Rep. Pramila Jayapal on The Future of the Democratic Party

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Can I ask you about health care? You are on the more progressive side of the Democratic Party, I mean, at least you supported and backed Bernie Sanders who wants Medicare for All like you do. Joe Biden does not but he’s put all sorts of plans for more health care for people. Do you think he’s movable further left? Do you think that ship of Medicare for All has sailed for now? You were on the taskforce of the Biden — Sanders task force on health policy and health care. Where do you think Americans — what do you think Americans can expect for health care from a Biden administration?

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): Yes, I cochaired that task force, the unity task force for Biden and Sanders. And I will tell you, Christiane, that I think the support for Medicare for All is stronger than ever before, particularly because the pandemic has shown us many of the things that we’ve been saying for a long time were actually true. Nobody today is making the case that employer covered health care provides so much choice. There are 27 million people who lost their jobs and lost their health care because of a for-profit system that ties health to jobs. So, we went into the task force understanding that Joe Biden had a stake in the sand around the Affordable Care Act, that was his legacy. We were not going to turn him into Bernie Sanders. Our goal then became to make sure that the tenants of Medicare for All and Universal Health Care were part of the platform. And we achieved substantial progress on that. We got commitment to untether health care from jobs. We got commitments for the most aggressive pharmaceutical drug pricing action that we have seen, including beyond what we did in the U.S. House of Representatives last year. We got agreement that any public option should actually be administered by Medicare and not by private insurance companies. And so, there were, you know, several key issues that we were able to get included into the platform, including, by the way, long-term care. This was a big element of my Medicare for All bill in the House. The first time we’ve taken on long-term care. And in a pandemic where all these nursing homes and seniors have been infected and have died, this became a bigger issue than ever. So, the platform now includes, thanks to our negotiations, 600,000 new jobs and a long-term supports and services arena, all $15 minimum wage jobs, at least, plus benefits, which will eliminate the 800,000-person waiting list that currently exists for long-term care. So, I think the pandemic has really taken us to a new place. And we will continue to fight for Medicare for All. I haven’t changed my view, but we got significant progress into this platform, most progressive platform yet.