Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., tweeted a video Tuesday praising the Koch brothers for a study on his “Medicare for all” healthcare plan.
“Let me thank the Koch brothers, of all people, for sponsoring a study that shows that Medicare for all would save the American people $2 trillion over a 10-year period,” Sanders said in a video he shared on Twitter. “I suspect that it is not what the Koch brothers intended to do, but that is what is in the study of the Mercatus Center.”
[Opinion: Koch brothers tell Republicans the free ride is over]
Thank you, Koch brothers, for accidentally making the case for Medicare for All! pic.twitter.com/speuEL6ETC
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) July 30, 2018
The study released by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, a think tank which has received funding from billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch also shows “Medicare for all” would cost Americans $32.6 trillion. Sanders emphasized that this projection is $2 trillion less than what Americans pay for healthcare under the current system, despite rising taxes for some. The major difference is that healthcare would be funded by the government, without the addition of private customers or employers as it is now.
Sanders’ “Medicare for all” plan, released in a bill in September 2017, would replace employer-provided health insurance with a socialized healthcare system for every person that would be provided by the federal government.
In response to the $32.6 trillion finding, Sanders took a shot at the Mercatus Center. “If every major country on earth can guarantee healthcare to all, and achieve better health outcomes, while spending substantially less per capita than we do, it is absurd for anyone to suggest that the United States cannot do the same,” Sanders said in a statement, according to the Associated Press. “This grossly misleading and biased report is the Koch brothers response to the growing support in our country for a ‘Medicare for all’ program.”
