 So I don't usually do this because when I talk about town halls I like to kind of address everything that was contained in that one event But what I want to do now is extract the conversation that Bernie Sanders had with the audience about healthcare and Medicare for all because it was so Powerful it was so persuasive that I think that we need to highlight it Individually because it's going to be useful in the future when we actually make the case For Medicare for all when he hopefully one day becomes president. So if you Care about Medicare for all, this is your number one issue Bernie Sanders demonstrated here beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is the one Candidate out of a field of 20 plus people who will actually deliver Medicare for all because he moved past The initial pitch now. He's at phase two where he is thoroughly explaining the policy He's explaining to people and educating really what to expect So he clarified to them what he means by Medicare for all the origins of Medicare And how Republicans back then when it was passed in the 1960s Responded to it listen very carefully to what he's saying because if you support Medicare for all if the candidate that you support Says they support Medicare for all. I don't care if you are going for Kamala Harris or Kirsten Gillibrand If they're not talking about it in this way, then they're not serious about Medicare for all listen to what he says and how he explains it and I'll tell you why this matters Why do you believe that the government can provide better health care than the private sector? And why should people who like their plans be forced to switch? Okay? First of all, let's be clear what we mean by Medicare for all, okay Medicare is a government-run program for seniors, which is widely popular and quite effective in 1965 when Lyndon Johnson passed that bill it was called by some Republican socialism and everything else But you go to the Albert senior and you say how do you feel about Medicare and? They will tell you that they will oppose any Republican effort to cut Medicare and by the way in Trump's budget He has proposed an 845 billion dollar cut over a 10-year period of Medicare, which seniors don't want so to answer your question We are not talking about government-run health care the veterans Administration and most veterans think that that's a pretty good health care system talk to the American Legion of the VFW They strongly defend the veterans health care That's government run what we are talking about is simply a single-payer insurance Program, which means that you will have a cod which has Medicare on it You'll go to any doctor that you want You'll go to any hospital that you want and by the way millions of people today are in networks Which prevent them from doing this? So this gives you freedom of choice with regard to the doctors you go to or the hospitals you go to But here is the main point when we talk about health care Partly right now we got 30 million people zero health insurance and many of you and tens of millions of Americans are Underinsured with high deductibles and co-payments. Is that correct? All right, so what happens is there are estimates that some 30,000 Americans die every single year because they don't go to the doctor when they should all right meanwhile We pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs One out of five Americans are getting ripped off by the drug companies who make billions in profits while charging us the highest prices in the world and On top of all of that we spend twice as much per capita on health care as do the people of any other nation So the question that I throw it back to you Do you think it makes sense to spend twice as much per capita as the people of any other nation and be the only country on We're in the world not to guarantee health care center all people so this is important because when we are Watching other candidates discuss health care. They're still in the deliberation phase now What I mean by that is they still aren't necessarily guaranteed or Said on the policy that they want to implement so for example if you watched Andrew Yang's town hall With CNN he said that he is in the Medicare for all slash public option camp Well, which is it you've got to pick one because these are two very very different policy ideas If you support a public option, then you've got to advocate for that if you support Medicare for all then Advocate for that but since most of these candidates are still not even sure about what they want to implement including Elizabeth Warren It's clear that they're not serious because what does Bernie Sanders say here? I support Medicare for all that's the most important thing and then he moves on to explain it This is what's going to happen when we pass Medicare for all you will get a Medicare card You will then be able to go to any hospital and see any doctor that you want You'll have the freedom you'll have stability and this is really the point that a candidate should be at if They truly support Medicare for all now pretty much every single candidate thus far in the race Has not been as good as Bernie Sanders The only person who I think comes close is Tulsi Gabbard because she's one of the few candidates who has not backtracked Although she's still not as good as Bernie Sanders because she claims that we don't necessarily need to abolish the private health Insurance companies, but what your ideal should be is to construct a health care plan a single-payer Medicare for all system That's so good that they go out of business that we don't need them Now you can be concerned about a just transition for employees of health insurance companies But if you're not designing a health care policy with the plan of making them go out of business Then you're going to allow for it to be exploited by private companies if you allow them to exist Alongside our single-payer system. You are allowing them to water it down inevitably So the only two people that even come close in my view are Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard But Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard still have quite a bit of distance between them because Bernie is explaining the specifics of the policy Which again is where the candidate needs to be if they genuinely support Medicare for all He also talked about how when it was proposed back in the 1960s when Lyndon Johnson passed it What were Republicans talking about then what were they saying about Medicare the same thing? They're saying about Medicare for all now. They're saying this is socialism. It's a takeover But now fast-forward decades later if you try to cut Medicare Seniors oppose that it's overwhelmingly popular and I could only expect the same to be true when it comes to Medicare for all So what he's talking about here is incredibly important He then moves on to the question of what would happen to people who currently have private insurance through their employers Really important discussion. There's a lot of talk about this currently And I think this specifically is why a lot of candidates including Tulsi are a little bit reluctant to say unequivocally that we do need to get rid of the private health insurance companies because they believe employer-based Insurance is popular, but people don't really care about that. They care about keeping their doctor Now Bernie Sanders explains this and he does a phenomenal job And it's clear that the audience was receptive to what he was saying I want to ask the audience a question if you could raise your hand here a show of hands of how many people get their insurance From work private insurance right now. How many get it from private insurance? Okay, now of those how many are willing to transition to what the senator says a government-run system There's a hundred and eighty million people on private. Let's deal with that. They would be lost right to your system Okay, okay question good. Thank you. That's what the right wing throws out. So let me answer it. All right Millions of people every single year lose their health insurance You know why they get fired or they quit and they go to another employer I was the mayor for eight years You know what I did what probably every mayor in America does is you look around for the best insurance program most cost-effective Insurance you change insurance Every year millions of workers wake up in the morning and their employer has changed the insurance that they have Maybe they like the doctors that people are nodding their heads. Okay, so this is not new every year Now what we are talking about actually is stability that when you have a Medicare for all it is there now So that is such an important point that he made Medicare for all gives you more stability because even if you currently like your private employer-based health insurance Your employer can pull the rug out from under you at any time and just switch it up unilaterally And you'd have no say whatsoever and additionally even if you like the insurance that you have if it's good in your view If it's cheap well, you still might not necessarily know that there are gaps You still might not necessarily know whether or not a particular procedure you may need in the future will be covered You still may need to see a particular Specialist, but you can't because that specialist is outside of your insurance network So what Medicare for all does is it creates a lot of stability that is currently lacking now moving on to the last clip I want to show you we get to the fear-mongering aspect and any time Republicans talk about Medicare for all and to be fair including mainstream media CNN did this as well They try to really focus on that aspect of increased taxes. Here's what Bernie does here He explains that even if you are going to be paying higher taxes for Medicare for all Since you will no longer be paying one your monthly health insurance premiums your co-pays your deductibles You will still net safe money every single year and even though he doesn't say this in actuality It's going to be thousands of dollars for the average American family every single year This is what he says though It will drive up taxes to pay for health care and not just the wealthy will pay for that the middle class will also pay for it Very good. So how do you justify it and all right Martha? What are you not? Including in your discussion you tell me I will tell you you're not going to pay any health insurance premiums Healthcare is not free. You never suggest that we're gonna match You just said it was gonna be free for everyone. It's gonna be free at the point of when you use it Okay, and you go to why are you so shocked by this? Okay We'll get through this together Senator Sanders how he is fair enough. I got it. It's a fair but the first thing let's just say hypothetically, okay, you're I you are Self-employed and you have you got a husband and two kids, okay family of four You know how much that family is paying today for health care $28,000 okay. All right. We're spending $11,000 per person. We are saying to that family of four You ain't gonna pay that 28,000. You're not paying any more premiums. You're not paying any more co-payments You're not paying any more deductibles. How's that? 28,000 you're not paying but does that mean you're not gonna pay something? Of course it does you're gonna pay more in taxes and do members of Congress who now have gold-plated health insurance Well, they have a special plan that's outside of Obamacare a Different plan you know do members members of Congress are they going to do that transition as I'm right, of course But I want to make the point I want to get back to the point the mark of raise look healthcare cost money Every other country or virtually every country does it in the same way we do Education for our kids. Okay, when a kid walks into school He doesn't have to take out a credit card, right? It's paid for out of public funds. That's what most countries do So if you're asking me if your question is a fair question are people gonna pay more in taxes Yes, but at the end of the day the overwhelming majority of people are gonna end up paying less For healthcare because they're not paying premiums co-payments and deductibles So even though I think it was painfully clear that that Fox News host who was arguing with him was being purposefully obtuse I do think that what she was doing was useful because we do need someone to play devil's advocate because like it or not Even if you and I know about this there are still people who have questions And I think that Bernie Sanders is equipped to be able to respond with these questions He has knowledge. He knows about the specifics. He knows about the details So he should Respond to these questions and address these concerns and it may be frustrating to you and I because we we've heard him say the same shit Over and over and over again But if you're gonna pitch something like Medicare for all which really would be a substantial change Then you've got to repeat yourself over and over to make sure that you are abundantly clear because anytime you leave a gap you're essentially inviting in a health insurance shill or a Propaganda is to fear monger about what you're proposing and Fill in that gap that you left with their own straw man of your proposal So it's important for him to really be clear about where he stands and honestly if you support Medicare for all This is how you should be talking about Medicare for all in the way that Bernie Sanders is talking about it because one You've got to be clear about what you support most candidates are not and two You should be at the stage where you're not only clear about what you support, but you've moved on Pass the pitch. You're now talking about the way it would be implemented and what it would look like It's why I've said it once. I'll say it again. If Medicare for all is your number one issue Bernie's your guy and there's no question about that Mike is a total loser. So don't hit the subscribe button, okay? And whatever you do folks do not hit the notification bell either Mike treats me so unfairly