Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg unveiled his proposed federal healthcare plan in Memphis Thursday.
Speaking to a crowd of about 200, the billionaire is touting the addition of a so-called "public option" to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
He described the option as a Medicare-like policy at a lower cost than private insurance, but said he would not eliminate private insurance as rival Democratic candidates are proposing.
“We don’t need Medicare-for-all proposals that are more likely to reelect Donald Trump than to expand coverage,” he told a packed room.
The public plan would target states such as Tennessee that did not expand Medicaid coverage under the ACA.
Memphis resident Eugenia Williams says she has two top candidates?—Vice President Joe Biden and Bloomberg?—but that Bloomberg’s healthcare proposal may help her decide.
“He’s laid the plan out so carefully,” she says. "Now all we [have] to do is step back and see if it’s really going to happen. I think he has a great chance.”
Memphis physician Michael Aziz prefers a Medicare-for-all plan that candidates like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are building their campaigns around. Aziz says that while Bloomberg’s proposal may expand health insurance access, it doesn’t necessarily mean more people will be covered.
“Unfortunately, this didn’t really cut it,” he says. “It was more political pragmatism than it was innovation for the future.”
Bloomberg’s plan also calls for price caps on both drug costs and out-of-network insurance charges.