Caught Red-Handed Trying To Mislead Voters
BOSTON - Last night during an appearance on New England Cable News (NECN), Elizabeth Warren attempted to mislead voters by denying that she had supported a European-style, single-payer health care system, lecturing interviewer Jim Braude that she did not support such a system and that he “needed to go back and take a look” at her previous statements on the issue.
As it turns out, Braude had already taken a look. The host quickly called the Harvard professor’s bluff, pointing to a 2008 book Warren co-authored where she describes single-payer as the “most obvious and workable solution” to health care.
“Elizabeth Warren is once again not being straight with the voters of Massachusetts,” said Jim Barnett, campaign manager for Scott Brown. ”Warren can run, but she can’t hide from her support for a radical European-style, single-payer health care scheme that would destroy jobs, crush our economy and, even by her own admission, lead to rationing of services. The more we learn about Elizabeth Warren, the more we realize she is just another politician who will do or say anything to get ahead.”
Click HERE for video of the exchange last night, and see below for the transcript, as well as Warren’s previous writings supporting single-payer:
NECN’S JIM BRAUDE: If you were the tsarina – I want to know what your philosophy of this is – I’ve read some of your work through the years even before I knew you. If you were the tsarina, something like single-payer, government run health care, far lower administrative costs, that sort of thing, would be the Senator Warren prescription, would it not?
HARVARD PROFESSOR ELIZABETH WARREN: I think right now what we have to do -I’m serious about this – I think you’ve got to stay with what’s possible – and I think what we’re doing – and look at the dust-up around this – we really need to consolidate our gains around what we’ve got on the table…
BRAUDE: But you do support single-payer, do you not?
WARREN: No, what I’ve got right now
BRAUDE: You’ve wrote repeatedly that you have, have you not?
WARREN: Oh! I think you need to go back and take a look.
BRAUDE: I have a paragraph: ‘The most obvious solution would be universal, single-payer health care. Single-payer care would also free families from dependents on an employers’ plan and make certain that everyone is covered whether or not – you wrote that with a co-author from Ohio.
WARREN: I wrote that with two – two I think. That’s exactly right. But the point is, what we’ve got to do, is we’ve got to keep moving in the direction of getting more families covered and bringing down the costs of health care, and I think we’ve taken a big step in that direction.
BACKGROUND
Warren Said Single-Payer Health Care Was “The Most Obvious” Solution To America’s Health Care Problems. ”We approach the health care debates from a single perspective: maintaining the financial stability of families confronting illness or injury. The most obvious solution would be universal single-payer health care. This would allow people to get the care they need – without risking bankruptcy to pay for it. No more credit card debt at 29.9 percent interest to pay for drugs; no more second mortgages to pay for a hospital admission; no more dealing with debt collectors who garnish wages and threaten to put liens on homes. Single-payer care would also free families from dependence on an employer’s plan and make certain that everyone is covered whether or not they are employed.” (Deborah Thorne and Elizabeth Warren, “Get Sick, Go Broke,” Edited By Jacob S. Hacker,Health At Risk, 2008, p. 76-77)
Warren Admitted There Were Cost-Containment Issues With Single-Payer, And The “Ever-Present Specter Of Rationing Medical Care.” ”We recognize that there are cost-containment issues and the ever-present specter of rationing medical care. But from the perspective of family finances, this is the most obvious and workable solution.” (Deborah Thorne and Elizabeth Warren, “Get Sick, Go Broke,” Edited By Jacob S. Hacker, Health At Risk, 2008, p. 76-77)
