Bernie Sanders Just Destroyed The Entire Republican Argument Against Single Payer Health Care

On Meet The Press, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) destroyed the Republican argument against single payer health care, by reminding America that what Republicans aren’t telling them about the cost is that their expensive health insurance premiums are going to vanish under single payer.

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Sen. Sanders said that the immediate concern is defending and protecting Obamacare, but he brought up the one point that Republicans leave out when they fearmonger about the cost.

Sanders said, “Here is the important point. My Republican friends say that Bernie wants to raise your taxes. They forget to conveniently mention that Bernie wants to do away with the private insurance premiums that you’re now paying….We replace private insurance premiums with Medicare premiums. The average middle-class worker saves money.”

The cost savings are an important point that Republicans always leave out of the conversation because all of their plans are based on the idea that health insurance costs are lowered by pricing sick people out of the insurance market or making sick people pay more for less coverage.

There is no way for Republicans to both cover more people and lower costs. The way to accomplish this goal is to increase the pool and get to universal coverage. The most efficient way to reduce costs is a single-payer system.

The conversation for Republicans on health care isn’t about conservativism. Republicans are building health care policy around their ideology and protecting the health insurance industry.

Republicans aren’t telling the truth about single payer. Obamacare is the building block that gets the country closer to universal coverage. Once everyone in the US covered, it will be time to talk about how to lower costs with a single-payer system.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association