Bennet slams Warren’s Medicare for All plan: ‘This isn’t going to happen’

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) slammed Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) “Medicare for All” proposal on Friday, saying the plan is not believable.  

“Voters are sick and tired of politicians promising them things that they know they can’t deliver,” Bennet said in a statement. “Warren’s new numbers are simply not believable and have been contradicted by experts. Regardless of whether it’s $21 trillion or $31 trillion, this isn’t going to happen, and the American people need health care.”

Warren released her highly anticipated Medicare for All proposal on Thursday after pressure from her Democratic presidential rivals. 

Warren’s plan does not include a tax hike on the middle class, unlike her progressive rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has said tax hikes are needed to help pay for the program.

Warren said that the plan will be paid for by redirecting some funds from states to help fund Medicare. The senator also revealed that the plan would cost an extra $20.5 trillion in new federal spending over 10 years, a lower estimate than the $34 trillion in new spending the Urban Institute had said would be needed.

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign also took aim at Warren’s plan in a statement, saying it hid the truth from voters on raising middle-class tax cuts. 

“The mathematical gymnastics in this plan are all geared towards hiding a simple truth from voters: it’s impossible to pay for Medicare for All without middle-class tax increases,” Biden’s communications director, Kate Bedingfield, said in a statement.