In full disclosure, I am definitely not going to be voting for Biden in the 2020 primary, and I think the Democratic voters would be making a grave mistake by nominating him. I admit it.
But this is not an attack piece. I’m not being snarky, I’m not jumping onto a soapbox. I honestly cannot make heads or tails of this comment, and of the point that Biden is trying to make. From an interview earlier this week:
Interviewer: “What do you say to calls for some sort of universal health care, or something like Medicare for All, from some of the other people running in the Democratic primary?”
Biden: “Well look, I think that they’re well-intended, I think they mean it… But here’s the deal. Right now, you have 60%….you have this overwhelming number of employers who are paying into a health care plan. Why let them off the hook? All of a sudden they don’t have to pay anything? What happens then to this whole thing about profit, and the rest? I mean, it should be part of the compensation if you have it.”
Uh,… wh... ????
Is he trying to say that “you can’t have a real populist initiative unless people spite their bosses?” Is he saying “there’ll be too much profit so we need to fix that by having employers still pay what they used to in health care costs?” Is he saying “Because employers pay for everyone’s health care, they’ve therefore endured enough of a burden that they justifiably earn the profits they make?” Is he saying “my opponents are being hypocrites because they rail against the evil employers but they then want to have them save money on health care costs?” Is he saying “the system we have should stay in place because it has proven that it keeps everything in balance, as evidenced by the profits that companies make?”
I literally can’t tell. I can grasp from this that “he doesn’t prefer Medicare for All,” but I don’t understand this rationale or the point he is making (micro or macro). As someone who can even interpret quotes from the Louis Gohmerts and Michelle Bachmanns of the world (since I sometimes have to do this in order to communicate with Rightwing friends and colleagues), I’m still lost on this one.
Someone please help.