Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said, “[W]e will raise taxes, yes, we will” to pay for “my Medicare for all program” during CNN’s Democratic Presidential Town Hall on Monday.
After Sanders explained why he thinks people will support “my Medicare for all program.” Moderator Chris Cuomo said, “The criticism is, to pay for this, what you’re really asking for, is one of the biggest tax hikes in history, and that is the criticism.”
Sanders responded, “But, Chris, that is an unfair criticism, for the following reason: If you are paying now, $10,000 a year to a private health insurance company, and I say to you hypothetically, ‘You’re going to pay $5,000 more in taxes, or actually less than that, but you’re not pay any more private health insurance.’ Are you going to be complaining about the fact that I’ve saved you $5,000 in your total bills? So it’s demagogic to say, ‘Oh, you’re paying more in taxes.’ Let’s also talk about, we’re going to eliminate private health insurance premiums and payments, not only for individuals, but for businesses as well. Again, we are the only country on earth that allows private insurance companies to rip us off. We spend three times more than the British, 50% more than the French. We can do better than we’re doing right now.”
Cuomo the asked, “But just to be clear, you are going to raise taxes to do this?”
Sanders annswered, “Yes. We will raise the — we will raise taxes, yes, we will. But also let us be clear, Chris, because there’s a little bit of disingenuity out there. We may raise taxes, but we are also going to eliminate private health insurance premiums for individuals and for businesses.”
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