Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris joined President Joe Biden at the White House last Thursday for an event on healthcare policy.
The two presented a unified vision for the future of America's health sector. But the space between them on this issue, historically speaking, is difficult to ignore.
As recently as 2019, when she first ran for president, Harris was a vocal supporter of Medicare for All — an idea Biden rejected. Harris has since said she no longer supports single-payer healthcare.
But it's hard to see Harris' about-face as anything but an act of political convenience. Judging from their records, Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are almost certain to drag the United States closer to a government takeover of the nation's health insurance system.
As a presidential candidate in 2019, Harris didn't mince words about her love for single-payer.
"Medicare works. It's popular," she wrote. "Now, let's expand it to all Americans."
That may sound innocuous — even desirable. But Harris' vision would entail abolishing private health insurance and forcing everyone into one government-run health plan.
It's understandable why she might downplay that position in the run-up to this November's election. Over half of Americans said they favored Medicare for All in polls conducted in 2020, before the last presidential election.
But most of those supporters also believe they will be able to keep their current coverage under Medicare for All. When informed that it would eliminate private coverage, support for the idea plummets to 37%.
It's worth noting that 90% of Americans are currently satisfied with their health coverage. Taking that coverage away — and replacing it with a one-size-fits-all, government-run scheme — isn't just bad policy. It's bad politics.
And Harris knows it.
Just as troubling is Harris's previous support for covering people in the country illegally through Medicare for All. According to a recent analysis from the American Action Forum, extending taxpayer-funded health coverage to illegal immigrants would add 11 million noncitizens to the federal government's healthcare rolls — at a cost of $1.8 trillion between 2026 and 2035.
All told, the single-payer system that Harris has supported in the past would likely cost taxpayers $24.1 trillion between 2028 and 2035.
If Harris's long-term intention is to install Medicare for All — or at least nudge the country in that direction — she has an ally in her running mate. Walz ran for the Minnesota governor's mansion in 2018 on a promise to institute a statewide public insurance option to compete alongside private coverage.
And he has since signed such a reform into law. That program, known as MinnesotaCare, is scheduled to launch in 2027.
Like all public option schemes, however, such a government-run coverage alternative amounts to single-payer on an installment plan. Since the program would be able to use taxpayer money to offer below-market prices, it would almost certainly push private insurers from the market.
In the end, patients would be left with only one government-provided insurance option.
Harris and Walz also appear to be in lockstep on prescription drug policy.
The Biden-Harris administration has already implemented the most significant program of price controls on prescription drugs in U.S. history as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Those controls take effect on 10 drugs covered by Medicare Part D in 2026.
Additional drugs will have their prices set over the next few years.
Walz was the driving force behind Minnesota's prescription drug affordability board, a body charged with dictating the price of medications across the state.
The upshot is that both Harris and Walz have shown contempt for the nation's market-oriented health system. It's easy to imagine a future in which Harris and Walz set about replacing America's private healthcare system — either wholesale or little by little — with a bloated, inefficient, dysfunctional government program.
Harris and Walz may try to downplay their past affinity for government-run healthcare. But it's hard to see their pivot on the issue as much more than disingenuous politicking.
Sally C. Pipes is president, CEO, and the Thomas W. Smith fellow in healthcare policy at the Pacific Research Institute. Her latest book is "False Premise, False Promise: The Disastrous Reality of Medicare for All," (Encounter Books 2020). Follow her on Twitter @sallypipes. Read Sally Pipes' Reports — More Here.
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