With the candidates relatively neck and neck, issues important to small business provided a means to differentiate their platforms at the Iowa Brown & Black Forum.
The Democratic presidential candidates made some pretty big promises at the Iowa Brown & Black Presidential Forum on Jan. 11: Bernie Sanders pledged to liberate the healthcare market from insurance companies, while Hillary Clinton vowed to increase paid leave without raising taxes. Although little was said about tax reform, minimum wages or business regulations, both presidential hopefuls outlined plans that would drastically change the American healthcare and labor market.
Sanders plans for comprehensive, universal healthcare
It’s time to take private insurance companies out of the healthcare system, Sanders said.
He called for a Medicare-for-all, single-payer program, which would “save middle class families thousands of dollars” by guaranteeing everyone healthcare and decreasing the price of prescription drugs.
Additionally, Sanders claimed the U.S. healthcare system has not advanced in the modern era. He pointed out that the United States is the only industrialized country that does not guarantee universal healthcare and still pays more per capita for healthcare than some European countries
“We are spending almost three times as much as the British, and 50 percent more than the French,” Sanders declared.
RELATED: What a Democrat in the White House Would Mean for Small Business
Clinton focuses on paid leave, without increasing taxes
Although Clinton emphasized that she supported the substance of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s bill to expand paid leave, she advocated an alternative plan that would avoid increasing payroll taxes.
“I have the same plan but paid for by closing loopholes and raising taxes on the wealthy,” Clinton said. “My plan is a better approach to get to the same objective.”
Both bills would increase paid leave to 12 weeks and paid sick leave to seven days. However, Gillibrand’s bill levies a 0.2 percent tax on both employees and their employers, while Clinton promises there will be “no business or employee mandate to pay for leave, nor [will there be] a payroll tax to pay for it.”
That would leave the policy vulnerable, though, said Bryce Covert on Slate. “When paid family leave relies on general tax revenue, it depends on a code that can be changed at any time and is subject to the whims of budget battles—battles that happen with greater and greater frequency in the U.S. Paid leave would be on an unstable footing from the get-go.”
RELATED: Hillary Clinton’s Ambitious Minimum Wage Proposal
Clinton Vows to Never Repeal Obamacare
Polls find that Sanders and Clinton are virtually deadlocked in Iowa and New Hampshire as the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses approach. “The survey underscores the challenge Mrs. Clinton faces in the first two nominating states,” The Wall Street Journal reported. “Losses in Iowa and New Hampshire would level a blow to Mrs. Clinton’s presidential prospects, give Mr. Sanders a burst of momentum and immediately inject his campaign with more credibility.”
*Note: This news coverage does not equate to an endorsement of any candidate by NFIB.
