The documents for the Warren Medicare-for-all plan say they're embargoed until noon, but everyone seems to be writing about them anyway. I'll have more to say later, but a few comments 1/ nytimes.com/2019/11/01/us/…
I think it's important to understand what this plan isn't: it's not something that will become legislation in 2021, or possibly ever. It's about signaling values and policy seriousness. And I think it does a pretty good job on both fronts 2/
To be a solid progressive, you have to be firmly for universal coverage. Single-payer isn't the only way to get there, but it is arguably the best route in terms of the economics. And advocating it serves as a symbol of commitment. It is, however, risky 3/
In particular, the question is whether you have a plausible way to pay for it. Bernie Sanders hasn't even tried on that front; he has some suggestions, but they don't remotely add up to enough revenue. Warren, given her "plan for that" strategy, needed to get serious 4/
And she has! There will be endless arguments about whether her cost estimates are too low and her revenue estimates too high, but they were put together by knowledgeable people — including former top Obama officials. This is a real plan, not a trickle-down fantasy 5/
Will the plan be debated on stage? I hope not. The issues are far too technical to settle in sound bites and one-liners. And frankly, the Dem debates have already devoted too much time to health relative to other issues 6/
My sense is that while Warren's embrace of Medicare for all was a questionable political decision, she has now passed an important test: providing a plausible way it could happen without big middle-class tax hikes. 7/
Maybe we can now starting talking about things that are much more likely to happen in the near future, like child care, or where the president has a lot of discretionary power, like environmental protection 8/
