Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took questions Sunday evening at a CNN town hall, just before primaries in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio.
Here is how the candidates addressed audience members' questions on healthcare.
Sen. Sanders
1. Sen. Sanders said his tax hikes will be balanced by the benefits of his Medicare-for-All healthcare plan. When asked what the message is to middle income Americans — who would experience a $4,700 tax increase under Sen. Sanders' policies, according to a Tax Policy Center analysis — Sen. Sanders said he disagreed with the analysis. He said many analyses have forgotten to include his healthcare program.
"What Medicare for all will do is provide healthcare to every man, woman and child without having to pay premiums to the insurance companies and very substantially lower the cost of prescription drugs," said Sen. Sanders. He added, "We are going to protect the middle-class of this country, and we are going to address massive levels of income and wealth inequality, and the disinvestment that we are seeing in communities through this country."
2. He called the War on Drugs a failure and called for a mental healthcare revolution. "Frankly, in terms of the broader issues of mental health in this country, we are failing and failing badly," he said, addressing a question on heroin addiction, rehabilitation and incarceration.
"Mental health is part of healthcare, and we need a revolution in providing mental health treatment to the people who need it in this country," he added, though did not provide the specifics of how he plans to do this.
3. Sen. Sanders also said his healthcare plan will lessen the burden for businesses, though not their tax burden. An independent restaurant owner asked about the tax burden on small businesses under a Sanders administration. Sen. Sanders said, "So you, to be honest, you are going to pay a little bit more in taxes. You will pay a little bit more in taxes. But the savings will be in total much greater by the reduction — by the fact that you are not going to be having to pay private health insurance premiums."
Ms. Clinton
4. Ms. Clinton said her mission will be to get healthcare costs down under the Affordable Care Act. An audience member who previously voted Democratic told Ms. Clinton they were reconsidering because the cost of their health insurance nearly tripled under the ACA. Ms. Clinton replied that while the ACA has helped many people afford healthcare there obviously are still exceptions, which she plans to eliminate, by tackling prescription costs and increasing competition among payers.
"What I want to assure you and your family of is I will do everything I can as president, working with members of Congress where necessary, to try to get the costs down," she said. "But I do want you to keep shopping, because what you are telling me is much higher than what I hear from other families, and so I want to be sure that if there is a better option out there for you, you're going to be able to take advantage of it."
5. She called for increased mental health and addiction services as a way to help address issues with America's prison system. "We have systemic racism that is really at work inside of the criminal justice system. And, we have got to be willing to stand up — and question these inequities, and then go about the business of ridding them… and we need to have much more in the way of treatment and help for people who have addictions, who have mental health issues, so that they can be helped, not incarcerated," Ms. Clinton said.
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