Elizabeth Warren Doesn’t Want to Say How She’d Pay for Her Health Care Plan

Elizabeth Warren famously has a plan for everything—everything, that is, except financing the single-payer health care system she says she supports. It’s a telling omission that reveals what happens when Warren’s wonky tendencies come into conflict with her campaign mantras.

Since launching her presidential campaign, the Massachusetts Democrat has rolled out Warren-branded plans for everything from universal childcare to green energy to “economic patriotism.” But on health care, so far, the senator has been content to endorse Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All plan, which would eliminate most private health insurance and set up a government-run health insurance system, without putting forth one of her own.

The Sanders plan would, according to Sanders himself as well as multiple independent estimates, require new government spending totaling somewhere between $30 and $40 trillion a year. While Sanders has outlined ways to offset some of that cost, he hasn’t put forth a plan to fully finance the additional spending. He has, however, made clear that it would require higher taxes on the middle class.

Israel issues ‘urgent’ warning to Iranian civilians to ‘refrain’ from train travel

Obama Center takes heat as critics cry foul over ID rules for free entry — while Dems blast voter ID laws

Watch: Hegseth Describes Pilot’s Miraculous Easter Rescue in Terms the Godless Biden Admin Wouldn’t Dare Utter

New poll reveals Spanberger’s popularity is plummeting amid backlash over gerrymandering

Mamdani unveils new ‘racial equity plan’ for more ‘equitable future’ that prompts quick DOJ pushback

Bald-headed killer smiles as prosecutors reveal what she did before dad walked in

Tim Walz-Appointed Judge Throws Out All Charges Against Woman Accused of Interrupting Easter Service

AI-backed super PAC expands into multiple GOP primaries after claiming early wins

Repeat offender with 19 felonies busted after wild caught-on-camera chase: police

Trump Says Media Leak Jeopardized Iran Rescue, Threatens Reporter with Jail

Finally: Thanks to Pete Hegseth, American Servicemen Are No Longer Sitting Ducks on Their Own Bases

Orban accuses Ukraine of terrorist plot against pipeline amid uphill election battle

Megan Rapinoe Back in the Spotlight – And Getting Torched – For Blasting Rule Protecting Women Athletes

Trump claims he’d win as the president of Venezuela — just needs to ‘quickly’ learn Spanish

Steve Daines’ handpicked Senate successor Kurt Alme vows to keep Montana in Republican hands in 2026

But despite endorsing Sanders’ plan, Warren has repeatedly declined to say that middle-class taxes would have to go up. She dodged the question in earlier debates this year. And at the debate last night, she once again all but refused to answer the question directly.

Instead, she offered a vague promise that “middle-class families are going to pay less” while insisting that “those at the very top—the richest individuals and the biggest corporations—are going to pay more.”

When a debate moderator pressed her specifically on the question of taxes, she still declined to offer a direct response. Families have to deal with “total cost,” she said, reiterating her support for Medicare for All. “Costs are going to go up for wealthier individuals, and costs are going to go up for giant corporations. But for hard-working families across this country, costs are going to go down, and that’s how it should work under Medicare for All in our health care system.” The specific question—Would taxes rise for middle-class families?—remained unanswered.

In part, this is a sign that Warren, though running what is nominally a bold progressive campaign, has adopted the conventional Democratic playbook when it comes to tax hikes. As Russell Berman writes at The Atlantic, in recent years the party’s presidential candidates have tended to adhere to the rule that it’s OK to propose raising taxes on the rich—but not on the broadly defined middle class.