Sanders: GOP healthcare proposal an ‘absolute disaster’ and a ‘disgrace’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday slammed the proposed GOP healthcare plan as an “absolute disaster” and a “disgrace.”

“It is an absolute disaster. It is a disgrace. And by the way, this really has nothing to do with healthcare,” Sanders told CBS News’s “Face the Nation.” 

“What this has everything to do with is a massive shift of wealth from working people and middle-income people to the very richest people in this country.”

{mosads}House Republicans last week unveiled two measures to repeal and replace ObamaCare. The proposed legislation is experiencing opposition both from Democrats and conservative members of Congress.

The new GOP plan would get rid of some components of ObamaCare while keeping others in place. It would dismantle ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion and eliminate the individual mandate requiring people purchase coverage or pay a fine to the government. The GOP plan, instead, would allow insurance providers to charge a 30 percent penalty for gaps in coverage.

The GOP measures create a tax credit system to incentivize people to purchase insurance and would keep in place ObamaCare’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

Sanders, who advocated for a single-payer health insurance system during his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination last year, said Sunday that no one is suggesting “ObamaCare was perfect.” But the senator said he believes Americans want to improve the original healthcare law.

“In my view, what the American people want is an improvement on ObamaCare, not the decimation of ObamaCare and throwing so many people off of health insurance and raising premiums substantially.”