Joe Biden says should he win in 2020, his health care plan will preserve many of the most popular parts of the Affordable Care Act — including the Medicaid expansion and protections for patients with preexisting conditions. It additionally places a new government-run public insurance option.
"I understand the appeal of Medicare for All," Biden said in a video posted Monday. "But folks supporting it should be clear it means getting rid of Obamacare. And I'm not for that."
The Affordable Care Act was a historic achievement. 20 million Americans gained coverage. Over 100 million with pre-existing conditions finally got protection. We can’t tear it down.
So today, I’m releasing my plan to Protect & Build on Obamacare: https://t.co/RIhlOcOWK8
pic.twitter.com/laDUcIhRjM— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 15, 2019
The plan is estimated to cost $750 billion over a decade, being paid for by reversing some of the Trump administration’s tax cuts. The plan would also allow Medicare to directly negotiate drug prices, while also allowing the importation of prescription drugs from abroad, and extending tax credits to help tens of millions of Americans buy lower-priced health insurance.
The campaign admits the proposal is not as transformative as the Medicare for all plan, popularized by progressive rivals like Sen. Bernie Sanders, but hopes the plan will be enough to help Biden keep his status as the front runner. The Biden campaign pointed to the dangers of a Medicare for all plan that would do away with the Affordable Care Act, leaving many without coverage for some time while the plan was pursued — a choice the Sanders campaign swiftly attacked as “misinformation.”
“We can't afford the years it will take in order to write and maybe pass Medicare for All,” a spokesperson wrote in an email to Politico. “A stop in progress is unacceptable. That's why the Biden Plan builds on Obamacare and works toward[s] achieving universal coverage as soon as possible.”
While Sanders denies being a hindrance to the advancement of health care, the current administration of President Donald Trump has been doing all in their power to undermine the Affordable Care Act. A timeline published by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, shows actions taken dating all the way back to February 2017, when the Administration’s first health care rule was to discourage enrollment and undermine market stability by making plans less affordable.
