Medicare-for-all means 'Medicare-for-none': HHS Secretary Alex Azar

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told FOX Business the Medicare-for-all proposal supported by some 2020 Democratic presidential candidates will take private insurance away from people.

“One thing we are learning as the Medicare-for-all advocates keep talking about Medicare-for-all is that it means Medicare-for none,” he said on “Varney & Co.” Thursday.

Health care took center stage in the two-rounds of Democratic primary debates this week which signaled a divide among the 2020 presidential candidates.

Progressive candidates like independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren have championed a single-payer system that would put every American on a government insurance plan. Former Vice President Joe Biden, the party’s frontrunner, supports a health care plan that largely mirrors ObamaCare but with a public option, while California Sen. Kamala Harris’ plan does not totally eliminate private insurance.

Azar said President Trump will not allow the Democrats to take away the private insurance of 180 million people or undermine Medicare for 60 million seniors.

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“He is going to create options and choices for those who are in the individual market,” he said. “That’s what we’re doing. That’s the competing vision of healthcare of personalized, affordable, [and] patient-centric that puts you in control of your own health care.”