During Wednesday's Democratic presidential debate, NBC moderator Lestor Holt asked which candidates would abolish their private health insurance plans in favor of a government option -- only Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, D-N.Y., raised their hands.
Holt highlighted Warren's support for Sen. Bernie Sanders', I-Vt., "Medicare-for-all" plan and asked if she would duplicate his proposal if she became president.
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"So, yes, I'm with Bernie on Medicare-for-all and let me tell you why," she replied. "I spent a big chunk of my life studying why families go broke and one of the number-one reasons is the cost of health care. Medical bills. And that's not just for people who don't have insurance. It's for people who have insurance.
"Look at the business model of an insurance company. It's to bring in as many dollars as they can in premiums and to pay out as few dollars as possible for your health care. That leaves families with rising premiums, rising co-pays, and fighting with insurance companies to try to get the health care that their doctors say that they and their children need."
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Warren claimed Medicare-for-all would solve the issue of rising health care costs and said politicians who oppose it are not willing to fight for their constituents. She also labeled health coverage as a basic human right.
"Medicare-for-all solves that problem," she continued. "And I understand, there are a lot of politicians who say, oh, it's just not possible, we just can't do it, we have a lot of political reasons for this. What they're really telling you is they just won't fight for it. Well, health care is a basic human right and I will fight for basic human rights."
