Don't Come For Bernie Sanders On His Own Damn Healthcare Bill

On July 30, the initial night of the Democratic primary debates kicked off strong in Detroit, Michigan, with a polite, to-the-point conversation between fairly like-minded candidates about healthcare access and insurance premiums in the U.S.


Just kidding.


Former Maryland Congressman John Delaney mentioned that Sen. Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All stance wouldn't work politically. Jake Tapper, the CNN moderator at the time, let Sanders respond: “You’re wrong,” Sanders said.


and it also didn't stop there. Later throughout the healthcare debate, Delaney said: "I'm the only one on this stage who actually has experience in the health care organization, and with all due respect, I don't think my colleagues understand the business."


Sanders responded: "It's not a business."


And he continued to keep it short and simple any time Ohio Representative Tim Ryan accused Sanders of not knowing if Medicare for All would issue union members with better health coverage. In response, Sanders, who was getting a little fired up, said: "I do know that. I wrote the damn bill."


According to a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, 64 percent of Democrats think Medicare for All, Sanders' position, is a good idea if they’re told that it would replace private health insurance. On the other hand, 90 percent of Democrats think "Medicare for All who want it," or a system that permits Residents of the United States to pick between a national health insurance program or their own private health insurance is a good idea according to the same poll. Currently, candidates like Mayor Pete Buttigieg support a plan like that.


If a Democratic candidate does make their way into the White Home in 2020, their healthcare bill will probably be significantly different from what they're talking about throughout the debates — it was for former-President Barack Obama and former-President Bill Clinton.