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Bennet: Eliminating Private Insurance 'Doesn't Seem Progressive'

'It will be very challenging to beat Donald Trump if that's the position'

July 1, 2019

Democratic presidential candidate and Colorado senator Michael Bennet on Sunday questioned whether Medicare for All proposals are "progressive," saying the plan would eliminate private insurance for 180 million people.

MSNBC's Kasie Hunt aired footage from her interview with Bennet on her show, Kasie DC, in which she asked Bennet whether Democrats can defeat President Donald Trump by running on "Medicare for All."

"I think it will be very challenging to beat Donald Trump if that's the position," Bennet said. "I don't actually accept that it's more progressive. I am for universal health care coverage. I believe the best way of getting there is through the public option and giving the American people a choice. I don't think that's a moderate position. I think that's a progressive position."

"I think the position of taking insurance away from 180 million people in America, you know many of whom like it, that the position of taking away the insurance of a mine worker or a steel worker who has negotiated their health care as part of their collective bargaining agreement," Bennet continued. "That doesn't seem progressive to me. That seems like a really bad political idea and it could be extremely costly to us to us in the election for president."

Bennet went on to say that states like Arizona, Colorado, and North Carolina aren't going to be supportive of Medicare for All.

This isn't the first time Bennet has been critical of Medicare for All. Back in May, Bennet said the other Democratic presidential candidates need to "be honest" with voters about the realities of the health care plan.

"When you tell people the first thing about Medicare for All — either that it takes insurance away from 180 million Americans that have it through their employer or the taxes we would have to pay to afford that $30 trillion program — that 70 percent support falls to the mid-30s," Bennet said. "I think we need to level with the American people."