Elizabeth Warren Releases 'Medicare For All' Plan With A Promise

Elizabeth Warren's "Medicare for All" plan does not include increasing taxes for middle-class Americans. Her campaign Friday morning announced her plan for providing government-funded health care to every American — and a $20 trillion investment over the next decade — while addressing the question that has dogged her presidential run as she rose to the top of Democratic primary polls.

Warren's plan is to get almost half the funds from having employers pay Medicare instead of the private insurance companies they in many cases currently pay. Companies with fewer than 50 employees would be exempt.

"We can generate almost half of what we need to cover Medicare for All just by asking employers to pay slightly less than what they are projected to pay today, and through existing taxes," she said in an online post.

If that didn't raise the $8.8 trillion her plan needs from employers, she said she will tap giant corporations.

"Elizabeth will pay for this plan without raising taxes one penny on middle class families," her campaign said in a statement. "Instead, she will put about $11 trillion in the pockets of American families by eliminating what they would pay in premiums, deductibles, co-pays, and other out-of-pocket costs over the next ten years."

Warren plans to get the rest of funds by adding to her wealth tax for billionaires, funding the IRS so it can better enforce tax laws, and increasing taxes on capital gains.

Warren, whose "I have a plan for that" mantra defined recent campaign events, dodged specifics about her health care plan in recent weeks. In last month's debate, she was asked directly by moderators and needled by candidates about how she would pay for the restructuring of the American health care system without increasing taxes on the middle class, something fellow progressive Bernie Sanders has acknowledged would happen under his plan.

Warren had been responding to the question by insisting that overall costs will go down thanks to lower premiums and out-of-pocket expenses.

Patch will update this story.