Fact Check: Bernie Sanders Claims Medicare for All Is ‘Most Cost-Effective’ Approach to Providing Health Care

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) defended his Medicare for All plan during the third Democrat debate Thursday night, defending it as the “most cost-effective” approach to providing health care for everyone.

The socialist senator claimed Thursday that Medicare for All is the most “cost-effective’ approach to providing health care for everyone after Joe Biden (D) noted the Vermont lawmaker’s price tag.

“Joe said Medicare for All will cost over $30 trillion. That’s right Joe. [The] status quo over ten years will be over $50 trillion,” Sanders said.

“Every study shows that Medicare for All is the most cost-effective approach to providing health care for every man, woman, and child in this country,” Sanders added. “I wrote the damn bill if I may say so.”

Even Sanders’ $50 trillion estimate is a lowball, with some experts – such as Mercatus Center scholar Charles Blahous – noting that Medicare for All would cost over $60 trillion over the next decade alone.

As Breitbart News reported:

Blahous testified before the House Rules Committee’s hearing on Medicare for All, which serves as the first congressional hearing on Medicare for All.

The scholar previously released a study which detailed $32 trillion over the next ten years. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) claimed that this study would save the federal government money; however, Blahous emphasized Tuesday that his study found that the $32 trillion price tag means net new federal spending on health care.

Blahous said that the $32 trillion price tag was too conservative and that given historical spending levels on health care, net new federal spending would likely increase spending by $38.8 trillion over the next ten years and would increase federal healthcare spending to 13 to 15 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The Mercatus scholar also noted that the Medicare for All’s total federal spending price over the next ten years would amount to between $54.6 trillion and $60.7 trillion.

Blahous added that raising taxes on wealthy individuals and big corporations – something Sanders and Warren frequently float as the main way to pay for their aggressive proposals – would be “‘insufficient to finance even the lower bound’ of the $32.6 trillion in new federal spending,” as Breitbart News noted.