Medicare for all: crunching the numbers

We unpack Elizabeth Warren's "Medicare for all" plan and the other presidential candidates' health care proposals.

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Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks during a town hall meeting at Grinnell College, Monday, Nov. 4, 2019, in Grinnell, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks during a town hall meeting at Grinnell College, Monday, Nov. 4, 2019, in Grinnell, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Guest: Margot Sanger-Katz, Julie Rovner

Elizabeth Warren recently released a plan to pay for her “Medicare for all” proposal which she estimates will cost $20.5 trillion.  It includes raising taxes on the wealthy and businesses, better tax enforcement, cuts in military spending, and a financial transaction tax. The single-payer plan also assumes low administrative costs and significantly reduced health care costs for things such as prescription drugs and hospitals. But, some economists have said the math doesn’t add up. This hour, breaking down “Medicare for all” and the health care plans of other democratic candidates – the costs, the coverage, and the feasibility with MARGOT SANGER-KATZ, health care correspondent for New York Times, and JULIE ROVNER, senior heath correspondent for Kaiser Health News.

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