BLOGSeptember 15, 2017

Bernie Sanders Said Medicare for All Would Bankrupt the Nation in 1987 --- What Changed?

The big health care debate continues: Sen. Bernie Sanders made his case for universal health care this week with the Medicare for All Act.

The Medicare for All bill would theoretically expand the Medicare program to cover health care for everyone in the country within four years.

But thirty years ago, Sanders seemed to have an entirely different view. He can be seen on video explaining that if you expanded Medicaid to everyone, “we would be spending such an astronomical sum of money that we would bankrupt the nation.”

Medicare and Medicaid operate differently, but they are both government health care programs.

Pat and Stu debunked liberal talking points and listened to Sanders’ flip-flop from 1987 to today on radio Friday.

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

PAT: You know what's great is Medicare for all. Single-payer, that was evil. But Medicare for all, that's totally different.

STU: Pat, Medicare is a single-payer program. So it wouldn't --

PAT: Yeah, I mean, it's the same exact program. But it's a completely different name. Completely different name. People didn't like the name single-payer, but they love Medicare for all because that sounds really good. Why shouldn't everybody have -- we've already got a Medicare program. Let's just expand it for everybody.

STU: But Medicare is like Kleenex, and single-payer is like tissue. So people would say --

JEFFY: They're different.

STU: No, Kleenex and tissue -- Kleenex is a brand of tissue. Medicare is a brand of single-payer. It's the same thing.

PAT: Huh. I don't understand the words that are coming -- are you speaking English? I don't even understand what you're saying.

STU: I'm speaking in the metric system. That's why you can't understand it.

PAT: Bernie Sanders introduced it yesterday.

BERNIE: Republican colleagues, please don't lecture us on health care.

JEFFY: But you're going to lecture us.

PAT: Yes.

BERNIE: In the last few months, you the Republican Party have shown the American people what you stand for when you voted for legislation that would throw up to 32 million Americans off of the health insurance they have. And at the same time, give huge tax breaks to the rich and large corporations.

PAT: Okay. Complete lies. Complete lies. First of all, it doesn't throw anybody off any list. What it does do is take away the mandate. So if you don't want to get health care, you don't have to.

STU: So you would choose. You know what, I'd rather not have it.

PAT: So you would choose. Yeah.

STU: And the alternate to that is you pay a fine and you get nothing.

PAT: Yeah. That used to be called America.

STU: What they're saying is a good thing, is that you would spend your own money and pay a fine to get nothing. That is the alternative there.

And they're like, oh, we should have that system. That's much better than the people get to choose what to do with their own money thing.

PAT: And the huge tax cut for the rich there is that the rich don't have that extra 4 percent tax that is included in Obamacare. And that's a huge tax break they're getting.

BERNIE: You, the Republican Party, have no credibility on the issue of health care.

Today, we say the function of a rational health care system is to provide quality care to all in a cost-effective way, while depending on your income, your taxes may go up to pay for this publicly funded program. That expense will be more than offset by the money you are saving by the elimination of private insurance costs.

PAT: There's just not one word of truth in any of that. In any of it. And he knows it. I mean, thirty years ago, he was singing a different tune about Medicare for all.

STU: Yeah. You want to hear this clip? This is from 1987.

BERNIE: For example, if we expanded Medicaid, everybody -- gave everybody a Medicaid card, we would be spending such an astronomical sum of money, that, you know, we would bankrupt the nation.

PAT: Wow. Bankrupt the nation.

STU: We would bankrupt the nation.

PAT: Okay. But now that the nation is much, much larger than it was 30 years ago, we probably have 100 million more people than we did 30 years ago, now it won't bankrupt the nation? Now it's affordable for the nation? Now we're going to be great if we have Medicaid for all?

STU: Also, Bernie Sanders was always a crazy liberal and he was always so quirky and weird. When did he become such a jerk? The way he talks these days is he's so angry.

PAT: Yeah. I don't know.

STU: And I always saw him as old and quirky. He really seems as if he's a jerk.

PAT: Yes, he does. Yes, he does.

STU: I mean, I shouldn't be surprised by that. But his attitude is very odd on this stuff. He's just really nasty. And I guess I shouldn't be surprised he connected so well with the far left. I guess he's their candidate.