‘Thousands Of People Will Literally Die’ If Trump Repeals Obamacare, Warns Bernie Sanders
If President Donald Trump fully repeals Obamacare “thousands of people will literally die,” according to Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
The presidential candidate made the remarks Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation, Common Dreams reports. One of Sanders’ signature issues is healthcare — the senator has long advocated for socialized, single-payer healthcare — so his dire warning comes as no surprise.
“Thousands of people will literally die. That’s Trump’s health insurance plan.”
“That means if you have cancer, if you have heart disease, you have diabetes — if Trump gets his way, the cost of health insurance for you will be so high that many people literally not be able to afford it,” Sanders said.
As The Washington Post reported, Trump recently vowed to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, irking even Republicans, many of whom perceive the maneuver as too radical and fear it could backfire. According to the publication, Congressional Republicans were caught off guard by Trump’s proposal and refuse to support it because it could harm the president’s chances in 2020.
Key Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is strongly opposed to the idea, as are other top Republicans. What announced Trump’s latest anti-healthcare effort was the administration’s decision to urge the Justice Department to intervene in a court case seeking to completely eliminate Obamacare by deeming it unconstitutional.
According to the Washington Post, even though the outcome of this federal case is not certain, many Republicans are worried about Trump’s effort because the Democrats took over the House of Representatives in 2018 campaigning on healthcare and related issues. The president has vowed to turn the Republican Party into “the party of healthcare,” but he is yet to present his own policy, or even a concrete plan of action — the only plan the president has, it seems, is to completely gut healthcare.
For Trump’s "Party of Healthcare," there is no health-care plan https://t.co/fD4fgrKlYU
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 31, 2019
This will jeopardize the lives of many Americans, according to Bernie Sanders, who announced today on Face the Nation that he will soon unveil a new and updated Medicare for All bill. According to Bernie Sanders, the United States needs to “join the rest of the industrialized world,” and every single American needs to have access to healthcare.
“I think we should join the rest of the industrialized world, guarantee healthcare to all people as a right, end the absurdity of the United States spending twice as much per capita on healthcare as any other nation while our life expectancy is actually going down,” he explained.
.@BernieSanders makes a campaign promise saying: “If I am elected president, I’m going to cut prescription drug prices by 50%.” pic.twitter.com/PXKtKhv3lr
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) March 31, 2019
According to Common Dreams, media reports have alleged that it is not actually President Trump who is aggressively pushing for a full Obamacare repeal, but his acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.
In a recent interview, Mulvaney said that no one will lose their health coverage if Trump repeals Obamacare and that the maneuver will have no effect on Americans with pre-existing conditions. Neither of these claims is true, according to the publication.
