On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) stated that Democrats shouldn’t eliminate all the demands they have besides the ACA subsidies and an end to rescissions and said that Democrats will lose their leverage if the government reopens.
Host Kaitlan Collins asked, “So, you mentioned the subsidies, and then an agreement on no more rescissions. Is that — there are other things that are in the Democratic ask. It’s a 68-page proposal, I think. Should they cut all of the rest of that and just say those two things?”
Sanders answered, “No, I think, look, I think you’ve got to negotiate. You’re not going to get everything you want. But, bottom line, again, I don’t mean to be overly repetitive, we have a broken healthcare system. Everybody knows that. And Trump is not wrong when he says, the system is not working very well. But he is making it far worse. And, honestly, as the former chair of the Health Committee, I worry very, very much that he could literally collapse the entire system. We don’t have enough doctors right now. Who in the world is going to want to become a doctor in the midst of all of this? We pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, for health care, in general. Our life expectancy is lower than other major countries. So, we have a system deeply in trouble. He is taking it to the verge of collapse. We cannot allow that to happen.”
Later, he added, “[Y]ou reopen the government, and we lose our leverage.”
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