Bernie Sanders: Trump’s ‘Insurance For Everybody’ Promise Was ‘Just Another Lie’
The Republican Party released its health care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act last week and Vermont Senator and former Democratic Presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, is not a fan of the proposal being made by Donald Trump and the Republican Party, to say the absolute least.
According to The Guardian, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office early Monday morning released its findings about the health care plan proposed by the Republicans, stating that 24 million Americans will likely lose health care coverage under the plan if it’s passed. According to the report, 58 million Americans will likely be uninsured in the year 2026 under the Republican health care plan, as opposed to 28 million people who would be without coverage under the current law.
It’s worth noting that under a “Medicare for all” plan as proposed by Bernie Sanders, every last American would have health care coverage. Of course, under the Republican plan, the Congressional Budget Office predicts that over the next ten years $337 billion will be cut from the federal budget. That may sound like a lot, but consider that in 2015 the U.S. military budget was $598.5 billion for that year alone, and the United States military budget dwarfs that of all other nations combined, according to National Priorities Project. Donald Trump has proposed increasing the military budget.
In January of 2017, Donald Trump stated that under his administration, there would be “insurance for everybody,” when a replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act was finally unveiled by the Republican Party, according to The Washington Post. In light of today’s report from the Congressional Budget Office, Bernie Sanders took to Twitter to slam Trump’s words from earlier this year as a blatant lie.
Last January, Trump promised that his health care plan would provide "insurance for everybody." Now we know that was just another lie. https://t.co/30A7MguAKu
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 13, 2017
Bernie Sanders also described the Republican health care plan proposed by Trump and his party as no health care plan at all, but rather a tax break for the wealthiest Americans.
The reality is that the GOP bill is not a health care plan. It’s a $275 billion tax break for the wealthiest Americans. It must be defeated.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 13, 2017
Earlier Monday, Sanders invoked Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a tweet, warning Americans to stay vigilant against falsehoods that are being passed as truth.
FDR was right. Now more than ever we have to stay vigilant. pic.twitter.com/zm1WLdUHGF
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 13, 2017
According to a previous Inquisitr article, the Republican health care plan will replace the income-based subsidies Americans can currently use to buy health care coverage with age-based tax credits. The net result of this, as the Congressional Budget Office today verified, is that poor Americans who are unable to afford the expensive costs associated with health insurance coverage will have no means to afford such coverage. Bernie Sanders sees this as completely unacceptable.
The Republican health care plan: less health care for you, bigger salaries for health care CEOs. Republican priorities!
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 13, 2017
It can and has been argued that a Sanders-style “Medicare for all” plan will place a great financial burden on the federal budget, resulting in increased taxes on the middle class. According to Politifact, Bernie Sanders, during his 2016 presidential campaign, suggested that the slight increase in payroll taxes would be offset by both lower costs in health care spending by Americans now covered under Medicare and further savings incurred by a strong federal government that could better negotiate costs for pharmaceuticals and medical procedures. Experts are divided over the particulars of such a plan. Regardless, supporters of such a plan would likely argue that health care is a right that must be provided to all Americans regardless of the costs and that the costs can be worked out after the fact.
Donald Trump and the Republicans clearly do not agree with that view and have instead decided to prioritize federal spending reductions, free market solutions, and reducing taxes over the idea that people have any kind of “right” to health care coverage. The success or failure of the Republican health care plan will figure prominently in whether or not the United States ever does get the kind of single-payer health care that Bernie Sanders and his supporters prefer.
[Featured Image by Win McNamee/Getty Images]
