President-elect Joe Biden’s choice for secretary of health and human services, Xavier Becerra, has previously supported transitioning to a single-payer system – and if approved for the new Cabinet role he would be able to advance that policy if he wanted.
Becerra said in a 2017 interview with Fox News that he “absolutely” supports Medicare-for-All and had done so for all 24 years.
“As attorney general, I would fight for that if we had an opportunity to put that forward in the state of California because I think what we do is we give people that certainty that they’re going to be able to access a doctor or a hospital,” Becerra said at the time.
New York Times investigative reporter Sarah Kliff pointed out that, if confirmed, Becerra’s position would give him the authority to grant waivers to states to allow them to set up a single-payer system – or expand the public option – via the Affordable Care Act.
Source: Fox Business