Getting It Right

This, from a self-identified "reporter covering tech & politics," who claims 35,400 followers:

why is she saying this if she supports Medicare for all? Bernie’s bill, which she says she supports, specifically lays out a transition period to ensure there’s no gap in coverage.

saying this completely undermines the fight for M4A https://t.co/8u9iZA0TXe

— Matt Binder (@MattBinder) September 26, 2019

Warren did say that, in her response beginning at approximately 43:39 of the full video of the rally, which took place in New Hampshire at Keene State College. But her intent is not to criticize the legislation.

The remark is wise both in terms of strategy and policy. Any criticism of Sanders at this time risks alienating him and/or his followers, whose support Warren may need down the line. Moreover, she is aware that an argument between two primary candidates can damage both candidates. (In 2004, Howard Dean and Richard Gephardt openly fought and lost support to John Kerry. A pox on both your houses!)

Moreover, as explained by Philip Longman of Open Markets Institute, enactment of "antitrust and other competition policies" would go a long way toward making single-payer more viable.The betting here is that this has crossed the mind of the former business law professor at Harvard Law School.

But the numerous tweets slamming Senator Warren for her comment lays bare a failure to view her entire substantive response, beginning at 43:50 to the question posed at 42:43. She explained

So I want to do a brief pitch; it's a little bigger than you were asking for, but I want to do a brief pitch on Medicare for All here.

And here's what it is. It's just we've gotta find something that gets everybody covered for all their costs and that's done at the lowest possible cost and every study that's done says that's Medicare.

Medicare works. And here's the idea behind it. Medicare for All is just about who your doctor sends the bill to. All the doctors are covered. It's not this doctor is in network and that doctor is out of network. All the specialists, all the pharmacies are covered. That's the basic idea behind it. We've got a lot of work to do on it, a lot of work to figure out the transition and make sure that people who need it get covered right away.

She's for it, she understands it, and she recognizes the tweaks- and probably the structural change that would be needed to make it work. While Bernie Sanders may also understand that, a huge raft of his followers clearly does not.  Consequently, we must be skeptical of all tweets- unless, of course, they come from me.

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