Elizabeth Warren Gives Her Best Answer Ever On Medicare for All

Sen. Elizabeth Warren has made the most of her time at the first 2020 Democratic debate Wednesday, but her first real home run was an impassioned defense of Medicare for All. Following Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s reiteration that, well, M4A just isn’t realistic and a public option is better, Warren got fired up.

Her defense of the proposal—explicitly agreeing with the bill she and Sen. Bernie Sanders co-sponsored—was the strongest and most impassioned answer of the night so far. We expected this from her, but after a week of relative tension between her and Sanders’ positions (and their outspoken beliefs in capitalism vs socialism, respectively), it was huge moment to see her not shy away from one of the most important points of contention within the Democratic party.

I’ve spent a big chunk of my life studying why families go broke. And one of the number one reasons is the cost of healthcare, medical bills. And that’s not just for people who don’t have insurance, it’s for people who have insurance. Look at the business model of an insurance company: it’s to bring as many dollars as they can in premiums, and pay out as few dollars as possible for your healthcare. That leaves families with rising premiums, rising copays, and fights with insurance companies to try to get the healthcare that their doctors say they and their children need. Medicare for All solves that problem. And I understand there are a lot of politicians who say, “Oh it’s just not possible, we just can’t do it,” they have a lot of political reasons for this—what they’re really telling you is they just wont fight for it. Well, healthcare is a basic human right and I will fight for basic human rights.

She stopped short of explicitly mentioning Klobuchar’s name, but seeing as she and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio were the only ones who indicated they would eliminate private insurance, it’s pretty damn clear who she was talking to: everyone on that stage, and the speaker before her most of all.