Cotton is also correct that Harris hasn’t actually renounced her old healthcare positions. She certainly hasn’t explained why she changed her mind.

We’ll get to Harris’s history on health insurance, but first, here’s the relevant back-and-forth between Cotton and Karl.

Cotton: “Kamala Harris, who has supported things like … taking away health insurance on the job for 170 million Americans …”

Karl: “What do you mean ‘taking away health insurance’? What are you talking about?”

Cotton: “She said when she ran for president she wants to eliminate private health insurance on the job for 170 million Americans, Jon.”

Karl: “Well, well, I mean, that is not her position now. She no longer supports …”

Cotton: “How do you know that’s not her position?”

Karl: “I mean, she said she no longer supports Medicare for All. … She’s clearly making an effort to move to the middle.”

Many of Harris’s defenders go even further than Karl and try to argue that Harris never supported the banning of private health insurance.

So, here’s the history:

• January 2019: “Let’s eliminate all of that”

In January 2019, while running for president, Harris went onstage in Iowa with Jake Tapper, who asked her about Medicare for All. “I believe it will totally eliminate private insurance,” Tapper said. “So for people out there who like their insurance, they don’t get to keep it?”

Harris replied, “Well, listen, the idea is that everyone gets access to medical care, and you don’t have to go through the process of going through an insurance company.” Then, she spoke about the unpleasantness of private insurance companies. “Let’s eliminate all of that. Let’s move on.”

The simplest interpretation of her comments is that she wants to eliminate private insurance.

• April 2019: Co-sponsors Medicare for All bill that would ban private insurance

On April 10, Harris became an original co-sponsor of S. 1129, the “Medicare for All Act of 2019,” of which the chief sponsor was Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

This bill created a single government-run health insurance plan for every single person. It also stated in Section 107 that “it shall be unlawful for (1) a private health insurer to sell health insurance coverage that duplicates the benefits provided under this Act; or (2) an employer to provide benefits for an employee, former employee, or the dependents of an employee or former employee that duplicate the benefits provided under this Act.”

In other words, Harris and Sanders wanted to treat private health insurance the way they want to treat “assault rifles.”

• May 2019: “That’s not what I meant”

Speaking to Tapper in May, Harris said she supports Medicare for All but that she didn’t mean “let’s eliminate” private insurance.

• June 2019: Harris, in Democratic debate, pledges to ban employer-sponsored health insurance

On June 26, 2019, Democratic candidates for president debated. Moderator Lester Holt asked this:

“Many people watching at home have health insurance coverage through their employer. Who here would abolish their private health insurance in favor of a government-run plan? Just a show of hands, start off with.”

Harris raised her hand. Again, she agreed she would outlaw employer-sponsored health insurance. This wasn’t surprising because the bill on which she was a co-sponsor at the time would do exactly that, as well as abolish individual insurance for most purposes.

• Harris slowly modifies her plan

Later that night, Harris said, “My vision for Medicare for All inlcudes private insurance where people can have supplemental insurance.”

When asked on Morning Joe, “Do you believe that private insurance should be eliminated in this country?” Harris flatly answered, “No.”

• Harris publishes her version of Medicare for All

Harris never withdrew her sponsorship of Sanders’s Medicare for All. But she did take to Medium to post a modified healthcare plan.

The most relevant aspects of her written plan are that it would outlaw almost all existing plans.

1. Private insurers could offer “Medicare plans.”
2. Private insurers could also sell “supplemental insurance,” which covers things not covered by health insurance, such as elective cosmetic surgery.

Nobody would be allowed to be on a health insurance plan besides the government-run plan or a privately run “Medicare plan.”

That means everyone not yet on Medicare would lose their current health insurance plan because Harris would outlaw it.

Also, Harris’s plan seems to imply that employer-provided health insurance would be outlawed and that these private “Medicare plans” would be available only on the individual market.

2024: Harris stays silent and counts on media to articulate her position

Harris’s deliberate strategy this election has been to provide no policy specifics.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

So, by any reading of the fact, Harris is still on the record supporting Medicare for All, which would outlaw basically all private health insurance plans that people currently have.

Jonathan Karl should ask her about this.