Center for American Progress president Neera Tanden and the rest of the corporate-backed, neoliberal establishment wing of the Democratic Party have made no secret of their trepidation at the prospect of Bernie Sanders winning the party's nomination for president.
Tanden, who served as Hillary Clinton's policy director during her failed 2008 presidential campaign, sometimes makes a token effort to appear neutral. For example, she recently appeared to express (passive-aggressive) support for the various Democratic proposals to achieve universal healthcare.
Your PSA for the night: there are a variety of ways to get to universal health care. One is Medicar for All - the Sanders version. Another is Medicare for All - the Kennedy/Harris version. Another is Medicare for America. Anyone who says there’s only one way is just wrong.
— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) September 4, 2019
Sanders national press secretary Briahna Joy Gray chimed in to explain differences between Sanders's version of Medicare for All and those offered by other candidates. Tanden responded by trashing the Sanders plan as a massive tax increase that isn't popular among Democratic voters or the general public.
"Every plan has a cost," Tanden wrote on Twitter. "One pays for it in taxes or premiums or copays. Yours has a 4% tax on everyone making $29,000 or more. Medicare for America doesn't tax the middle class. You're right, people have a choice. The choice of Dems/public is to allow people to keep private plans."
Every plan has a cost. One pays for it in taxes or premiums or copays. Yours has a 4% tax on everyone making $29,000 or more. Medicare for America doesn’t tax the middle class. You’re right, people have a choice. The choice of Dems/public is to allow people to keep private plans
— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) September 4, 2019
Medicare for America is the Democratic establishment's watered-down alternative to Sanders's plan, which would eliminate the private health insurance industry within four years. The plan would preserve employer-provided private health insurance. It was created with input from the Center for American Progress, which receives funding from some of the most powerful corporate interests in the country, including Microsoft, Bank of America, Blackstone, Google, Facebook, AT&T, Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard, CVS Health, and J.P. Morgan.
Failed Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke, currently polling at 2.1 percent in the Real Clear Politics polling average, has fully embraced Medicare for America, while top-tier candidate Elizabeth Warren has been sufficiently vague on the issue of healthcare so as not to rule it out.
Frontrunner Joe Biden, meanwhile, favors an even less dramatic approach to healthcare reform that would preserve private health insurance and strengthen provisions in the Affordable Care Act. Biden has attacked rival healthcare proposals for kicking people off their existing plans and costing too much to implement.