Fact Check: Bernie Sanders Claims Medicare for All Will Save Americans ‘Substantial Sums’

CLAIM: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said his Medicare for All plan will save Americans “substantial sums of money.”

VERDICT: FALSE. Sanders has admitted that his Medicare for All plan will result in tax hikes for middle class Americans.

“What Medicare for All will do is save the average American substantial sums of money. Substantial. It’d be much less expensive than your plan,” Sanders said to Joe Biden (D), who criticized Sanders’ plan. “And we will expand Medicare to include dental care, eyeglasses, hearing aids, and home healthcare as well”:

Sanders has admitted on numerous occasions that his Medicare for All plan, which could cost over $60 trillion over the next decade, would result in tax hikes for Americans making $29,000 per year and more.

“Is health care free? No, it is not,” he told late-night host Stephen Colbert in September. “So what we do is exempt the first $29,000 of a person’s income. You make less than $29,000, you pay nothing in taxes.”

“Above that, in a progressive way, with the wealthiest people paying the largest percentage, people do pay more in taxes,” Sanders said, contending that the absence of premiums will balance the tax hikes.

During July’s debate, Sanders again stated that people will “pay more in taxes” but claimed that it would result in “less” spent on health care.

Sanders recently admitted, during an appearance on CBS Evening News this month, that he does not know how much his Medicare for All plan will cost.

“You don’t know. Nobody knows. This is impossible to predict,” Sanders said of the cost of his plan.

“You’re going to propose a plan to the American people, and you’re not going to tell them how much it costs?” host Norah O’Donnell asked.

“Of course I will. Do you know exactly what healthcare costs will be…in the next ten years if we do nothing? It will be a lot more expensive than a Medicare-for-all single-payer system,” he said.