Put a fork in Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign —it’s over.
Now that she’s finally released details on her Medicare-for-All plan and its eye-wincing $52 trillion projected price tag, there’s no way that 160 million Americans who like their healthcare plans — including labor unions — will want to see them made illegal.
Nor will any rational citizen want to have critical health-care decisions being made by faceless government bureaucrats who will decide what doctor you can see, and what medical treatment or surgery you’re permitted to get — or not.
If Medicare-for-All is implemented, wave goodbye to consumer choice and say hello to rationed care and longer wait times to get medical treatment and prescription drugs.
But don’t take my word for it, take a glimpse at how socialized medicine is working in neighboring Canada.
Last year the Fraser Institute, an independent Canadian think tank, reported the median wait time to see a general practitioner is 8.7 weeks. To see a specialist is an additional 11 weeks. That’s nearly 20 weeks before a Canadian citizen can get the care they need. Now consider if you or a loved one has a life-threatening illness like cancer where the disease will likely advance while waiting months before the bureaucracy hopefully signs off on treatment.
Gaffes notwithstanding, Joe Biden is poised to benefit politically from Warren’s socialized medicine plan. He now appears like the adult in the room by opposing the elimination of private insurance.
In a statement released Friday, Biden’s campaign slammed Warren for promising her plan won’t raise taxes on the middle class.
“For months, Elizabeth Warren has refused to say if her health care plan would raise taxes on the middle class, and now we know why: because it does. Senator Warren would place a new tax of nearly $9 trillion that will fall on American workers.”
If anyone thinks allowing power hungry socialists to control the entire health-care industry — 20% of the U.S. economy — is a good idea or will go smoothly, just remember that here in Massachusetts, the government couldn’t even get a website to work during the Obamacare rollout.
And who can forget the 2015 inspector general’s report that found that 307,000 veterans may have died waiting for medical treatment at the VA? Not exactly confidence building.
But that’s not all. Warren’s Medicare For All plan will also destroy at least two million jobs. A stark reality that will buoy the campaigns of Biden and Pete Buttigieg, campaigns who by contrast come off as more sensible moderates.
Will we see a future Biden/Buttigieg ticket in the making? Only time will tell.
What we do know right now, is Warren’s days are numbered.
Adriana Cohen is a nationally syndicated columnist and TV commentator. See adrianacohen.com.