{"id":92281,"date":"2017-09-22T09:46:35","date_gmt":"2017-09-22T09:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/democrat-duckworth-not-sold-on-bernie-sanders-medicare-for-all-plan.html"},"modified":"2017-09-22T09:46:35","modified_gmt":"2017-09-22T09:46:35","slug":"democrat-duckworth-not-sold-on-bernie-sanders-medicare-for-all-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/democrat-duckworth-not-sold-on-bernie-sanders-medicare-for-all-plan.html","title":{"rendered":"Democrat Duckworth not sold on Bernie Sanders’ ‘Medicare for all’ plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t
\n\t \"One-third<\/a><\/p>\n

Single-payer plan becomes a mainstream idea for Dems<\/a><\/h4>\n

One-third of the Senate Democratic Caucus signed on to the single-payer healthcare bill introduced by Sen. Sanders; James Rosen has the details for ‘Special Report’<\/p>\n

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders\u2019 attempt to unify progressives around single-payer healthcare has met resistance from colleague Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who says now is not the time for Sanders’ \u201cMedicare for all\u201d system.<\/p>\n

Duckworth, a decorated military veteran who lost both legs during the Iraq War, has shot down any optimism about implementing a single-payer healthcare system in the near future. She also issued a thinly veiled suggestion that Sanders should focus on \u201creal work” to fix the U.S. healthcare system.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t think the Sanders proposal is achievable,\u201d Duckworth told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch<\/a> this week. \u201cI know he is (taking) a philosophical stand, but I just don\u2019t think we are in a time right now where we should be taking these very strong stands when we have real work to try to fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

“I just don\u2019t think the Sanders proposal is achievable.”<\/p>\n

\t\t \t\t\t\t– U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWhat can we do to shore up the exchanges, what can we do to make sure the White House makes the payments (to subsidize some plans)?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

After being asked what was the difficulty of opening Medicare to everyone \u2013 and effectively making a socialized system \u2013 the senator explained that it was unlikely to happen. She urged others take a \u201cvery measured approach\u201d to reach successful legislative victories.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"FILE\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Then-Sen.-elect Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., smiles as she celebrates her election victory in Chicago, Nov. 8, 2016.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0(Associated Press)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor me it is about realistically implementing something. I just don\u2019t know that we have the capacity to go straight to everybody,\u201d Duckworth said about allowing everyone to join Medicare, according to the Post-Dispatch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always had good government-provided healthcare, either through the military or the VA. So I understand how good it can be and I also understand and I know the frustrations of the bureaucracy and the ineffectiveness of the system. So I think [we] have to do a very measured approach. But we need to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although she’s a Democrat, Duckworth said she believes ObamaCare needs fixing. \u201cI was one of the Democrats who voted against the medical device tax. There are many, many flaws within the Affordable Care Act,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I have always been one to fix it and figure out how to fix it and figure out how to make it better. Look, I am voting for anything that expands coverage and makes it cheaper.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duckworth’s comments came as a new Republican-led healthcare repeal effort was underway and Sanders\u2019 \u201cMedicare for all\u201d bill was gaining traction among progressives.<\/p>\n

\n

I intend to co-sponsor the Medicare for All bill because it\u2019s just the right thing to do.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 30, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said earlier this month that he was willing to look at Sanders\u2019 bill, adding that the proposal \u201cshould be explored,\u201d Fox News<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, a freshman senator from California whose name has been floated as a potential 2020 presidential candidate, also backed Sanders\u2019 bill and will co-sponsor it.<\/p>\n

Republicans have celebrated the Democrats\u2019 turn to single-payer healthcare, believing it is a losing policy position.<\/p>\n

\u201cBernie Sanders\u2019 $32 trillion socialist health care plan will force Senate Democrats to choose between liberal activists and common sense,\u201d Katie Martin, communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocrats must come clean on whether they back Sanders\u2019 plan for government-run health care, or if they will stand with taxpayers against this unrealistic boondoggle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lukas Mikelionis is a reporter for FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter\u00a0@LukasMikelionis.<\/p>\n

Article source: http:\/\/feeds.foxnews.com\/~r\/foxnews\/politics\/~3\/KrvStx24fQI\/democrat-duckworth-not-sold-on-bernie-sanders-medicare-for-all-plan.html<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Single-payer plan becomes a mainstream idea for Dems One-third of the Senate Democratic Caucus signed on to the single-payer healthcare bill introduced by Sen. Sanders; James Rosen has the details for ‘Special Report’ U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders\u2019 attempt to unify progressives around single-payer healthcare has met resistance from colleague Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who says […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-92281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92281\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}