Americans care most about their healthcare and if they can get and keep a job, Sen. Kamala Harris said Thursday while defending her comprehensive Medicare-for-all insurance proposals.
"My agenda is about what wakes people up at 3 in the morning, and that's going to be about their healthcare," the California Democrat and presidential candidate told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"Can they get a job, keep a job? Can they pay the bills by the end of the month? These are the things that American people hear about. Get to a more focused conversation about what our best plan is for that."
Meanwhile, candidates in Wednesday's debate were criticizing former President Barack Obama, particularly on healthcare, and Harris said Thursday he was an "extraordinary president" who admitted that Obamacare was a "starter system" for healthcare.
"He has said Medicare for all is a good idea," said Harris. "Decades of presidents have tried to reform the healthcare system of America and Barack Obama actually did it."
Harris added that her plan is about building on the successes of what Obama achieved and expanding on it. But what it won't do is remove a private plan option, she added.
"My Medicare for all plan is about saying let's make sure cost is not a barrier to people's access to healthcare," she said. "Let's make sure people have an option, private plan if that's what they want."
She acknowledged she and frontrunner Joe Biden have a difference of opinion on healthcare and pointed out that in the United States some 30 million people don't have access to insurance.
"When you look at the plan that the vice president is offering, as many as 10 million people will be without coverage," said Harris. "That's just not tenable."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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