Bernie Sanders: I’ll Be In Charge of Health Care If Democrats Retake the Senate
Bernie Sanders revealed to a rally over the weekend that he plans to be awarded a health care committee chairmanship should Democrats regain control of the Senate.
The Vermont senator has long been a champion of “Medicare-for-All,” a system some Republicans believe would result in a complete government takeover that eliminates private and employer-provided health insurance.
“If the Democrats gain control of the Senate, you’re looking at the chairman of the Subcommittee on Health,” Sanders said to raucous cheers.
The Independent congressman currently serves as a ranking member of the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP).
Sanders has been a strong surrogate for Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden despite their policy differences.
Bernie has urged Biden “to put more emphasis on how they will raise wages, create millions of good-paying jobs, lower the cost of prescription drugs and expand health care coverage,” a former campaign aide told the Washington Post.
“If the Democrats gain control of the Senate, you’re looking at the chairman of the Subcommittee on Health.” – Bernie Sanders speaking at a Biden campaign event on Oct. 3, 2020 pic.twitter.com/P66aBCBmiL
— Michigan Rising Action (@MIRisingAction) October 5, 2020
Democrats Have Ripped Bernie Sanders ‘Medicare-for-All’ Health Care Plan
Putting Sanders in charge of health care is quite the reversal from the Democratic primaries where nearly every candidate slammed him over the costs of the program.
Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, stressed that Medicare-for-All would likely mean higher taxes for middle-class Americans.
Buttigieg: “How are we going to pay for it? Are we going to pay for it in the form of still further taxes, or are we going to pay for it in the form of broken promises?” https://t.co/hrXs1I5g87
— Dan Merica (@merica) February 10, 2020
Even Biden at the time criticized the plan suggesting it was like asking Americans to “buy a pig in a poke” and complaining Sanders is “unwilling to say what the damn thing’s gonna cost.”
“Biden noted that Sanders likes to say he ‘wrote the damn bill’ on Medicare for All, but ‘he’s unwilling to say what the damn thing’s gonna cost.'”https://t.co/SlUcGQngjG
— PharmacyChecker (@pharmacychecker) February 10, 2020
Even Obama Downplayed Bernie’s Plan
At a meeting with freshman Democrats in 2019, former President Barack Obama warned of the costs of some of their more extreme proposals.
“He said we [as Democrats] shouldn’t be afraid of big, bold ideas – but also need to think in the nitty-gritty about how those big, bold ideas will work and how you pay for them,” one person told the Washington Post.
“Some people in the room took his words as a cautionary note about Medicare-for-all and the Green New Deal,” the report indicated.
Obama warns Democrat freshmen on the (political) cost of their (extreme) proposals.
Make no mistake, Obama loves their Socialist agenda, he just believes they are trying to force too much too soon…exactly like he admitted he did. https://t.co/QaGM9krsnO
— ?? The Frank ?? (@TheFrankinn) March 26, 2019
Some experts suggest Medicare-for-All could cost around $32 trillion over a decade.
President Trump has introduced his own health care plan recently.
On September 24, Trump unveiled his America First Health Care plan, outlining the key policies and reforms the President supports, including protecting Americans with pre-existing conditions.
In August, President Trump released his second-term agenda, which includes health care as a central focus.
Read more at the Political Insider
