Eighth Democratic Debate: What We’re Watching For

Every Democratic debate dives deep on health care, and a recent BPC/Morning Consult survey found it remains voters’ top concern. But our survey also found that more Americans would rather see the next president build on the current health care system’s foundation than move to a Medicare-for-All system on one hand or scrap the Affordable Care Act on the other.

BPC’s Future of Health Care initiative this week issued recommendations to make health care coverage more affordable by lowering costs without adding to growing public health expenditures. The recommendations will stabilize the individual insurance market, end expensive surprise medical bills, thwart anti-competitive practices in the prescription drug and hospital industries, and accelerate the shift from fee-for-service medicine to value-based care.

As China struggles to gain control over the coronavirus epidemic and a growing number of cases have now been reported around the world, we expect candidates to be asked for their views on the best public health approach. In addition, as measures to control the spread of the virus begin to impact travel, migration, the supply chain, and international commerce, we’ll be looking for candidates to discuss the potential economic impacts of the epidemic.

At a BPC event earlier this week, former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen told Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal that the coronavirus is “a potential influence on the global economy” and that “there remains an enormous amount of uncertainly about what will happen with the coronavirus and whether it will be contained.” How would the candidates propose addressing the epidemic?

The higher education conversation thus far has centered on solving the problem of mounting student debt, whether through loan forgiveness or another approach. A BPC/Morning Consult national survey showed Americans are widely and negatively impacted by student loan burdens. But BPC’s higher education task force recommended in their recent report also addressing larger systemic issues of access and institutional accountability. Can candidates expand the scope of their ideas to address these broader concerns?

The ballooning federal debt and annual budget deficits haven’t gotten so much as a single question in the Democratic debates thus far. But as BPC Senior Vice President Bill Hoagland said on the latest episode of BPC Weekly, this is without doubt an issue the next president will have to address. Hoagland expressed skepticism that any candidate would make debt reduction a central theme of their campaign, but with new data showing trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see, perhaps this will be the debate where the issue is finally raised.