Biden's House Democrat challenger embraces progressives’ Medicare-for-All bill

close

Video

Biden challenger Dean Phillips predicts he will 'surprise' people in New Hampshire primary

Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who is challenging President Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination, tells Fox News Digital he doesn’t have to win the New Hampshire primary, but says he’ll "surprise and from there it’s game on."

President Biden's House Democrat challenger for the White House is endorsing the progressive policy of "Medicare-for-All."

Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., threw his hat behind the controversial state-provided free healthcare policy in a recent interview amid his challenge against Biden for his job.

Phillips said he was signing on to the bill led by House Progressive Caucus chairwoman Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., with his staff saying the congressman would sign onto the bill Wednesday.

DEAN PHILLIPS CALLS BIDEN POSSIBLY ‘UNELECTABLE’ IN 2024 AFTER GOP IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., threw his hat behind the controversial state-provided free healthcare policy in a recent interview amid his challenge against President Biden for his job. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Phillips, a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus who has long been considered a centrist, had not signed onto the proposal before.

His signature on the bill shows him moving toward the progressive wing of the party. The congressman told Politico that his policy shift did not have anything to do with his presidential bid against Biden.

However, Phillips' endorsement of the policy puts him in stark contrast to Biden amid his White House challenge against the president.

Biden refused to endorse socializing healthcare during the 2020 presidential election — even as his eventual running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris, did. Prior to his election, he indicated during an MSNBC interview that he would veto Medicare-for-All legislation as president over its price tag.

President Biden refused to endorse socializing healthcare — even as his eventual running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris did. (Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden's campaign for comment.

Phillips also said he has his issues with the plan, such as prohibiting almost all private health insurance.

The Democratic congressman said his "journey" to endorsing the plan was "a long one." Phillips said he took his healthcare access for granted until he saw uninsured children battling cancer after his daughter's Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosis almost 10 years ago.  

The issue entered his mind again in 2016 when he opened up coffee shops and found it "profoundly disappointing" that he could not afford health insurance for his part-time employees.

Rep. Dean Phillips said he was signing on to the bill led by House Progressive Caucus chairwoman Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., with his staff saying the congressman would sign onto the bill Wednesday.

Phillips also took another look at the policy after being elected in 2018 to represent the district that headquarters UnitedHealth Group.

"I started to recognize this massive disconnect between the behemoths in the health insurance business and then the people that I represented, who were telling me the most horrifying stories about having their coverage denied or having to take on medical debt or going bankrupt," Phillips told Politico.

"I have a progressive heart, a pragmatic head, and want to work with people on both sides of the aisle to achieve better outcomes for the country that both improve care and lower costs," he added. "Those are the best combinations of progressive and conservative principles I could possibly imagine, and that makes this proposition remarkably centrist."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Phillips declined to say how "Medicare-for-All" would be paid.

Fox News Digital reached out to Phillips' campaign for comment.