WASHINGTON _ The four leading 2020 candidates in Thursday's debate split into two distinct groups on health care policy and free college, clashing over ideas more than personalities while presenting their plans to overhaul the nation's health care and education systems.
Former Vice President Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind., backed an expansion of Obamacare while letting private health insurance companies continue to operate. California Sen. Kamala Harris and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said private health insurance will not exist if they are elected to office.
"I mean, that health care in my view is a human right and we've got to pass a 'Medicare for All' single-payer system," Sanders said. "Under that system, by the way, the vast majority of people in the country will be paying significantly less for health care than they are now."
Biden said the quickest and fastest way to build up consumer confidence in the nation's health care system is to expand Obamacare.
"I'm against any Democrat who wants to take down Obamacare and any Republican," Biden said, after referencing his family's health-related tragedies. "Urgency matters, there's people right now facing what I faced."
The split between the leading candidates presents a clear contrast to voters with Biden and Buttigieg representing a step-by-step vision for change while Sanders and Harris argued for greater change. Buttigieg and Biden also backed incremental changes to lower the costs of attending college while Sanders touted his plan to provide free college for everyone, regardless of degree or income level.
The astronomical costs of Sanders' plans led the self-described democratic socialist to embrace an idea that was considered political suicide for years: raising taxes for middle-class Americans.
"People who have health care on Medicare for All will have no premiums, no deductibles, no copayments or out-of-pocket expenses," Sanders said. "Yes, they will pay more taxes but less in health care for what they get."
Harris and Sanders, who rank fourth and second among 2020 candidates in most polls, respectively, were the only two candidates on stage to back abolishing private insurance. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio backed the idea on Wednesday night.
For the first hour of Thursday's debate, the other leading candidates mostly refrained from attacking Biden, the front-runner by traditional measures of fundraising, polls and political experience. Biden wasn't attacked by anyone on the stage Wednesday, either.
But in hour two the gloves came off, as Harris criticized Biden for his stance opposing federal funding for interracial busing and comments praising his ability to work with long-dead Democrats who defended Jim Crow laws and were avowed segregationists.
"Vice President Biden, do you agree today, do you agree today that you were wrong to oppose busing in America then? Do you agree?" Harris asked.
Biden went on defense, arguing that local governments had the right at the time to oppose it.
"I did not oppose busing in America," Biden said. "What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education. That's what I opposed."
But the larger question answered by the candidates on Thursday was their philosophy on government.
"Everybody who says they're for Medicare for All, every person in politics who allows that phrase to escape their lips has a responsibility to explain how we're supposed to get from here to there," Buttigieg said. "Here's what I want to do. It's very similar. I would call it Medicare for All for those who want it."
