A video complied by America Rising shows presidential hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) flipping, changing, and clarifying her position on private health insurance companies several times since her campaign announcement early this year.
Harris initially said of health care at a January 28 CNN town hall that "I believe the solution, I actually feel very strongly about this, is that we need to have Medicare for All"
Host Jake Tapper asked her to clarify, pointing out that the Medicare for All bill that Harris co-sponsored with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) will "totally eliminate private insurance."
"Well, listen and the idea is that everyone gets access to medical care," Harris replied. "And you don't have to go through the process of going through an insurance company having them give you approval going through the paperwork all of the delay that may require. Who of us have has not had that situation where you got to wait for approval, and the doctor says, 'Well I don't know if your insurance company is gonna cover this.' Let's eliminate all of that. Let's move on."
Days later, the Harris campaign told CNN that she would "be open to the more moderate health reform plans which would preserve the industry being floated by other congressional Democrats."
During a later CNN town hall, host Don Lemon told Harris that the bill she supported would "essentially phase out private insurance" in three to four years. Harris replied that she didn't "think that was right," saying that there would still be access to "supplemental insurance."
Meeting with Tapper several months after the January town hall, Harris told him that her "let's eliminate all that comment," did not refer to eliminating private insurance.
"I really do need to clear up what happened on that stage," she said. "It was in the context of saying let's get rid of all the bureaucracy."