What Went Down In The Fourth Democratic Debate

This kind of attack is a new thing for Buttigieg — he hasn’t really done this in previous debates. He’s going after Warren now pretty aggressively, but it’ll be interesting to see how it plays afterward. Attacks haven’t always gone well in these debates so far. Maybe it’ll work for Buttigieg, though, in positioning himself as a moderate in contrast with Warren.

I thought Buttigieg tended to get the better of that exchange as it went on. (Although I think Warren should probably have been afforded one more response.) The reasons you might prefer Medicare for All to Medicare for All Who Want It are fairly complicated and not all that easy to explain in the context of a debate.

Forty-one percent of Americans favor a Medicare for All health care system in which private insurance would be eliminated, while 67 percent favor allowing people under the age of 65 to buy health coverage through Medicare. Among Democratic primary voters, 63 percent are in favor of Medicare for All and 78 percent support giving people the option to buy in to Medicare, according to a September NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.