Presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) claimed that non-billionaires won't pay "a penny more" under her Medicare for All plan, despite analysis of the plan suggesting otherwise.
"It doesn't raise taxes on anybody but billionaires. You know what? The billionaires can afford it, and I don't call them middle class," Warren told reporters.
She repeated that anyone making less than $1 billion is not paying "a penny more" in taxes under her plan.
This is extraordinary. Elizabeth Warren says that anyone who is not a *billionaire* won’t pay higher taxes under her healthcare plan. That is simply false. Her financial transaction tax, her employer tax, and her capital gains tax would all clearly affect non-billionaires. https://t.co/yU4tQLAdEk
— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) November 3, 2019
The funding for Warren's plan depends on questionable cost-saving measures, along with major shifts in tax policies. In particular, the plan relies on $8.8 trillion in the form of an "employer Medicare contribution," a charge that would end up being passed along to workers.
"The employer-side premium will likely act like a payroll tax and fall 100 percent on workers," Kyle Pomerleau, director of federal projects at the Tax Foundation, told the Free Beacon.
$1.4 trillion would also come from income taxes on added take-home pay, which would involve an increase in employees' gross tax payments.
The plan also relies on a series of other corporate, wealth, and financial transaction taxes. Costs associated with these would likely be passed on to consumers, many of whom are not billionaires.
Former vice president Joe Biden (D.) blasted Warren's plan, saying the Massachusetts senator was making up the Medicare for All cost estimate.
"She's making it up. Look, nobody thinks it's $20 trillion," Biden said. "It's between $30 and 40 trillion dollars. Every major independent study that's gone out there—that's taken a look at this, there's no way—even Bernie, who talks about the need to raise middle class taxes—he can't even meet the cost of it."