Of all the issues Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg discussed in a lengthy interview Friday, one phrase clearly struck a nerve: āI trust you to figure out your own health care.ā
āInstead of just assuming that sitting here in Washington weāre going to know what the right plan is for everybody ... weāre going to let people figure it out for themselves,ā the South Bend, Indiana, mayor told Robert Costa of The Washington Post in a live-streamed interview. āI trust you to figure out your own health care, especially when we create these options.ā
His phrasing clearly struck many critics on Twitter as cold. Some of the responses on Twitter reeled through horrifying health stories as sufferers were left to deal with the consequences of a flawed system that is clearly panicking many Americans. Others quipped that they had figured it out, and itās called āMedicare for All.ā
A Buttigieg spokesman responded to critics that itās āvery clearā the candidate āwould make Medicare available to everybody.ā In fact, Buttigieg told Costa that he calls his plan āMedicare for All Who Want It.ā He would establish a public plan available to all. āBut if you like the plan youāve got, Iām not going to force you off of it,ā he added. (See the video above, beginning at 47:50.)
Critics couldnāt get the āfigure it outā phrase out of their head, which was highlighted in a tweet by David Smith, the Washington bureau chief for The Guardian. The truncated Twitter take on Buttigiegās interview may have been the primary news source for many critics.
