Biden touts Obamacare while slamming Sanders and Warren's healthcare plans

Mike Blake/Reuters

Sen. Bernie Sanders joins former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren onstage before the start at the 2020 Democratic presidential debate in Houston, Texas, on September 12, 2019.

• Former Vice President Joe Biden slammed Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders at the third Democratic debate, touting Obamacare as an alternative to the sweeping Medicare for All plans the senators have been calling for.
• Biden lauded Obamacare as a success at expanding healthcare coverage for millions and blasted Medicare for All, a proposal that would make the federal government the main health insurer for Americans and essentially abolish private insurance.
• Then Biden took aim at Warren, who's become one of the race's frontrunners. "I know that [Senator Warren] says she's for Bernie, well, I'm for Barack. I think it worked," Biden said.
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Former Vice President Joe Biden slammed Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders at the third Democratic debate, touting Obamacare as an alternative to the sweeping Medicare for All plans the senators have been calling for.

Biden lauded Obamacare as a success at expanding healthcare coverage for millions and blasted Medicare for All, a proposal that would make the federal government the main health insurer for Americans and essentially abolish private insurance.

Read more: Elizabeth Warren says she's got a detailed plan for almost everything, but she still lacks specifics on Medicare for All

Then Biden took aim at Warren, who's become one of the race's frontrunners. "I know that [Senator Warren] says she's for Bernie, well, I'm for Barack. I think it worked," Biden said.

Later, Sanders targeted Biden for defending "the status quo."

"We need a health care system that guarantees health care to all people as every other major country does, not a system which provides $100 billion a year in profit for the drug companies and the insurance companies," Sanders said.

Both duked it out in the early part of the debate, particularly over the price tag of Medicare for All. Estimates of the plan's cost range from $28 to $32 trillion over the first ten of years of its implementation.

Biden said of Sanders: "For a socialist, you've got a lot more confidence in corporate america than I do."

Still, Sanders stood his ground.

"Moving for Medicare for All is the way to go," Sanders said. 

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