POPCORN time! Dems flee Kamala Harris' targeting of private health plans, and it speaks VOLUMES

Doug P. | 11:13 PM on January 29, 2019

As we told you Tuesday night, the campaign for Kamala Harris did some damage control in the hours after the 2020 candidate expressed a desire to eliminate private health insurance if she’s elected president. The conversation took place during a CNN town hall in Iowa on Monday. The Harris campaign later said she would be open to bills that preserve private plans.

How did some Democrats response?

Democrats distance themselves from Sen. Kamala Harris' call to eliminate private health plans https://t.co/3rmZsLOMAn pic.twitter.com/ObaLiL69z0

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 30, 2019

BREAKING: Democrats distance themselves from Harris' call to eliminate private health plans https://t.co/NUtqbWe63E

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 30, 2019

As a result, some Dems made quick distance:

“It would take a mighty transition to move from where we are to that,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, the chamber’s No. 2 Democratic senator in leadership.

“What most of us said we would support is a Medicare type plan — a not-for-profit public plan that is available for everyone,” said Durbin of Illinois. “I think that’s a good first step.”

Sen. Tim Kaine, the 2016 Democratic vice presidential nominee, claimed that “about 80%” of those who get insurance through their employers like their private insurance plan.

“I’m not going to say you have to give it up,” Kaine said. “I think the idea is to offer a nonprofit insurance plan as an option.”
Of eliminating private health insurance, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Harris’ senior Democratic colleague from California, said, “Well I’m not there.”