Former Obama adviser and current CNN political commentator David Axelrod called it a “fact” that Americans don’t want a single-payer health care system.
Axelrod’s comments came Tuesday night following the first of two Democratic presidential primary debates on the network. The event prominently featured Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, both of whom support a single-payer Medicare for All system, and they spent much of the debate arguing in favor of it.
“It does seem if you’re running for president that you ought to take into consideration what the country wants. And the fact is, large numbers of people oppose the Medicare for All proposal if it replaces private insurance,” Axelrod began, also referencing candidates who want to decriminalize border crossings and provide free healthcare for undocumented immigrants.
“I was in the White House when we fought just to get the Affordable Care Act. Couldn’t get a public option. So Bernie Sanders was there. He knows that. He knows that what he’s talking about is not going to happen any time soon,” he continued. “Do we move forward with these idealized proposals that are going to beg opposition and make it easier for Donald Trump to make his case and win reelection?”
The idea of a single-payer healthcare system created a lot of heated back-and-forths during the debate. At one point, former Maryland Rep. John Delaney argued that Sanders did “his math wrong.”
At another point, Sanders faced more attacks from Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio about whether union members would have better care under Medicare for All and sharply retorted, “I wrote the damn bill!”
