{"id":21724,"date":"2019-11-08T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2019\/11\/08\/just-the-right-policy-pete-buttigieg-on-his-medicare-for-all-who-want-it-plan\/"},"modified":"2019-11-08T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-08T10:00:00","slug":"just-the-right-policy-pete-buttigieg-on-his-medicare-for-all-who-want-it-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/just-the-right-policy-pete-buttigieg-on-his-medicare-for-all-who-want-it-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Just The Right Policy’: Pete Buttigieg On His ‘Medicare For All Who Want It’ Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Scott Simon<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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Credit: <\/span> NPR<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Don’t see the video? <\/em>Click here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The field of 2020 presidential candidates with health care overhaul plans is crowded<\/a>, and Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind., is drawing lines of distinction between his and his competitors’ proposals.<\/p>\n

“I mean, the reality is, all these beautiful proposals we all put forward, their impact is kind of multiplied by zero if you can’t actually get it through Congress, and it’s one of the reasons why I do favor the approach that I have,” he said.<\/p>\n

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\n Democratic presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg in South Bend, Ind.<\/p>\n

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Lucy Hewitt for NPR<\/p>\n

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Lucy Hewitt for NPR<\/p>\n

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Buttigieg would offer public health insurance to those who want it<\/a> while also keeping private health care plans available. Other candidates’ proposals, including “Medicare for All” \u2014 backed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders<\/a> and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren<\/a> \u2014 would replace the current system with a single-payer, government-run program and eliminate private insurance altogether.<\/p>\n

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Buttigieg spoke to two undecided Indiana voters and NPR host Scott Simon as part of the network’s Off Script <\/em>series of interviews with 2020 presidential candidates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“We make sure that everybody can afford [public health insurance], but we don’t require you to take it. And partly I think that’s just the right policy, because I think people should be able to choose,” he said. “But it’s also really important that that’s a policy that commands the support of most Americans. … We have a moment where we can get something that big done and most Americans want it done. That’s not true of some of the other ideas out there, which would make it much harder to actually achieve them no matter how good they sound in campaign season.”<\/p>\n

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\n Mayor Pete Buttigieg, center, at Pegg’s Diner in South Bend, Ind. with undecided voters Michael Logan, left, Jacque Stahl, back to camera, and NPR host Scott Simon.<\/p>\n

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The voters \u2014 Michael Logan, a 54-year-old retired Michigan State Police detective sergeant, and Jacque Stahl, 37, who works with a health care group in South Bend \u2014 pressed Buttigieg on his plan.<\/p>\n

Stahl’s 5-year-old son has a condition that requires treatment that if uninsured would cost her family $35,000 a month. She said the health care system can be confusing even for those in the industry, and Americans who do their best to stay in-network can be faced with large surprise medical bills.<\/p>\n

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\n Jacque Stahl, 37, who works with a health care group in South Bend, Ind., and Michael Logan, a 54-year-old retired Michigan State Police detective sergeant.<\/p>\n

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Buttigieg told her he’s proposing to end surprise billing.<\/p>\n