For better or for worse, by saying “I'm with [Sen.] Bernie [Sanders]” on eliminating private coverage, Warren admitted that she's “got a plan” for taking away Americans' current insurance. Having seen her fellow senator and presidential candidate Kamala Harris flip-flop on her earlier comments about banning private coverage, Warren went all-in on embracing single-payer insurance, perhaps to siphon away Sanders' socialist base.
Warren used flimsy reasoning to justify her support for single payer, talking repeatedly about insurers' profits. As she noted, those profitstotaled just over $20 billion last year. But during the last fiscal year, Medicare and Medicaid incurred a combined $84.7 billion in improper payments—payments made in the wrong amount, or outright fraud. With improper payments in government programs totaling nearly four times the amount of insurers' earnings, a move to single payer would likely end up substituting private-sector profits for increased waste, fraud, and abuse in the government plan.
