Senator Elizabeth Warren unveiled more details of her “Medicare for All” plan she swears won’t cost the middle class “one penny,” while raising federal spending by $20.5 trillion. Paying for the increases would be a wave of taxes on large corporations, the wealthy, cracking down on tax evasion, an $800 billion reduction in defense spending, and putting newly legalized immigrants on the tax rolls.
Warren has come under pressure from her Democratic rivals to release the details of her ambitious plans – and in particular, how she plans to pay for them. As the New York Times notes, “Her new proposal marks a turning point for her campaign, in which she will have to sell voters on a tax-and-spending plan that rivals the ambitions of the New Deal and the Great Society while also defending it against both Democratic and Republican criticism.”
At a cost of “just under $52 trillion” (about what the current system will cost over 10 years), Warren’s plan calls for the elimination of employer-sponsored health insurance, which over 50% of Americans now receive. It would be replaced by free government health coverage for all Americans.
