 So when I talk about Medicare for All, I oftentimes will criticize some 2020 Democrats who are using this choice lineup attack against Medicare for All. They claim that Medicare for All reduces choice and they're actually opting to expand choice of the American electorate when it comes to healthcare because if you can choose between either private healthcare or a public option, then isn't that really the choice that you want to make. But I always retort by saying, no, the choice is allowing me to choose my doctor and hospital, not choose between public and private healthcare. That is the illusion of choice. Now, one thing that I always point out is that this is a talking point that originated directly from the industry. Republicans use it and now corporate Democrats are using it as well because it's an effective talking point that seems to be helping to push back against the momentum for Medicare for All. Now, when I say that this is a talking point that originated from the industry, I wasn't making that up or being hyperbolic. And in fact, a former health industry VP from Cigna, Wendell Potter, confirmed that this is actually an industry talking point because guess what, guys? I helped create this industry talking point. So he talked about this on Twitter in a thread that is long but incredibly important because he spills the tea on this talking point and effectively exposes anyone using it as frogs. So he tweets out, lately I've noticed some Democratic politicians defending the current healthcare system by saying it preserves choice for Americans. As a former health insurance executives who helped draft this talking point, I need to come clean on its backstory and why it's wrong and a trap. When I worked in the insurance industry, we were instructed to talk about choice based on focus groups and people like Frank Luntz who wrote the book on how the GOP should communicate with Americans. I used it all the time as an industry flak, but there was a problem. As a health insurance PR guy, we knew one of the huge vulnerabilities of the current system was lack of choice. In the current system, you can't pick your own doctor, specialist, or hospital without huge out-of-network bills, so we set out to muddy the issue of choice. As industry insiders, we also knew most Americans have very little choice of their plan. Your company chooses an insurance provider and you get to pick from a few different plans offered by that one insurer, usually either a high deductible plan or a higher deductible plan. Another problem insurers like mine had on the choice issue. People with employer based plans have very little choice to keep it. You can lose it if your company changes it or you change jobs or turn 26 or many other ways. This is a problem for defenders of the status quo. Knowing we were losing the choice argument, my pals in the insurance industry spent millions on lobbying ads and spin doctors. All designed to gaslight Americans into thinking that reforming the status quo would somehow give them less choice. An industry front group launched a campaign to achieve this very purpose. Its name? My Care My Choice. Its job? Trick Americans into thinking they currently can choose any plan they want and that their plan allows them to see any doctor. They've spent big in Iowa and he has an example right here of that deceptive campaign. Quote, this isn't the only time the industry made choice a big talking point in its scheme to fight health reform. Soon after Obamacare was passed, it created a front group called Choice and Competition Coalition to scare states away from creating exchanges with better plans. The difference is, this time, Democrats are the ones parroting the misleading choice talking point and they're even using it as a weapon against each other. Back in my insurance PR days, this would have stunned me. I bet my old colleagues are thrilled and celebrating. The truth, of course, is you have little choice in health care now. Most can't keep their plan as long as they want or visit any doctor or hospital. Some reforms like Medicare for all would let you. In other words, Medicare for all actually offers more choice than the status quo. So if a politician tells you they oppose reforming the current health care system because they want to preserve choice, either they don't know what they're talking about or they're willfully ignoring the truth. I assure you, the insurance industry is delighted either way. Wow. So this really is a bombshell revelation. And this is devastating to any 2020 Democrat who pushed this choice argument. That includes John Delaney, Amy Klobuchar, Michael Bennett, and especially Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg. This is not something that you want to be revealed when you're currently trying to convince people that you constructed your health care plan because you think it strengthens our ability to make choices about health care. The crux of Pete Buttigieg's Medicare for all who wanted is about, you know, allowing us to be the judge and make our own choice. But this former insider just revealed, actually, that's a talking point and I helped write it. So either you're dumb or disingenuous if you use this choice argument. Now, Wendell Potter is an incredible asset to Medicare for all. He's a team from the for-profit health insurance industry and now he pushes back against people who are fighting to stop Medicare for all using his knowledge as a former insider. And what he's revealing here is that people in the anti-Medicare for all wing of the Democratic Party, which I think is most of them, they are frauds. And they're using Republican talking points that they weren't previously using. This argument is an argument that only Republicans used to use, but Democrats only started to adopt this argument once it became something that they needed to push back against because, you know, they're taking money from health insurance companies. So of course, to continue that gravy train, they are going to be expected to push back against the momentum of Medicare for all. So when you hear Pete Buttigieg espousing this choice argument, understand that what he's doing is the direct bidding of the health industry. Who is bankrolling his campaign. Now, to Joe Biden's credit, he doesn't necessarily use the choice argument as much as Pete Buttigieg, although I believe he has said it. He mostly fear mongers about the cost, but the choice argument is especially egregious because it is so hacky, right? I mean, it's obvious that if you have health insurance, you know firsthand how little choice you have. You can't go and see any doctor you want. You have to make sure that that doctor is in your network. Otherwise, if you go and see a doctor that's out of network, you get to deal with that cost and it's not going to be pretty, right? So I mean, the choice argument is so stupid and it's not persuasive, but to have people use it so frequently in the Democratic Party when it's an industry talking point. In my opinion, it should be disqualifying, but it's actually helping people like Pete Buttigieg, who I guess has been surging recently, although that's starting to come to an end. But I mean, he's successfully arguing against Medicare for All and is driving down support. And the reason why it's working is because people trust Democrats more than Republicans when it comes to healthcare broadly speaking. So if a Democrat tells you, you know, Medicare for All restricts choice, people will be more inclined to believe it, more susceptible to the propaganda. Because the person who's spreading that message is usually more reliable. Like I think it's evident that Republicans don't have a position on healthcare other than let's chip away at the Affordable Care Act and not help people get healthcare. But Democrats, you know, at least they supported the Affordable Care Act, right? So the broader electorate, they simply take the argument that someone like Pete Buttigieg makes about choice and they think, I mean, why would he lie to us? He's a Democrat. Democrats gave us the Affordable Care Act, which I guess, you know, is a step in the right direction. But the problem with this choice argument is that you're essentially telling people to ignore their own experience with these for-profit health insurance companies. You're basically pissing on their legs and telling them it's raining. It's not going to work. And now we have a health care executive, a former executive, and Wendell Potter confirming, yeah, these people are just stooges of the industry who have created this talking point and pushed back against any type of health care reform. Not just Medicare for all, but even the Affordable Care Act. So there you have it. Whenever you see someone use that choice argument, make sure that you share this thread with them or this video with them. Let them know that they are being duped by an industry that just wants to exist so they can continue to rip you off by offering you less benefits because that's how they profit.