‘Healthcare Is A Human Right’: Bernie Sanders Vows To ‘Pass A Medicare For All Single-Payer Program’

2 days ago

At a town hall event on Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) spoke of his commitment to ensuring affordable and accessible healthcare for his constituents.

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Transcript

00:00The issue that we're dealing with in America now is not just income and wealth inequality

00:11and it's not just the stress that working people are feeling.

00:15Today in America, we are the only major nation on earth that does not guarantee health care

00:23to all people as a human right.

00:29Despite spending twice as much per capita,

00:33it's not that we're not spending enough money.

00:36We're spending a fortune, $14,000 for every man, woman and child.

00:40Despite that, 85 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured.

00:48Raise your hand if you have a high deductible.

00:52Ha! There it is.

00:54In America today, 60,000 people die because they don't get to a doctor on time.

01:02Got it?

01:03And the reason is that I talk to doctors.

01:06People walk in much sicker than they should be.

01:09And they say, doctors say, well, why didn't you come in here when you first felt your symptoms?

01:13Answer is, I had no health insurance or I had a high deductible.

01:19Health care is a human right.

01:24And together we are going to stand up and finally pass a Medicare for all single-payer program.

01:38Today, because of the greed of the pharmaceutical industry,

01:44anybody here having a hard time paying for prescription drugs?

01:49One out of four Americans can't afford to fill the prescriptions their doctors write

01:57because in some cases we pay ten times more for the same drugs as sold abroad.

02:05There is no reason why we should pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.

02:12Let us stand together and demand that Congress lower the cost of prescription drugs by at least 50 percent.

02:25All over this country, we've got a housing crisis.

02:28Got a housing crisis here in Las Vegas?

02:31It's not just that we have 800,000 people who are homeless. That's bad enough.

02:38But you've got 20 million people in America paying 50 percent of their limited incomes for housing.

02:46We've got an education crisis. Child care, dysfunctional.

02:52Very expensive. The workers there make low wages.

02:56Public education doesn't have enough money to attract the teachers that we need.

03:03And millions of young people are struggling to figure out how they are going to get a higher education.

03:11And in terms of climate change, we now embarrassingly have a president who believes that climate change is a hoax.

03:24Which means that we're going to fall further and further behind in trying to save the planet.

03:30So why is all of this stuff happening?

03:33Why are we the only country that doesn't guarantee health care?

03:36Why are the rich getting richer and the working people struggling?

03:41Boy, it's a smart audience. You got it.

03:45You know, we all know, it's true in Vermont and I'm sure it's true here,

03:50we all know people who are dealing with addiction, right?

03:55Drug addiction is a horrendous problem. I think we lost 100,000 people because of drug overdoses.

04:02We know people who are alcoholic who need more and more to drink.

04:06We know people who can't control themselves with food or tobacco.

04:10But I will tell you that the worst addiction in this country today is the greed of the oligarchy.

04:18They are like heroin addicts. They need more and more and more.

04:29And if they destroy Social Security and Medicaid to get what they want, that is what they will do.

04:37And right now, as Alexandria mentioned, they are in the process of dismembering the federal government

04:47and cutting programs that low-income and working families desperately need

04:53so they can give themselves over a trillion dollars in huge tax breaks.

05:00And in order to get those tax breaks, they want to cut Medicaid by $880 billion.

05:12They want to destroy our Social Security system at a time when 22% of seniors are trying to get by on $15,000 a year or less.

05:29What they are trying to do is to discredit Social Security, lie about Social Security.

05:36Some of you heard Trump say, oh, all these people 150, 200 years of age getting Social Security.

05:42Total, total, absolute lie.

05:46Well over 99% of the people in this country who get those Social Security checks paid for those checks.

05:54We got any veterans here today? Thank you, veterans.

06:00While Musk and Trump are going after the VA, they want to lay off over 80,000 employees at the Veterans Administration.

06:13That will result in lower quality health care and delays in veterans getting the benefits to which they are entitled.

06:26Trump and Musk, right now, today, they are trying to dismantle the Department of Education.

06:33That means public schools in working class areas could lose money.

06:40It means that the people on Pell Grants are going to have a harder time getting those grants.

06:45And it means that kids with disabilities who are now getting the support they need may lose that support.

‘Healthcare Is A Human Right’: Bernie Sanders Vows To ‘Pass A Medicare For All Single-Payer Program’

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