How Biden's And Sanders' Health Care Plans Affect You
PAUL: 40 minutes past the hour right now. And the coronavirus has been disrupting a whole range of industries, including sports.</s>WALKER: We're talking hundreds if not thousands of people, many of them don't know the person next to them -- next to them all in the same place. Coy Wire is here, and Coy, it's already impacting teams, both professional and in college.</s>COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, right, Amara. Good morning to you and Christi. I just looking more and more like coronavirus fears are going to impact major sporting events here in the U.S. the way they have already overseas. We're talking cancellations, postponements, even events without fans. Take a listen to LeBron James what he said last night about the possibility of being asked to play in empty arenas.</s>LEBRON JAMES, PLAYER, LOS ANGELES LAKERS: Oh.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who, what?</s>JAMES: Who, what? Do we play games without the fans?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.</s>JAMES: No, It's impossible. I ain't playing. If I ain't got the fans and the crowds, who I play for? I play for my teammates, play for -- I play for the fans, that's what it's all about. So, if I show up to arena that ain't no fans in there, I ain't playing. So, they could do what they want to do.</s>WIRE: That's what the pros are doing in top-level soccer overseas right now. LeBron statements coming hours after the NBA sent a memo regarding its cancellation policy to all of its teams on Friday. The memo which was attained by CNN, says in part, "Any decision to play a game without admitting fans, media, or other typical attendees may be made only by the league office pursuant to the procedures described above." Now, here is a look at how COVID-19 concerns are already impacting sports here in the U.S. Fans banned from an NCAA Division III basketball tournament on Johns Hopkins campus in Baltimore yesterday and today, empty gym. Here in those squeaking sneakers on the court. The bouncing ball echoing off the walls. One player said it was a weird experience. Now, at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus Ohio, row after row of empty seats. Fans barred from going to one of the biggest bodybuilding competitions in the world, leaving just the competitors, judges, and Arnold Schwarzenegger himself who says he's disappointed, but understands why it has to be this way.</s>ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, FOUNDER, ARNOLD'S SPORTS FESTIVAL: We can go and to play Monday night of -- you know quarterback and all that stuff. In Germany, we have a saying, vorsicht is better as nachtraglich. Which means caution is always better than feeling sorry after the fact.</s>WIRE: Now, MLS also here, Amara and Christi, they told their fans the San Jose earthquakes, told their fans they can get refunds. They also urging any fans over 50 years old and those who are at risk to not even come to the games.</s>WALKER: Going to take precautions. Coy Wire. Thank you.</s>PAUL: Thanks, Coy. So, according to CNN exit polls, health care was the top issue for voters on Super Tuesday in Maine and Massachusetts most Democratic voters said they support Medicare-for-all, a signature platform, of course, for Senator Bernie Sanders.</s>WALKER: But that support didn't necessarily translate at the polls. Voters leaned towards former Vice President Joe Biden who has a more moderate health care plan.</s>PAUL: So, how do they compare? Well, I talked with financial expert and founder of Oxygen Financial, Ted Jenkin, about what the two candidates are proposing, how they plan to pay for it, and how it might affect you?</s>PAUL: Ted, first of all, how do these two health care programs compare?</s>TED JENKIN, FOUNDER, OXYGEN FINANCIAL: So, Christi, know, Bernie's plan is a Medicare-for-all plan. It's a single-payer system that's funded by taxes. So, everybody is covered. And what we're talking about here really is no premiums, no co-pays, no deductibles, it's 100 percent government health insurance, including dental and vision. Under Biden's plan, this is an extension of Obamacare. So, really is going to have some sort of public option that will look like Medicare, premium tax credits for the middle class and a lower class to make healthcare more affordable. While also let you shop your prescription drugs in other countries to make that more competitive. But the big difference is that Biden still going to say you can buy private insurance, or you can choose the public option where Sanders is saying it's going to be 100 percent government health care.</s>PAUL: So, there's no private option for anybody -- under Bernie Sanders.</s>JENKIN: There'll be no private option underneath Sanders' plan.</s>PAUL: OK, OK, good to know. So, let's break down the numbers for this over the next 10 years.</s>JENKIN: Well, they are staggering. According to the Urban Institute, which is a nonpartisan group in Washington, D.C., Sanders' plan will be $27 trillion over the next 10 years, and Biden's plan only $750 billion over the next 10 years.</s>JENKIN: So, the numbers are really, really stark about how much it's going to cost to implement these health care plans.</s>PAUL: OK, so you just talked about the magic question for everybody is going, how do you pay for this?</s>JENKIN: Yes. Well, it's a lot of math. Under Bernie's plan, he's going to raise the top federal tax rate, somewhere in the 50 percent range, Christi. He's also going to implement a wealth tax, that's going to start at one percent for people that have $32 million, and it's going to go as high as eight percent for people that have $10 billion. He's also going to raise the corporate tax rates back to 35 percent from 21 percent where they are today. But the big doozy in here, Christi, is that people that have 10 or more billion dollars will have a 77 percent estate tax when they transfer their wealth to their kids. Whereas Joe Biden is basically saying for those that make a million or more, there's going to be a federal tax rate of 39.6 percent, and he does plan to raise the corporate rate. The big issue here is in both the plans, Christi, the capital gains rate which is 20 percent now at a maximum is going to actually be doubled in both the plans because capital gains rates become ordinary income tax rates. So, those at the top are going to pay 40 to 50 percent when it comes to capital gains.</s>PAUL: And that's in either plan, you said.</s>JENKIN: In either plan. Whether it's Biden or Sanders, you will see capital gains tax, be taxes, ordinary income. Wow.</s>PAUL: Wow, all righty. So, talk to us about Super Tuesday, because we learned some things, did we not? About exit polls and what people were saying.</s>JENKIN: Well, I mean, yes. I was surprised by this, Christi, but about half the people that are in states like Maine and Massachusetts and Virginia, where health care was the number one option. They basically said, Biden substantially outperform Sanders. 38 percent to 30 percent, they said they would prefer that public option. But I think the big news is with swing voters. Two times the swing voters basically said, I want a public option. I don't want to have a single-payer system, and I think that could tip the scales as they figure out who the nominee is going to be.</s>PAUL: Yes, it's going to be something else. Ted, thank you so much.</s>JENKIN: Thanks, Christi.</s>WALKER: Finding your exact location is vital information for 911 operators, but that's a real problem when emergency calls are made from cell phones. Up next, how a system designed for landlines is putting lives at risk.