Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden revealed Friday he would reinstate the individual mandate and penalize Americans who do not obtain health care coverage if he were to win the presidency.
“I think there should be health care for everyone. I have a plan how to do that that’s rational, that’ll cost a hell of a lot less and will work,” Biden told CNN’s Chris Cuomo during an interview.
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Biden put forth that as a way to guarantee that all Americans receive health care coverage, the federal government would fine any individual who did not obtain sufficient health insurance.
The mandate was initially part of the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act, more commonly referred to as Obamacare. As a way to bypass the unconstitutional requirement to force Americans to purchase insurance, the individual mandate was categorized as an income-based tax levy.
“Yes, yes, I’d bring back the individual mandate,” Biden replied when Cuomo inquired further about the unpopular penalty. (RELATED: Did Kamala Harris Flip Again On Abolishing The Private Health Insurance Market? She Says It Was A Mistake)
“We’re in a situation where if you provide an option for anybody who in fact wants to buy into Medicare for All, they can buy in,” Biden said. “But if they like their employer-based insurance … they shouldn’t have to give it up.”
The former vice president contended that despite its unpopularity, an individual mandate is still more popular than the plans his 2020 Democratic challengers have largely been promoting, which includes eliminating the private health insurance market in favor of a single-payer system.
“If you go their way, you have to give up all of that,” Biden said, referring to his Democratic rivals. “What’s going to happen when you have 300 million people landing on a health care plan? How long’s that going to take? What’s it going to do?”
“In the meantime, a lot of people are going to be in trouble,” he added.
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