Coronavirus: Bernie Sanders Predicts ‘Demand for Universal Health Care Will Only Go Up’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) used the Chinese coronavirus to promote his vision for Medicare for All in the United States, predicting that the crisis will increase public demand for government-run health insurance during a press conference in his home state of Vermont Friday.

Sanders delivered his second daily address on the novel coronavirus pandemic in lieu of a public campaign event, used the speech to once again push his central “Medicare for All” policy.

“Poll after poll already shows us that the American people understand that we must do what every other major country on earth does, and that is to guarantee health care to all of our people as a human right, not a privilege,” Sanders said, predicting that the demand for a single-payer system will go up amid the crisis.

“As we begin to see the failures and vulnerabilities of the current health care system, my guess is that those numbers, and the demand for universal health care, will only go up,” he said.

“We are only as safe as the least insured person in America,” Sanders said, also calling for Congress to pass a paid family leave program.

We “must do it right now,” he stressed.

In recent days, Sanders has used his coronavirus updates as a means to push his vision for Medicare for All.

“Our country is at a severe disadvantage compared to every other major country on earth because we do not guarantee health care to all people as a right,” Sanders said in a similar address on Thursday.

He continued:

While we work to pass a Medicare for All single-payer system, the United States government today must make it clear that in the midst of this emergency, everyone in our country — regardless of income or where they live — must be able to get all of the health care they need without cost.

In the same speech, Sanders accused the Trump administration of “incompetence and recklessness,” which he says has “threatened the lives of many many people in our country.”

President Trump held his own press conference Friday, declaring a national emergency from the Rose Garden of the White House.