Democrats prescribe Obamacare on steroids

Sunday’s fourth Democratic presidential debate gave voters a surprisingly clear look at what the candidates are itching to do in the White House. With Sen. Bernie Sanders surprisingly ahead of Hillary Clinton for the Feb. 1 Iowa Caucuses and the Feb. 9 New Hampshire primary, according to several recent polls, the former first lady followed him to the left on policy issues.

The third candidate, Martin O’Malley, complained he was being ignored and stressed his record when he was governor of Maryland. But with the increased violence in Baltimore, where he also was mayor, his track record isn’t gaining traction, keeping the focus on the two top candidates.

Sanders called for a “single payer” national health system, meaning the government would replace private insurers. He promised, “I believe that a Medicare-for-all, single-payer program will substantially lower the cost of health care for middle-class families.”

That sounds like President Barack Obama’s pledge during the 2008 campaign that Obamacare would “cover every American and cut the cost of a typical family’s premium by up to $2,500 a year.”

Clinton said she would “build on” Obamacare “by putting a cap on prescription drug costs.” But that could destroy the profits of drug companies, making them reluctant to run the gamut of Food and Drug Administration regulations that have brought the cost of getting a new drug to market to $1.3 billion, according to Joseph Dimasi of the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development. A better idea would be to reform the FDA to reduce that cost.

The candidates promised more gun control and higher taxes, and they supported Obama’s nuclear treaty with Iran, which all the Republicans opposed.

Of course, few of these proposals could make it through Congress, even if Republicans lose control of both houses, which seems unlikely.

“Feel the Bern” is Sanders’ top campaign slogan. But for him and Clinton, a better theme would be: “Feel the tax bite.”

— The Orange County Register