The ongoing fight in the Democratic primary over health care comes down to whether Bernie Sanders’ desire for a single-payer system puts the gains made under Obamacare at risk, Hillary Clinton suggested at Thursday’s MSNBC debate in New Hampshire.
“Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again,” Clinton said. “This was major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It’s helping people right now. I’m not going to wait and have us plunge back into a national debate that has very little chance of succeeding.”
It’s a somewhat familiar debate between the two Democrats, but Sanders pushed back at her characterization of his plan as leaving Americans uncovered.
“The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we’re waiting to pass a ‘Medicare for All’ is just not accurate,” Sanders said, as he touted his experience on the Senate committee that helped write the law. He argued, however, that the ACA has fallen short in lowering drug prices and getting coverage for those still uninsured.
“I do believe in the future, not by dismantling what we have here. I helped write that bill, but by moving forward, rallying the American people. I do believe we should have health care for all,” Sanders said.
Clinton’s criticisms of Sanders health care are part of her broader attack that he promises goals that are vague and unachievable.
“I think that would be a great mistake to once again plunge our country into a debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for health care,” she said. “I want to build on the progress we’ve made.”
Sanders, however, countered that the single-payer system has been a success in many other countries.
“Every major country on Earth, whether it’s the UK, whether it’s France, whether it’s Canada, has managed to provide health care to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are,” Sanders said. “I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can’t do that.”
