Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) admitted Sunday during an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" that premiums and deductibles are "too high" under Obamacare before proposing a single-payer health care system.
Host Dana Bash asked Sanders about President Donald Trump's comments from Friday, when he blamed Democrats for Republicans not getting enough votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with American Health Care Act. She asked Sanders if he could reach out to Trump about fixing Obamacare since he has admitted there were flaws in the past.
Sanders responded by criticizing the Republican alternative to Obamacare, calling it "disastrous."
"The bill that was defeated should have been defeated," Sanders said. "It was a disastrous piece of legislation primarily designed to provide $300 billion in tax breaks to the top 2 percent throwing 24 million people off of health insurance, raising premiums for older workers in a very, very significant way."
Sanders then addressed Obamacare and admitted there were "serious problems."
"Of course, Obamacare has serious problems. Deductibles are too high. Premiums are too high. The cost of health care is going up at a much faster rate than it should," Sanders said.
Sanders said he is going to propose a Medicare for All, single-payer program as a short-term alternative to Obamacare so the United States can "join the rest of the industrialized world."
Sanders discussed his Medicare for All proposal on Friday during an interview with MSNBC's Chris Hayes, and said that Democrats need to bring people together around a progressive agenda versus the proposals of "right-wing extremists."
Liberal filmaker Michael Moore also vocally supported this system on Friday during an interview on MSNBC, where he called on New York and California to push for the plan on the state level as a model for the rest of the country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87s-TWhZNPo