Socialist civil war comes to Kansas

May 6, 2019

Looks like the socialist civil war in KS-03 is heating up…

In case you missed it…

Davids feels heat from the left as activists push her to support Medicare-for-all
Kansas City Star
Jason Hancock and Bryan Lowry
May 6, 2019
https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article229865704.html#

Judy Snyder, a Merriam mental health therapist, didn’t support Sharice Davids during last year’s Democratic primary.

She thought the first-time Congressional candidate was hedging on her support for Medicare-for all, the sweeping proposal to create a single, government-run health plan for all Americans.

But once she was the party’s nominee in Kansas’ 3rd District, Snyder jumped on board, knocking on more than 300 doors urging voters to elect Davids and other Democrats. On nearly every doorstep, she said, health care was among the chief concerns.

She was ecstatic that Davids, D-Kansas, unseated four-term incumbent Republican Kevin Yoder, and confident she could be convinced to get behind Medicare-for-all.
Now, with Davids officially on record opposing the plan, excitement has become frustration.

“Frustrated and disappointed,” she said.

On Tuesday, the U.S. House Rules Committee held the first public hearing on the idea, which has become a 2020 litmus test for liberals. Medicare-for-all would ensure universal coverage, but it would also eliminate current private insurance plans and cost an estimated $30-$40 trillion over 10 years. 

Davids appeared open to a single-payer system as a candidate last year, but officially came out against the bill in its current form last month because it eliminates employer-based insurance.

Davids prefers public health care as anoption, an idea initially pursued by President Barack Obama a decade ago but dropped from his Affordable Care Act.

[…]

Her stance reflects the challenge of representing a suburban district where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats. It makes her not only a top target for the GOP heading into 2020,buta disappointment to some supporters on the left. During her short time in office, she’s also drawn criticism from the party’s progressive wing for her opposition to the Green New Deal and her willingness to accept corporate PAC campaign donations.

Her stance on Medicare-for-all has roused the most outrage among liberals in her district. Many of them backed her in the November election only after supporting another Democrat in the 2018 primary – Brent Welder, who framed his candidacy around the issue before losing to Davids by 3 percentage points in a six-way race.

The divide in Davids’ district reflects a larger national fight Democrats are waging in the presidential campaign and Congress.

[…]

Davids’ opposition to Medicare-for-all is a major sticking point for Wilcox, who helped organize the Overland Park meeting.

“My representative clearly isn’t getting our message that this issue is important to us,” Wilcox said, later adding: “I would not be able to support Sharice in 2020 if she has not yet come out strongly in favor of… Medicare-for-all. I would welcome a primary opponent much further to her left.”

[…]

During the campaign Davids said she supported a single-payer system as a long-term policy goal, even going so far as to tell a Lenexa town hall last June that she would co-sponsor a Medicare-for-all bill.

But she also said repeatedly that a single-payer system is not realistic while Republicans control the White House.

“Of course universal health care coverage is the ultimate goal and ‘Medicare-for-all’ is one of the ways it can happen… But we need to be focused on things we can do,” Davids told The Star in September.

[…]

Pam Darpel of Olathe, who also attended the gathering, isn’t quite as forgiving.

“I voted for her to do the right thing,” she said. “What she’s doing right now, that’s not leadership.”

[…]

Click HERE to read the full story.