Los Angeles Times - 02.08.2019

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WASHINGTON — Sharp

disagreements among the

presidential hopefuls at this

week’s debates have crystal-

lized a crucial and explosive

political question: Are

Democrats willing to upend

health coverage for tens of

millions of their fellow

Americans?

The party is closer than

it’s been in decades to em-

bracing a healthcare plat-

form that would move all

Americans out of their cur-

rent insurance and into a

single government-run plan.

Plans pushed by three of

the four leading candidates

—Sens. Bernie Sanders of

Vermont, Elizabeth Warren

of Massachusetts and Ka-

mala Harris of California —

differ in their particulars but

would all end the job-based

system that provides cov-

erage to more than 150 mil-

lion people.

That’s a hugely risky

strategy, as more-centrist ri-

vals reminded the three

senators during the two

nights of heated, sometimes

confusing, debates.

Sweeping healthcare

plans have never fared well

in American politics.

For decades, voters re-

peatedly have punished

presidents and Congresses

—Democratic and Republi-

can alike — who have threat-

ened to take away existing

health plans, no matter how

flawed.

Just last year, the GOP

suffered historic losses in

the House of Representa-

tives after the party’s unsuc-

cessful effort to roll back the

2010 Affordable Care Act,

also known as Obamacare.

But at a time when rising

insurance deductibles and

medical bills are crippling

growing numbers of Ameri-

can families, many Demo-

crats on the party’s left be-

lieve public discontent with

the current system has

changed that dynamic.

“It’s time that we sepa-

rate employers from the

kind of healthcare people

get,” Harris said Wednesday

night, acknowledging that

her “Medicare for all” plan

would, after a lengthy

phase-in period, end job-

based insurance.

Value of

private

coverage

is up for

debate

Democratic hopefuls

differ on ‘Medicare

for all’ and whether

Americans must lose

current health plans.

By Noam N. Levey

[SeeHealthcare,A12]

ANALYSIS

McKITTRICK, Calif. — Near the
jagged western edge of Kern County,
where the Temblor Range gives way
to a landscape of steam pipes, fuel
lines and bobbing pump jacks,
there’s a definite mood in this dusty
little oil town: Defiance.
Hardly a day goes by without re-
ports of the growing oil leak in
nearby Cymric oil field. So far, more
than 900,000 gallons of oil and brine
have oozed from a Chevron Corp.
welland filled a dry creek, creating a
hazardous black lagoon.
The residents of McKittrick,
population 145, understand why peo-
ple are upset by the images. Also,
there’s no avoiding the worry that
prolonged exposure to crude oil
might one day trigger health issues.

But judging from the rowdy talk

over cold beers and a blaring jukebox

at Mike and Annie’s Penny Bar — a

watering hole for thirsty oil field

hands that has over a million pen-

nies glued to the bar, floors, walls,

television and entrance — the locals

see a different story playing out.

“Environmentalists have it all

wrong,” argued Troy Smith, 46, an oil

field worker who grew up in the area.

“Compared with the catastrophic

Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska and

BP’s deep-sea spill in the Gulf of

Mexico, our little outbreak is noth-

ing. Yet, they’re using it as an excuse

to shut down California’s oil industry

and wipe us out.

“What more do they want?” he

asked no one in particular. “We al-

ready work under the strictest

standards imaginable, and adhere

IN THE CYMRICoil field near McKittrick, Calif., a growing leak has spilled over 900,000 gallons of oil and brine from a Chevron well.

Photographs by Irfan KhanLos Angeles Times

Oil spill? No use crying, they say

For industry-reliant locals, huge Kern County leak is just the cost of business

By Louis Sahagun

AMID THEstate’s largest oil spill in decades, McKittrick residents

maintain a deep-seated skepticism of environmentalists’ warnings. [SeeOil,A8]

Federal authorities were

combing through the fi-

nances and phone records of

a Miami businessman sus-

pected of Medicare fraud

when they came across a cu-

rious name: Rick Singer.

Philip Esformes, who was

accused of farming out pa-

tients from his nursing

homes to steal millions in

bogus insurance claims, had

sent hundreds of thousands

of dollars to a foundation

Singer controlled. And in

text messages discovered on

Esformes’ phone, the men

discussed how one of Es-

formes’ sons had performed

on his college entrance ex-

ams.

Only years later would

authorities learn what Es-

formes had paid William

“Rick” Singer to do: Slip his

daughter into USC as a fake

soccer player and fix his

youngest son’s college en-

trance exam, according to

statements a prosecutor

made in court and sources

familiar with the case.

Singer has said he struck

similar deals with dozens

more parents, an admission

that has roiled higher educa-

tion and implicated elites

from Hollywood, Silicon Val-

ley and the Newport coast.

But in 2016, when agents

seized the iPhone Esformes

used to text Singer and ob-

tained their messages, Sing-

PHILIP ESFORMESpaid William “Rick” Singer’s foundation $400,000 over

several years, including this $95,000 check signed by his bookkeeper.

Department of Justice

Clues to admissions scandal

seen in earlier Medicare case

[SeeSinger,A9]

By Matthew Ormseth

and Joel Rubin

Trump renews

China tariffs

As trade talks stall,

the president says

the U.S. will add

10% duties on more

products starting

Sept. 1. BUSINESS, C

Senate approves

spending bill

Many Republicans

were reluctant to back

the $2.7-trillion plan

that would raise the

debt ceiling and spend-

ing caps. NATION, A

Weather

Sunny and warmer.

L.A. Basin: 90/66. B

Printed with soy inks on

partially recycled paper.

State Sen. Holly Mitchell
of Los Angeles looked out at
more than a hundred black
women gathered for an an-
nual event at the California
Democratic Party conven-
tion earlier this summer and
marveled at the group’s
progress.
“The first Black Women’s
Meetup we could have had in
a 7-Eleven ladies’ room;
there were that few of us,”
Mitchell said, surveying the
crowd. “Look at you now.”
They had much to cele-
brate. California Sen. Ka-
mala Harris had launched a
front-running bid for presi-
dent. Democratic victories
in the 2018 midterm elections
helped refocus attention on
black women as a pivotal
Democratic voting bloc. The

number of black women

delegates to the California

Democratic Party had more

than tripled in just two

years. And Mitchell and oth-

ers were seeking to elect the

party’s first black female

chair, Bay Area activist Kim-

berly Ellis.

Ellis would go on to lose

the race — a reminder to

many black women in the

Democratic Party that they

still have a long way to go.

But her candidacy is fuel-

ing a renewed push by

black women in California

to demand more clout in

the organization, which they

say has failed to make

enough room for them at the

top.

“We are an endangered

species in the eyes of some,

so that means that we need

to do what?” Mitchell said at

the meetup, placing her

hand behind her ear. “We

need to roll up like black

women have done for gen-

erations and we know how to

do.”

Black women seek

to boost their clout

in Democratic Party

Voting bloc energized

by candidates on state

and national stages.

By Christine Mai-Duc

[SeeBlack women,A12]

He was booed in Scot-

land. In Wales, a chicken

submitted to his embrace,

but politicians held him at

arm’s length. And in North-

ern Ireland, there were rum-

blings of Irish unity — which

could only come at the ex-

pense of its ties to the rest of

the United Kingdom.

Boris Johnson, the new

British prime minister, pres-

ides over a country con-

sumed by Brexit, the messy

and drawn-out departure

from the European Union.

But the early days of his ten-

ure are also casting a harsh

spotlight on another kind of

split: the growing fault lines

within the United Kingdom.

“It is highly unlikely that

Boris will be the PM who

oversees the breakup of Brit-

ain,” Michael Kenny, a Uni-

versity of Cambridge profes-

sor of public policy, wrote on

a politics blog for the Center

on Constitutional Change.

“But he may well go down in

history as the catalyst for its

dissolution.”

Johnson, who took up his

post on July 24, spent much

of this week on a road trip to

Scotland, Wales and North-

ern Ireland — which, to-

gether with England, make

up the United Kingdom. The

ANTI-BREXIT demonstrators gather in Belfast as British Prime Minister Boris new prime minister likes to

Johnson visits Stormont, the seat of government in Northern Ireland.

Charles McQuillanGetty Images

Premier faces not-so

United Kingdom

By Laura King

[SeeBritain, A4]

Dishonest attacks

are ramping up

Drug firms and hospitals

already have their knives

out for universal health-

care, Michael Hiltzik

writes. BUSINESS, C