Democrat Donna Shalala: My Constituents ‘Want to Keep Their Private Health Insurance’

Rep. Donna Shalala (D-FL) said Wednesday most of her constituents do not want Medicare for All and they “want to keep their private health insurance.

Rep. Shalala, a former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary during the Bill Clinton administration, stressed her constituents like their private health insurance and do not want to lose their insurance for a government-run, single-payer program such as Medicare for All.

Shalala said:

Out of my own experience and out of what my constituents tell me – they want to keep their private health insurance. They do not necessarily want to go into a government program.  For those people who have very good private health insurance, they don’t want to go to a lesser program. Medicare is not as good as many of the private insurance plans we currently have … But, more importantly, why should we spend money when people have good private health insurance?  We need to cover those who don’t have coverage now.

Many Democrats have increasingly voiced opposition to Medicare for All and some Democrat leaders remain worried about proposals which “require middle-class tax hikes that will prove hurtful for economic growth and the party’s political fortunes.”

Former Vice President Joe Biden said this week that he does not support Medicare for All because the “vast majority of people are satisfied with their own healthcare system today.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has dismissed the idea of Medicare for All, contending in March that the path to universal health coverage remains through Obamacare.

Pelosi said, “All I want is the goal of every American having access to health care … You don’t get there by dismantling the Affordable Care Act.” Pelosi even asked rhetorically to the Rolling Stone: “And by the way, how’s it gonna be paid for?”
Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Charman Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL) said in March that “the $33 trillion price tag for Medicare for all is a little scary,” and noting that “it’s just hard to conceive how that would work.”