Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) said on Sunday that ending Americans' access to private insurance companies is not a "bold idea," it's a "bad idea."
"If you want to throw 149 million people off of their insurance, and that's the Sanders/Warren bill, if you want to throw them off in four years, well, then I'm not your candidate because I don't think you should be throwing people off their current insurance in four years," Klobuchar said on ABC's This Week. "If you want to have a $16 trillion plan in a $20 trillion economy, I'm not your candidate."
Klobuchar added, however, that she still supports a "public option," which would allow people to sign up for government provided insurance if they wanted it. The senator said that as president, she would also institute policies that would allow the federal government to push pharmaceutical companies to offer drugs at more affordable prices to Americans.
"As president, I'd be able to get it done, allow seniors to negotiate better prices for their drugs and make sure we can bring in less expensive drugs from other countries," she said.
Klobuchar was critical of Sanders's and Warren's support for Medicare for All, which she said would only kick people off of what insurance they have now. Klobuchar added that Warren's claim at the debate that she has "actually never met anybody who likes their health insurance company" was not enough to justify banning private insurance altogether.
"The answer that they have—and it is on page eight of the bill, as I pointed out at the debate—literally says that in four years 149 million Americans would not be able to have their current insurance," Klobuchar said. "I don't think that's what people want. I don't think it's a bold idea. I think it's a bad idea."