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Is it clear that those terms mean the same things to all of these candidates? 03:56.900 --> 04:00.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% DYLAN SCOTT, Vox: Well, I think it is important to be clear that there is a bill in the United 04:00.433 --> 04:05.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% States Senate called the Expand and Improve Medicare for All Act that Bernie Sanders has 04:05.400 --> 04:07.533 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% put forward. 04:07.533 --> 04:11.066 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% And that would institute a single-payer national health insurance program that every American 04:11.066 --> 04:13.066 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% would be covered under. 04:13.066 --> 04:16.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% So that is the legislation that, when Bernie Sanders talks about Medicare for all, that's 04:16.733 --> 04:18.366 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% what he means. 04:18.366 --> 04:20.633 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% But Medicare for all has also taken on a bit of a life of its own. 04:20.633 --> 04:25.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% It's become a slogan that I think signifies that we want to expand health care access, 04:25.466 --> 04:29.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% we want more people to be able to join Medicare if they want to. 04:29.733 --> 04:34.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% But, for some people, the not -- maybe the people who aren't true believers in single-payer 04:34.233 --> 04:38.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% health care, it's become more of an effective branding to talk about universal health care, 04:38.900 --> 04:42.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% as opposed to a specific policy proposal that's been written into legislative text. 04:42.633 --> 04:45.166 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: That leads exactly to my next question. 04:45.166 --> 04:50.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% We have almost every candidate from Congress who's a Democrat backing Bernie Sanders' plan, 04:51.166 --> 04:53.133 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% technically. 04:53.133 --> 04:55.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Do we know, if president, if these people would actually enact that? 04:55.766 --> 04:57.700 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% It seems like it might not be their first choice. 04:57.700 --> 04:59.800 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% How do you break down what they really want to do? 04:59.800 --> 05:02.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% DYLAN SCOTT: So I think of the Democratic candidates in a couple different buckets. 05:02.733 --> 05:07.566 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% You have the true believers, the Bernie Sanders, who say Medicare for all, single-payer is 05:07.566 --> 05:11.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% where we need to go, and that's the bill we should be putting up on the -- up in Congress 05:11.733 --> 05:15.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% in 2021, if we get control of the White House and the Senate and the House. 05:15.633 --> 05:19.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% But there's another bucket of Democrats who are a little more flexible, let's say. 05:19.766 --> 05:22.366 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% They -- they have endorsed the Bernie Sanders bill. 05:22.366 --> 05:25.233 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% They say their goal is to get to a Medicare for all system. 05:25.233 --> 05:29.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% But in the near term, they will talk about shoring up the Affordable Care Act, tackling 05:29.266 --> 05:31.833 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% prescription drug prices. 05:31.833 --> 05:35.233 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% And then over a little longer-term time horizon, they're more willing to take incremental steps 05:35.233 --> 05:37.300 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% to get to a Medicare for all system. 05:37.300 --> 05:41.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Then, you do have a third bucket of Democrats who don't want anything to do with this. 05:41.700 --> 05:45.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% They're aware of some of the attacks that will be made against the Medicare for all 05:45.100 --> 05:50.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% program, like it'll lead to higher taxes, less access, the socialist takeover of the 05:50.700 --> 05:52.700 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% medical system. 05:52.700 --> 05:56.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% For Democratic voters, the interesting question will be, is it important to have a kind of 05:56.233 --> 05:59.233 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% absolutist approach, where we must have single-payer? 05:59.233 --> 06:03.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Or do they like hearing that your goal is to expand health care access, but they're 06:03.066 --> 06:05.433 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% not as caught up on the details of how you get there? 06:05.433 --> 06:08.100 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% LISA DESJARDINS: There's also some political calculation here, right? 06:08.100 --> 06:12.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% If someone goes too far to the left in the primary, can they win in the general? 06:12.133 --> 06:16.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% What do we know about the overall population and what the Americans in general want for 06:16.700 --> 06:18.633 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% health care? 06:18.633 --> 06:21.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% DYLAN SCOTT: Voters are comfortable with a pretty robust government role in providing 06:21.933 --> 06:24.500 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% health care access to our population. 06:24.500 --> 06:28.300 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% Now, whether that means they're really interested in a single-payer program, I think, is the 06:28.300 --> 06:30.366 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% great undetermined question. 06:30.366 --> 06:33.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% When you talk to pollsters, they will actually say, I don't think Americans really know what 06:33.533 --> 06:35.533 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% they think about single-payer yet. 06:35.533 --> 06:39.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% We do like the idea of everybody having access to health care, and we're comfortable with 06:39.333 --> 06:41.833 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% the government having a big role in providing it. 06:41.833 --> 06:45.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% But people get a little antsy if they -- if they hear that, well, everybody is going to 06:45.433 --> 06:48.033 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% be forced into this government insurance program. 06:48.033 --> 06:50.066 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% They like the idea of choice. 06:50.066 --> 06:54.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Now, whether that choice is, can I choose the insurance carrier and the insurance card 06:54.266 --> 06:58.333 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% that I keep in my wallet, or whether the more important choice is about what doctor I can 06:58.333 --> 07:02.400 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% go see and what hospital will take my insurance, I think that's one of the things that we're 07:02.400 --> 07:04.500 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% still figuring out. 07:04.500 --> 07:08.366 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% Americans like the idea of universal health care, but higher taxes obviously make Americans 07:08.366 --> 07:09.966 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% nervous. 07:09.966 --> 07:12.200 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% The idea that they might lose some choice makes Americans nervous. 07:12.200 --> 07:16.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And so I think what remains to be seen is whether they're as committed as the Bernie 07:16.900 --> 07:20.566 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% Sanders of the world to a national health insurance program that's comparable to something 07:20.566 --> 07:24.300 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% like Canada, or whether they would be OK with more incremental steps. 07:24.300 --> 07:27.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% But the idea of disrupting a system that's mostly working for them makes them more nervous 07:27.866 --> 07:29.833 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% than anything else. 07:29.833 --> 07:31.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: And we're also waiting to see in some cases how these candidates would 07:31.433 --> 07:32.833 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% pay for their plans, right? 07:32.833 --> 07:34.233 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% DYLAN SCOTT: Yes. 07:34.233 --> 07:36.666 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% That's the issue nobody really wants to touch. 07:36.666 --> 07:39.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: Dylan Scott, we will ask you about it hopefully in the future. 07:39.033 --> 07:40.033 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% Thank you for joining us. 07:40.033 --> 07:40.333 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% DYLAN SCOTT: Thank you.