Mark Cuban challenges Warren's Medicare-for-all plan
Entrepreneur Mark Cuban is the latest in a recent string of billionaires to challenge Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, by firing off a tweet about her Medicare-for-all proposal on Monday.
Cuban put a question out to his followers about whether he and his family should have to pay for health care.
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Musician John Legend responded to him, saying it’s not free and that his taxes would go toward paying for the proposal. In response, Cuban said the wealth tax “isn’t enough to cover it.” He then floated the idea that if he and Legend paid for their own health care, everyone else would be taxed less or their tax dollars could be put toward other things like fighting climate change.
Over the weekend, Cuban accused Warren of “misleading the public” regarding a potential approval timeline for Medicare-for-all, in addition to its costs.
Warren has faced criticism for insisting she will not raise taxes on the middle class to fund her Medicare-for-all proposal – unlike Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, who has acknowledged taxes would rise but would be offset by lower health care costs. Warren recently said she would use her wealth tax to pay for it, boosting the top rate to 6 percent from 3 percent in addition to some other measures.
Warren’s proposals have taken heat from a number of high-profile wealthy individuals of late, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and hedge fund manager Leon Cooperman. Gates, who has made no secret that he believes he should be paying more in taxes, made a joke about Warren’s wealth tax proposal last week during a New York Times/DealBook conference, while adding he didn’t know how “open-minded” she was to the possibility of sitting down with someone of his net worth.
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“I’ve paid over $10 billion in taxes, I’ve paid more than anyone in taxes,” Gates had said. “If I’d had to have paid $20 billion in taxes — fine. But, when you say I should pay $100 billion ... OK, I’m starting to do a little math about what I have left over.”
Warren responded by saying she is always happy to sit down with people who don’t share her opinions. She also released a wealth tax calculator that includes a special button for Gates to show him how much he would owe under her plan.
Cooperman, meanwhile, wrote a letter to Warren after the pair engaged in an exchange on Twitter. He accused her of vilifying the rich.