 Lauren Steiner is a fellow podcast host content creator and she's also an activist and she showed up to a town hall with a North Carolina state Legislature named Jeff Jackson and he is currently running for the US Senate now the crowd as well as her They wanted to know what his stance on Medicare for all was and as you're going to see from the footage here He wouldn't really give a definitive answer He was very wishy-washy and dodgy and he kept using buzzwords like universal healthcare But he wouldn't actually elaborate on the plan that he supports So what is it? So as you're gonna see the crowd wasn't having it and more specifically Lauren Steiner wasn't having it and he was very uncomfortable trying to explain his non-position to her but she would not relent and she kept asking him and pressing him to further explain what he believes and He doesn't have a satisfactory answer take a look. This is awkward and he should be embarrassed The robust opposition and I'm here at Jeff Jackson's town hall in Buncombe County I have been a long-time Medicare for all activist and I am here to ask him if he Elected would co-sponsor Bernie Sanders Medicare for all bill In the first six months of the pandemic 5.4 million Americans lost their insurance because it was tied to health. Yes. He was trying to do a job in North Carolina We have 260,000 lost their jobs and lost their insurance our public health is is overwhelmed How do you plan to change or restructure our health care system in this country? If there's one thing that COVID has taught us it's that an employer based health care system Breaks down during a pandemic when lots of people lose their jobs Here's what I think is going to talk health care. Okay. Here's what I think is going to happen You see the administration rolling out things in pieces. They did the first thing was COVID relief The second thing appears to be infrastructure. I bet the third thing is going to be health care And I think it's going to be a version of universal health care something that would get us to be the No longer be the only developed nation that doesn't have true universal health care Medicare for all Jeff Okay, thank you. I appreciate that uh And what I think is going to happen is that that's not going to pass In part because of joe mansion I think this next election where we have states like wisconsin pennsylvania and north carolina Will determine whether or not we get to universal health care by the end of biden's first term, which is 2024 We should be focused On actually getting to universal health care by the end of this term How there's no reason that we can't do it how by electing three more democrats wisconsin pennsylvania and north carolina What policy who's next what policy if not medicare for all? Said you would answer my question on camera, ma'am. I did answer your question on camera. I already did I answered your question in the middle of my speech already Yes, but you I but you said you wanted a policy that would get us to universal health care in 2024 So my question is if not medicare for all what policy is that? Well, I think there are different proposals in this space and i'm open to a couple different proposals Can you say what i'm not open to is failing we have to get to universal health care by 2024 I don't think we can get there by 2022 because I think joe mansion is going to block it Right, but I think we have a legitimate chance of getting there by 2024. That's what i'm committed to So which policies do you support? I'm open to different ideas in this space I think the biden administration is probably going to propose some form of a medicare public option I'm open to that just to sign on to something as a co-sponsor Doesn't mean it has to get passed. It's taken this long decade since john connor's Sponsored his bill to get 50 percent of the house democrats on as co-sponsors Just recently frank cologne signed on that was a very important signal It would be a signal if you co-sponsor this whether it got passed or not that you support it as a policy What i'm hearing from people across the state is they expect me to get something done That's going to be my focus. I'm going to put all of my energy on actually getting legislation passed People are done with politicians who say i'm going to do this and then they don't so what i'm telling people I'm going to do is what I think I can actually accomplish What I want what I want is the boldest possible version of something I think we have a realistic chance of getting and I think we have a realistic chance of getting to universal health care by 2024 It is painfully obvious that he is so full of shit if you can't just state Concisely and clearly what your policy position is Nobody should trust you. Nobody should believe you This is an easy question If you support a public option then just say that you support a public option If you support medicare for all then say that you support medicare for all or don't but when you use words like universal health care That is a code word for i don't support medicare for all Previously, I think you can argue that universal health care meant that health care was free at the point of service But that rhetoric has been co-opted by corporate democrats who don't actually support medicare for all and also medicare for all and single-payer activists have been trying to argue that health care is a right but politicians like joe biden appropriated the rhetoric but not the actual policy itself and so now they're saying I believe that health care is a right But they don't support the policy that would actually literally make health care a right So it's really frustrating and this is why lauren steiner what she's doing here is super important And this is why I wanted to show you this because you have to go beyond the rhetoric if a politician says That they support a particular thing that sounds good. You can't just take them at face value You can't just take them at the word. You have to dive deeper and press them for further details. Otherwise Uh, you're not going to get what you think you're getting out of them They're lying to you or they're trying to dupe you into believing that They support what you support But they don't actually want to say it because when push comes to shove If they are held accountable later if they're elected then they have plausible deniability They could say well, look, I never firmly committed to medicare for all So what lauren steiner is doing here is she's forcing him To take a position and she's not allowing him to weasel his way out of that position Now lauren steiner has been doing this forever My first introduction to lauren steiner was back in 2017 when she showed up to a town hall with democrat rad sherman and uh, she pressed him on why he doesn't support medicare for all And there was so much pressure as a result of her asking him that question that he actually did end up caving So this is really important getting politicians to speak Directly and clearly with you that really is one of the most important forms of accountability and sharing Your conversation with these politicians also is super important because we live in an era where we have social media And politicians don't get to lie and obfuscate about their position People are going to show up and ask them direct questions And one thing I got to point out that I almost forgot is so he says, uh, we have to get universal healthcare We have to get to that by 2024. I don't think we can get there by 2022 because I think joe manchin is going to block it I'm sorry, but I have no respect for democrats who use joe manchin as an excuse To not support policies. It's not about joe manchin. What do you support? And furthermore, do you support a policy enough to fight for it? You shouldn't base your support on a particular policy on what's politically possible You should support a policy if it's good policy if it will be conducive to good governance and have a satisfactory outcome So, um, look I think that you have to follow what loren steiner did Send this guy an email Let him know that you want a clear answer. Do you or do you not support medicare for all? It's a yes or no question. And when we say medicare for all, we don't mean medicare for all who wanted or medicare for some We mean, do you support healthcare that is free at the point of service? And universally applied to every single citizen in the united states and non-citizen That's the question that we have to ask these politicians And um, sometimes you don't get a clear answer, which is why you have to press them So, uh, good job to loren steiner. Shout out to her. I'm a fan of her work And definitely check out her youtube channel for more videos like this one where she really Holds politicians accountable and you love to see it because this actually is impactful. It actually does work