Kevin Hardy

kmhardy@dmreg.com

News that U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders may not release tax details of his universal health care plan before Iowans go to caucus on Feb. 1 sparked a heated back-and-forth between his campaign and that of his chief rival, Hillary Clinton.

As part of his populist campaign focused on working and middle-class Americans, Sanders is calling for a "Medicare-for-all" national health insurance program that would effectively negate the role of private insurers. While he had pledged to release full tax plans before Iowans vote, his national campaign manager on Wednesday told CNN that the specific tax implications of the health care plan may not be released this month.

Hillary Clinton's campaign wasted no time in pouncing on the announcement, slamming Sanders on Wednesday in a press call on the issue.

"I think one can only draw the conclusion that the Sanders campaign does not want to outline what would amount to a massive across the board tax increase," said Jake Sullivan, senior policy adviser for Hillary for America. "They want to essentially create a circumstance in which they try to lead voters to believe they can implement single-payer health care at no burden to anyone and everyone would be better off."

The Sanders campaign shook off the criticism. Sanders' Iowa Director Robert Becker accused Clinton of a "Republican-style attack" against universal health care, which he called a "core Democratic Party value." In a statement, Becker said the former secretary of state "has gone into full panic mode over the past few days" as polls are tightening in Iowa and New Hampshire.

"Let’s be clear: Bernie Sanders will put forth details for universal coverage when he is ready and not because Hillary Clinton suddenly realized she is losing," Becker said.

The two candidates have ramped up criticism of each other in recent days as Clinton has seen her months-long lead decline to a statistical dead heat in some recent polls. A Quinnipiac University poll released on Tuesday found Sanders leading the Democratic race in Iowa with 49 percent of the vote among likely caucusgoers, compared with 44 percent for Clinton.

Clinton staffers said their concern wasn't tightening polls. And her aides maintained that they always expected a competitive race for the Democratic nomination. Sullivan said voters deserve to know the full details of Sanders' health care plan, a signature piece of his campaign, before caucus night.

​"That is the clear kind of underlying concern that is animating Secretary Clinton and many others who want to see a clear and specific plan coming from Senator Sanders so that they can judge for themselves whether it makes sense," he said on a call with reporters on the subject Wednesday.

In the past, Sanders' legislation has called for tax increases to fund universal health care, Sullivan said, and the Clinton camp believes across-the-board tax increases, including increases among working class and middle class families, would be needed to fund his nationalized program.

"This is a major detail for Senator Sanders to withhold," said Brian Fallon, Clinton's national press secretary. "Like I said, it's not becoming and it's not worthy of the caucusgoers in Iowa."

For her part, Clinton has pledged not to raise taxes on families earning less than $250,000 per year. And she has made protecting the Affordable Care Act from Republican threats of repeal a top priority. Her aides on Wednesday said now is not the time to reignite a national debate about health care, which could threaten the progress of Obamacare.

In the middle of the Clinton campaign's call, the Sanders campaign sent out a statement calling Clinton's attacks on Sanders' health care plan "another flip-flop" for the former secretary of state. The campaign included a video of Clinton in 2008 calling out then-Sen. Barack Obama for his attacks on her universal health care plan.

"Since when do Democrats attack one another on universal health care?" Clinton said at the time.

"Clinton’s attacks on a Democratic Party rival over universal health care marks a very public flip-flop by her and her campaign," Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs wrote Wednesday. "She is now using the same Karl Rove tactics she once decried."