Klein argues that Biden should push for a more ambitious public option than the one already in his platform: It would help him appeal to supporters of Bernie Sanders while also addressing the concerns Americans are increasingly going to have as they lose coverage due to unemployment.
I’m skeptical on both counts. Is there really a pool of Sanders voters who are now on the fence about Biden but will move into his camp if he makes some adjustments to his plan that will a) be opaque to nearly all voters and most reporters and b) fall short of Medicare for All?
The kind of expansion Klein is touting would entail significant disruption to employer-provided insurance. That’s part of what makes the plan attractive for him, on the merits. He recognizes its political risks but calls them “manageable.” It’s hard to say how much disruption we’re talking about, but it sounds as though it would be significantly larger than what we have seen under Obamacare. And Obamacare’s disruption to existing health arrangements was its principal political flaw.
It may also be that a climate of worry about losing employment and therefore insurance coverage will heighten people’s fears about threats to their existing coverage.
Klein thinks this plan will be able to limit tax increases because it “saves money by expanding Medicare’s pricing power throughout the system.” Do you believe that the experience of coronavirus is going to make it more likely that Congress will cut payments to hospitals and doctors? I am, again, skeptical.