Single Payer, Mixed Signals: Goodlander Won't Commit; Tang Williams Says Expand Consumer Choices

By Leonard Robinson, NH Journal

The first debate between Democratic Rep. Maggie Goodlander and Republican Lily Tang Williams was a mostly tame affair, but a notable moment came when Goodlander was asked about single-payer health care, often known as Medicare for All.

“Nearly three million Americans have lost health insurance under congressional changes to the ACA (Affordable Care Act),” Keene Sentinel reporter Rick Green asked Goodlander. “Many in your own party say the best way forward is through a single-payer or Medicare for All plan. What do you think?”

Goodlander declined to state her position on a single-payer plan, instead saying, “every American should get the health care that they need when they need it and where they need it.”

“We have right now before us a genuine crisis of President Trump’s own creation, a healthcare crisis that has been sparked by his decision to pioneer the biggest cuts to health care in American history,” Goodlander said. “People in this room who are paying more than ever before for their health care because of these cuts to Medicaid, because of the refusal to actually extend the ACA tax credits.”

Earlier in the debate, Williams said her approach to health care would be to expand consumer choices in the marketplace, including allowing people to purchase insurance plans across state lines.

“We need more choices as consumers. We need more competition,” Williams said. “We need to let people go and decide their doctors, which ones have price transparency.”

Williams then turned to Goodlander, the incumbent, and asked, “when can we buy health insurance across state lines like car insurance?”

As with the Medicare for All question, Goodlander did not give a specific answer.

Throughout the debate between Goodlander and Williams, Williams frequently questioned whether Goodlander truly understood the affordability challenges voters face.

A recent six-figure advertising campaign set to run through Election Day sought to contrast the candidates by highlighting Williams’ experience growing up in communist China.

“I lived under communism. I saw firsthand where it leads: poverty, despair, and the loss of individual freedom,” Williams said in the ad. “I came to America because here, hard work and freedom give people the opportunity to build a better life. I will fight to make sure we never lose that American Dream.”

1st Congressional District Candidates And Health Care

Across the congressional district line in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District, Democrat Stefany Shaheen has fully embraced Medicare for All.

During her first debate with Republican Anthony DiLorenzo, Shaheen firmly backed Medicare for All, a single-payer health insurance system.

“The fact is, competition in health care doesn’t work,” Shaheen said. “Studies have shown that Medicare for All can save us up to $1 trillion.”

She has previously said single-payer healthcare should end private insurance.

That marked a shift from the start of her congressional race, when Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s daughter took an approach similar to Goodlander’s and offered vague generalities rather than specific policy positions.

“I support every option we need to fix this broken healthcare system, but that (single payer) is not where we – we know we have to deliver change today with meaningful measures that happen today. We can’t wait for rebuilding the system to deliver relief for people,” Shaheen said in June.

Months later, after a last-minute endorsement from self-appointed “Medicare for All candidate” Christian Urrutia in the crowded Democratic primary, Shaheen reversed course, with Urrutia offering a “100 percent guarantee” that she supported Medicare for All.

“Progressives want someone who’s going to put Medicare for All front and center,” Urrutia said. “It’s clear Shaheen is there.”

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.