page_title: Political positions of Elizabeth Warren
section_title: Health care
hierarchical_section_title: Political positions of Elizabeth Warren / Health care
caption_attribution_description: DSC_8923
context_page_description: Elizabeth Warren is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
  Warren was a candidate in the 2020 United States presidential election.
context_section_description: In the 2008 book, Health at Risk, in the chapter Get Sick, Go Broke, Warren and Deborah Thorne wrote that "We approach the health care debates from a single perspective: maintaining the financial stability of families confronting illness or injury. The most obvious solution would be universal single-payer health care."
  However, Warren and Thorne also note that "If universal, single-payer health insurance is politically unacceptable, then another option would be to guarantee all Americans access to affordable and adequate health insurance that cannot be terminated or made more costly if a family member is ill or injured." Warren supported the Affordable Care Act and has opposed Republican efforts to repeal it however in June 2017, she said that Democratic Party should start running on a new national single-payer plan:  "President Obama tried to move us forward with health-care coverage by using a conservative model that came from one of the conservative think tanks that had been advanced by a Republican governor in Massachusetts.  Now it's time for the next step. And the next step is single payer." She has spoken against the 2.3 percent tax on medical devices introduced by the ACA.
  In December 2016, Warren was one of five senators to vote against the Obama administration-supported 21st Century Cures Act, legislation increasing funding for disease research while addressing flaws in the American mental health systems and altering drugs and medical devices' regulatory system."
  In April 2017, Warren was one of five Democratic senators to sign a letter to President Trump that warned failure "to take immediate action to oppose the lawsuit or direct House Republicans to forgo this effort will increase instability in the insurance market, as insurers may choose not to participate in the marketplace in 2018" and that they remained concerned that his administration "has still not provided certainty to insurers and consumers that you will protect the cost-sharing subsidies provided under the law."
  In September 2017, Warren said she would support Bernie Sanders' single-payer plan that would expand Medicare to all Americans.  Warren said that the plan would guarantee medical care for all at the lowest prices. In a message to her supporters  she said, "Health care is a basic human right and it's time to fight for it."
  In January 2018, during a speech to a conference hosted by Families USA, Warren opined that it was time for Democrats to play "offense" on the issue of health care. She cited alternatives to a single payer plan including creating a public health insurance option in the Affordable Care Act and authorizing individuals to buy into Medicaid. Warren stated that "giant insurance companies have pretty much run the show" for too long and that progress needed to be made in holding American insurance companies accountable.
  In December 2018, Warren was one of forty-two senators to sign a letter to Trump administration officials Alex Azar, Seema Verma, and Steve Mnuchin arguing that the administration was improperly using Section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act to authorize states to "increase health care costs for millions of consumers while weakening protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions." The senators requested the administration withdraw the policy and "re-engage with stakeholders, states, and Congress."
  In December 2018, Warren introduced legislation that would vest a to-be established governmental agency ("Office of Drug Manufacturing", to operate within the HHS) with the authority to manufacture generic forms of pharmaceuticals for which the US government has licensed a patent whenever there is "little or no competition, critical shortages, or exorbitant prices that restrict patient access."
  In January 2019, during the 2018–19 United States federal government shutdown, Warren was one of thirty-four senators to sign a letter to Commissioner of Food and Drugs Scott Gottlieb recognizing the efforts of the FDA to address the effect of the government shutdown on the public health and employees while remaining ala
caption: Warren speaks in favor of single-payer healthcare in 2017
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