Andrew Yang appeared on Meet The Press and owned Chuck Todd as left Todd scrambling to defend the Affordable Care Act over Medicare for All.
Just before Todd interviewed Andrew Yang, he interviewed Congresswoman Terri Sewell who toed the Democratic Establishment neoliberal take on healthcare, a system with continued subsidization of the private insurance companies by us all. She robotically discounted Medicare for All and pledge support to the current system that many find hard to afford or acceptable.
Andrew Yang’s interview on Medicare for All and more did not disappoint.
Andrew Yang owned a flustered Todd on M4A.
Here is the exchange between Chuck Todd and Andrew Yang about Medicare for All.
Chuck Todd: Let’s talk a little bit about the current debate happening inside the Democratic primary. And I think in some ways, you have tried to have a little piece of every bit — of every lane that there is that we in the media try to create. But let’s talk about the specifics of Medicare for All. You’re essentially for it, but you haven’t talked about how you would pay for it. We know we’re having a big debate about how Elizabeth Warren plans to pay for it. But let me ask this basic question. I had a Congresswoman, Democratic Congresswoman on. If we haven’t fully implemented Obamacare, why should we rip it up and start over?
Andrew Yang: Certainly, I was a fan of the themes of Obamacare. But many Americans agree that it didn’t go quite far enough in terms of coverage and allowing Americans to have access to high quality affordable care.
Chuck Todd: How do you know? It hasn’t been fully implemented. That’s always been my question. I’ve heard this critique before. And I’m going, “We don’t know.” Medicaid has not been expanded in 50 states.
Andrew Yang: You know, and there’s a reason for that. So we need to create a path forward for Americans to have access to care. I would not get rid of private insurance. And to me, the pay for argument is misplaced because we’re already spending 18% of GDP, almost four trillion dollars, in large part because the system is not designed to keep us strong and healthy. It’s designed to make money for the private insurance companies and the device manufacturers and the drug companies.
Yang acknowledges what most know deep inside. The insurance companies are ripping us all off.