Sanders disagrees with AOC over Medicare for All
February 18, 2020
Sen. Bernie Sanders broke with one of his highest-profile surrogates Tuesday on his signature Medicare for All proposal, suggesting that his policy proposal is already a compromise.
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told HuffPost last week that a worst-case scenario with Sanders in the White House is a compromise on health care that ends up adding a public option.
The Vermont senator told CNN’s Anderson Cooper at a Las Vegas town hall that he loves Ocasio-Cortez and credited her for transforming politics and getting young people involved.
“But my view is that Medicare for All, the bill that we wrote, is in a sense already a compromise,” Sanders said.
He added that the proposal has a four-year transition period that would bring down the age required for Medicare eligibility from 65 to 55 to 45 to 35.
“And then we cover everybody,” Sanders said. “No more premiums. No more co-payments. No more deductibles. No more out-of-pocket expenses. And we’re gonna fund it publicly, and, for the average American, it will be a significant, significant reduction in his or her health care costs.”
The Democratic presidential contender later noted that Republicans, too, get sick, pay premiums and are tired of the high costs of health care in America.
“They are as anxious to get into Medicare when they’re 65 as anybody else,” he continued. “I’m not gonna to tell you every Republican supports Medicare for All — that’s not true — but a lot of them do.”
Source: https://www.politico.com/
