Bernie Sanders says US health coverage is ‘international embarrassment’
US Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says the United States must "end the international embarrassment" of not guaranteeing health care as a right.
In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Sanders reiterated his calls for eliminating private insurance.and creating a national health insurance program that covers all Americans.
"We need more changes in our health care system, you talk about a public option, many people will not be able to afford a public option," Sanders told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos.
"What the American people have got to decide is one simple question: 'Do we create a health care system, guaranteeing health care for all people without insurance companies and drug companies making huge profits and distorting health care in America?' That is the issue."
The 2020 Democratic candidate for president has been pushing for universal healthcare since his failed 2016 run for the White House.
Sanders said Medicare-for-all in the US is long overdue. Medicare is a national health insurance program in the United States that only covers Americans aged 65 and older and some younger people with certain disabilities.
He reiterated his frequent accusation that the US should be embarrassed for not offering its citizens guaranteed health coverage.
"By the way, Medicare today is the most popular health insurance program in the country. Private health insurance is not particularly popular," Sanders said. "The United States must end the international embarrassment of being the only major country on Earth not to guarantee healthcare for all people as a right."
His proposal for Medicare for all would dismantle the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, and eliminate private insurance and create a single-payer program, in which all Americans would participate in a single, government-run plan that does not include deductibles and out-of-out pocket costs.
Republicans say Sanders' plan would dramatically increase taxes.
After years of defending former Democratic President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare law known as Obamacare from Republican attempts to repeal it, Democrats now disagree on the best approach to fixing it.
According to a recent Gallup poll, poor government leadership, immigration, the economy and healthcare costs are the most important problems facing the US today.
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