Does Joe Biden Want to Eliminate Private Health Insurance?

No.

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During a segment on health care at last week’s presidential debate, President Trump claimed that Joe Biden wants to eliminate private health insurance plans.

“They have 180 million plans, 180 million people, families,” said Trump. “Under what he wants to do, which will basically be socialized medicine, he won’t even have a choice, they want to terminate 180 million plans.”

Biden’s health care proposal would build on the Affordable Care Act “with a plan to insure more than an estimated 97% of Americans.” His plan does not include getting rid of private insurance, which according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, an estimated 180 million people use.

Biden’s plan reads as follows: “Instead of starting from scratch and getting rid of private insurance, he has a plan to build on the Affordable Care Act by giving Americans more choice, reducing health care costs, and making our health care system less complex to navigate.”

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Comments (4)
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  1. Avatar photo
    TK

    This is the type of fact check that I expect from Snopes or Politifact. The implications of Biden's Public Option clearly lead to diminished if not entirely eliminate the private health insurance system. It is an egregious oversight that you didn't even mention Biden's plan for a public option outright and instead just linked to the plan. You guys are better than this and as a physician who fully understands the long-term ramifications of such a policy I have never been more disappointed in this publication, so please stop splitting hairs and discuss the actual results or expected results from Biden's policy and quit providing cover for such a terrible policy proposal.

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  2. Mathew A

    A public option would almost certainly over time crowd out private insurance. That's the whole point of it. You should really no better than that.

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  3. Avatar photo
    Nick H

    If the issue is whether or not Joe Biden *wants* to eliminate private heath insurance, the answer is "probably not." But if the question is whether Joe Biden's proposed policies will lead to the elimination of private health insurance, it's not nearly as clear cut as this makes it out to be.

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  4. Avatar photo
    Dante Longfellow

    1) The ACA eliminated all health insurance 10 years ago. Americans can buy healthcare plans, but not health insurance. It is illegal to sell it.

    2) Once the public option is in place, how long do you think private healthcare plan companies will be allowed to operate without being regulated out of existence?

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