 Back in February the intercept published a really insightful piece by Ryan Grimm Which I'm sure you all have read by now where he talks about how the top a to Nancy Pelosi a gentleman named Wendell Premis Assured health industry executives from Blue Cross Blue Shield behind closed doors That they have nothing to worry about when it comes to Medicare for all because presumably They're gonna stop that momentum before it really starts to take hold and there's already a lot of momentum But just the fact that they would be presumably Conspiring to crush this movement behind closed doors the fact that the highest ranking Democrats top aid would be in cahoots With health industry executives It was completely outrageous and people were mad about this and rightfully so But thankfully someone who's a true advocate for Medicare for all is on our side and decided to confront Wendell About him assuring Blue Cross Blue Shield executives that they don't have to worry about Medicare for all because in reality They do the momentum that you see for this It's not gonna die down because we've never had this much momentum I don't think for Medicare for all so if we stop now We would be moron so we're not gonna do that and I think Primula Jayapal knows that now for those of you Who don't know Primula Jayapal is the new co-sponsor or the new sponsor rather of the house's Medicare for all Act and it is absolutely phenomenal I had my doubts at first because it seemed like she was being relatively Standoffish and she was drafting it behind closed doors and didn't want to Allow advocates a lot of input, but that all changed she listened to people and it's a really phenomenal bill It's incredibly strong and what I like is that Bernie Sanders has I believe pledged to Reintroduce his version in the Senate that matches her bill. So I love her bill. I love that. She's an advocate She really did prove herself and now she's proving herself yet again because she reportedly confronted Wendell Primus and Basically told him Why would you tell health industry executives that they don't have to worry about Medicare for all? What's your goal here? Are you trying to undermine this movement? So as Adam can grant of political reports congressional progressive caucus co-chair Pramila Jayapal on Tuesday Confronted a top aide to speaker Nancy Pelosi expressing frustration over his private dismissals of Medicare for all legislation Jayapal a lead author of the plan HR 1384 told Wendell Primus who serves as Pelosi senior health policy advisor that she did not Appreciate what she perceived as his efforts to undermine lawmakers bills Jayapal pressed him to explain reports that he made disdainful remarks about the proposal in separate meetings with health policy researchers and insurance executives I made it clear that I was not happy Jayapal said following a previously scheduled caucus meeting with Primus I think it's really inappropriate for staff representing the speaker's office to be undercutting members of our caucus During the meeting Primus told progressive members that his remarks were mischaracterized and that Medicare for all was just a small part of his November discussion with health policy groups according to Jayapal He did not apologize multiple congressional progressive caucus members told Politico though. No apology was explicitly sought I would say it was pretty unapologetic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said of Primus's response during the closed-door session I think it's concerning Primus was pressed on other topics including drug pricing during the meeting But Jayapal specifically challenged Primus over Medicare for all pointing the copies of slides that he presented to Blue Cross Blue Shield Executives laying out concerns with single-payer health care. I wasn't particularly convinced by his answers Jayapal said we took some things out of the slides and said these are some of the things you said It's not a matter of perception So not only is this brave, but I think what she's doing is savvy because she's using his own words against him because of course If you were going to confront him He just squirmed and tried to deflect because this was a meeting that took place Behind closed doors. We only heard about second-hand accounts So nobody was there who took issue with this, right? But what she did was she took out the slides that he presented and used his own words against him and that is absolutely Brilliant so do I believe him absolutely not and it seems like members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus don't believe him as well He's unapologetic and clearly he's trying to undermine our efforts. I'm glad that they confronted him about this But the problem is Nancy Pelosi has got to get rid of this guy You can't have this guy as your top aide either demote him or fire him because someone who is in cahoots colluding with health industry executives to undermine our fight for Medicare for all that is Corruption that obviously poses a conflict of interest. It's overtly corrupt. There may be no quid pro quo But obviously what you're doing here poses a conflict of interest and I can't see how this is an unnational scandal Now the one thing that kind of bothered me about this is that Pramila Jayapal She made it clear that her argument isn't necessarily about Nancy Pelosi and her criticism of Nancy Pelosi's aid William Primus in no way should determine how she feels about Nancy Pelosi I'm paraphrasing but for the most part that was the sentiment and look you've got a hammer Nancy Pelosi She is a conservative. She's conservative on this issue If you are going to be to the right of The UK's Prime Minister who's in the conservative party on the issue of healthcare. You're no progressive You're just flat out conservative Now if you want to say she's a progressive in other areas that she was great when it comes to LGBTQ rights a hundred years ago Great, but on this issue. She's conservative and she's part of the problem too. Hey to break it to you, but she is So I'm glad that Pramila Jayapal and really other members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus They have the courage to confront Nancy Pelosi's top aid because you've got to understand that this could lead to Unintended consequences he could complain to Nancy Pelosi about the progressives getting too rowdy and then she could choose to penalize them in some way Now would she go as far as to strip them of their committee assignments? I don't think she'd go that far, but there are other ways that she could Marginalize them and really undermine their agenda and she could basically Stop this Medicare for all debate in its tracks I mean, we're finally getting hearings for Medicare for all and that was one of her concessions as if that's Well, it's such a big concession, but I mean nevertheless She can still do things to make their lives miserable So it is really brave that they're kind of putting their necks on the line here and saying look the fact that you did this The fact that you assured Blue Cross Blue Shield executives that you're gonna stop Medicare for all Maybe not in those exact words, but you're kind of giving them the wink and the nod that that's what you will do It's downright morally reprehensible because these are companies that profit off of ripping off people They don't care about delivery of health care. They care about delivery of profits to their pockets They care about their wallets. So that's why we need Medicare for all because if health care is free at the point of service then We're more concerned with health care itself as a goal Not profits and this is what these health insurance companies do So for any candidate who is hedging on whether or not we should get rid of these health insurance companies Understand something. They're not serious about Medicare for all It's why Bernie Sanders is the only candidate who is serious about Medicare for all No other candidate in the 2020 race is as serious about it as Bernie Sanders You can say that I'm being unfair, but facts are facts and Until other candidates start unequivocally calling for these health insurance companies to go away I'm not gonna take them seriously because if you want Medicare for all then obviously the goal is to get these health insurance companies To go out of business. That's the goal. You're not gonna explicitly ban them via legislation You're not gonna codify a law that says health companies are illegal But you are going to make our own Single-payer Medicare for all type systems so good that you don't need them that they go out of business And sure you can still have supplemental care if somebody wants a cosmetic procedure If you want to get like a nose job or something that doesn't actually Have anything to do with your personal health and well-being you can have health care companies for instances like that But by and large if your goal is not to do away with the health insurance companies You're just not serious about Medicare for all Bernie's the one candidate So if you support Medicare for all if this is your number one issue Bernie's got to be your guy now I don't want to flip this about Bernie when it's supposed to be about Pramila Jayapal because by and large What she did here was courageous what AOC did here was also courageous But she kind of led the charge here But this does get to the point of if we truly do want Medicare for all We've got to get people in the leadership who support it Barney Sanders obviously would be the person Who would fight for it Nancy Pelosi would not and has not been fighting for it. So, you know If you want to get the policies you've got to change People in the positions of power who just are trying to fight tooth and nail for these policies because quite frankly They're corrupt They're corporate pawns as Nancy Pelosi would say herself