Comes As Buttigieg Promotes Costly "Medicare for All" on Campaign Trail
INDIANAPOLIS – According to a report today from NBC News, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is the only Democrat presidential primary candidate known to not offer his campaign staff members health insurance coverage.
This comes as Buttigieg is traveling the country campaigning in favor of a "Medicare for All" single-payer health care system.
"If there wasn't already any doubt, today it is clear: Mayor Buttigieg is a hypocrite," said Kyle Hupfer, chairman of the Indiana Republican Party. "He's telling taxpayers they should shoulder the costs for everyone's health care, but he's not willing to foot the costs of covering his own employees."
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) this month warned that "Medicare for All" could result in "a shortage of providers, longer wait times and changes in the quality of care." In fact, the CBO warned that there are so many unknowns, it could not estimate a cost for implementing the plan, but it did note that "government spending on health care would increase substantially."
Instead of providing health insurance coverage, Buttigieg's campaign is providing its campaign workers a stipend of just $400 a month for health care, which the report highlights is in contrast to other campaigns.
"Buttigieg's stipend is the equivalent of someone giving you a few bucks and saying 'don't spend it all in one place.' Americans deserve real health care solutions -- including more competition to help drive down costs," said Hupfer. "But all we're getting from Buttigieg is hypocrisy and proposals that will irrevocably harm the world's greatest health care system."
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