Just because the Health Care Industrial complex has LOUDLY endorsed Joe Biden, that doesn’t mean Biden endorses them. He could still have his “Sister Souljah” moment and smack down this “Joe is running to kill single payer” talk, but I’d view that as a long shot, based on the fact that he needs money.
And yet, he did say that we are in a “battle for the soul of the nation” so maybe his all out pro-corporate stance on issues such as outsized guaranteed profits for insurers and BigPharma at the expense of the soul of America has softened(?)
The health care industry is happy to see Joe Biden jumping into the Democratic presidential race, hoping he can be a bulwark against their true 2020 opponent: Medicare-for-all.
Many of the top Democratic primary candidates have embraced Bernie Sanders’s Medicare-for-all plan, which would essentially eliminate private health insurance.
Biden hasn’t. He also hasn’t rolled out his health care platform, as Vox’s Sarah Kliff recently wrote, but he seems likely to present a center-left alternative to single-payer.
“I’ve definitely had clients ask, where is Biden?” said Kim Monk, the managing director at Capital Alpha, which advises Wall Street investors from Washington, DC. “He’s basically an establishment candidate and would be much more in tune to building on what’s there as opposed to coming in and destroying what’s there and starting over.”
One analyst told investors amid a mild market freakout over single-payer the other day, as Axios reported: “How could the news get better? Biden wins the Democratic nomination without changing his current view against single payer.”
Industry lobbyists aren’t certain Biden will win. One Democratic health care lobbyist grimly predicted to me Sanders would take the Democratic nomination. A trade association leader brought up Biden’s two previous failed presidential bids. But they finally have a candidate in their corner with the profile to battle Sanders and single-payer. (snip)
Industry insiders expect Biden to, at most, support a public option that allows some or all people under 65 to buy into Medicare. The Biden campaign did not respond to requests for comment on the candidate’s health care plans.
“The industry would just like to see a candidate who would be responsible and be pragmatic,” this person said. “From the industry standpoint, it’s like, what was all the energy about 2010? Biden would be more sympathetic toward that.”
