The first Democratic primary debate on Wednesday night included a question directed at all ten candidates on stage as to whether or not they would abolish private health insurance in favor of a government-run alternative. Only two — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) and Mayor Bill de Blasio — raised their hands.
Because Warren is the only one who actually has a shot at winning the party's nomination, a number of Democratic-aligned pundits and strategists have been expressing concern at how her enthusiasm for eliminating private health insurance might be received among general election voters. (Hint: probably not well.)
top (unaligned) Democratic strategist on whether Warren’s embrace of ending private health insurance last night would haunt her as general election nominee:
'crippling? maybe not
'a problem? yes"
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) June 27, 2019
Last year, Warren was hedging her health care stance to minimize her risk profile. Last night, she blew up her own escape route. https://t.co/c7ZbOcBIYn
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) June 27, 2019
Warren's stated position, Chait writes in the accompanying article, "could prove deeply harmful and perhaps deadly" in a general election, given that a majority of Americans — 58 percent, according to a poll conducted earlier this year — oppose the idea of getting rid of private health insurance.
The buzz last week was that Warren was becoming acceptable to moderates/centrists https://t.co/yQExHuxoAb
Her health care answer appears to be killing that buzzhttps://t.co/RMgEWflqvbhttps://t.co/xO6AWCqQf0https://t.co/Gb66XDCcWb
— Bill Scher (@billscher) June 27, 2019
By saying she'd abolish all employer coverage, Warren forfeits the Democratic advantage on health care. Now let her explain how she is going to finance the Sanders version of Medicare-for-all. She didn't have to get in this hole. It's a very serious problem for her candidacy.
— Paul Starr (@StarrProspect) June 27, 2019
Even Paul Krugman is queasy about the political ramifications of Warren's "full-on embrace of single-payer" health care. It's a position he doesn't necessarily oppose, but he's worried about all the rube voters out there who might be more skeptical.
Theater criticism aside, the big news from last night's debate was Warren's full-on embrace of single-payer – something I'm fine with on the merits, but consider a very hard policy to pursue given political realities 1/ https://t.co/YA6swOcm1L
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) June 27, 2019
For this reason, Krugman and others have been trying to warn Democrats not to make the elimination of private health insurance a "purity test" for 2020 presidential candidates. He doesn't want Democrats to blow their "huge" advantage on the issue of health care reform, so he can only hope that Warren, if nominated, will pivot to a more palatable position.
But we'll have to see. Health care should be a huge Democratic-advantage issue in the general, given ongoing GOP efforts to destroy Obamacare. Will that advantage be placed at risk? 4/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) June 27, 2019