Sen. Michael Bennet (D., Colo.) criticized a call by some in his own party to eliminate private health insurance during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
"Let me ask about health care, Medicare for all. I'm curious, is it time for the Democrats to push for that when Obamacare has never been fully implemented as it was intended to be?" anchor Chuck Todd asked.
Bennet responded that the United States needs to figure out a way to ensure everyone has health care coverage while also not spending more on health care than other countries for worse results.
"We have to figure out how to do those two things, and I actually would give the Nobel prize to whoever who can figure out do those two things," Bennet said.
"But speaking personally, the idea we'll go out and offer to take insurance away from 180 million people -- you mentioned the Affordable Care Act. Remember when President Obama said if you like your insurance you can keep your insurance and then, you know, a few people in America actually lost their insurance because of the way the plan worked? Now what Democrats are saying is, if you like your insurance, we're going to take it away from you, from 180 million people that get their insurance from their employer and like it," Bennet continued.
"I think we'd be much better off with a bill like the one I have with [Sen.] Tim Kaine [D., Va.] called Medicare "X" that creates a public option. It helps finish the work of Obamacare and says if you want to be in the public plan you can choose to be in the public plan. If you want to keep your insurance, you can keep your insurance," Bennet added.
Last month, Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) said she wanted to eliminate private health insurance during a televised town hall hosted by CNN. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) said he stood with Harris's call to get rid of private insurance.
On Friday, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D., NY) called ending private insurance "an urgent goal" during an interview with Jon Lovett on Lovett or Leave It podcast.
The Kaiser Family Foundation found that fifty-eight percent of Americans oppose Medicare for All if told it would eliminate private health insurance plans.