BILL HEMMER (CO-ANCHOR): Kamala Harris on the late night show talking about health care. Her idea: Medicare for All, you can keep your doctor. Watch.
[BEGIN VIDEO]
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA): Ninety-one percent of the doctors in America are in Medicare. And those that are not are mostly pediatricians, and -- the 9%. And you know why they're not in Medicare, because Medicare doesn't cover children. But when we have Medicare for All, that will not be any longer the case, which means that the vast majority of doctors will be in that system and you can keep your doctor under that system.
[END VIDEO]
CHARLES PAYNE (FOX BUSINESS HOST): I really hate to say it, but that's a very simplistic and not necessarily -- it's sort of disingenuous. Yeah, 91% are in this system, doesn't mean they that really want Medicare patients. Ninety-four percent are in private insurance. Here's the thing people must realize: Medicare pays, on average, 80% less than private insurance, right? It's hard to get paid when you go through Medicare. It could take a month, it could take two months, particularly if there are any questions on the paperwork. Medicare payments have not kept up with inflation.
So if she's talking about taking a system that pays doctors more, that incentivize them more, paying them less, maybe, you know, 20% less -- doctors in our country also have the highest rate of suicides of any profession because of the workload, because of the stress, because of the burn-out. She's talking about really overburdening the medical system right now as it stands, and I think it's going to backfire miserably.
