"What the real debate is
about is: do we have the courage to take on these incredibly powerful special
interests, who make huge profits?"
—Sen. Bernie Sanders
—Sen. Bernie Sanders
"If we are going to break
the stranglehold of corporate interests over the healthcare needs of the
American people," Sanders plans to say in Medicare for All speech,
"we have got to confront a Washington culture that has let this go on for
far too long."
Arguing that fundamental
changes to America's profit-driven and deadly healthcare
system will be impossible to enact as long as political leaders continue to
accept industry cash, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday will deliver a Medicare
for All speech calling on 2020 Democratic presidential candidates to join him
in rejecting campaign donations from insurance and pharmaceutical lobbyists,
executives, and PACs.
"You can't change a
corrupt system by taking its money," Sanders will say in the address,
according to an excerpt released by his campaign. "If we are going to
break the stranglehold of corporate interests over the healthcare needs of the
American people, we have got to confront a Washington culture that has let this
go on for far too long."
In his speech, Sanders will
introduce and take the "No Health Insurance and Pharma Money Pledge,"
which states:
"I pledge to not take contributions from the health insurance or
pharmaceutical industry and instead prioritize the health of the American
people over health industry profits."
"Taking the pledge means
that a politician or candidate's campaign will adopt a policy to not knowingly
accept any contributions over $200 from the PACs, lobbyists, or executives of
health insurance or pharmaceutical companies," according
to Sanders's website. "The pledge does not apply to rank-and-file
workers employed by pharmaceutical giants and health insurance companies."
According
to financial disclosures, former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Kamala
Harris (D-Calif.), and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg are among the 2020
presidential candidates who have accepted campaign donations from healthcare
executives.
Just hours after launching his
campaign in April, as Common Dreams reported at
the time, Biden attended a high-dollar fundraiser hosted by Daniel Hilferty,
the CEO of insurance giant Independence Blue Cross—a company covered by
Sanders's pledge.
Biden—an opponent
of Medicare for All who called support for such a plan a "sin"—has
also received large donations from pharmaceutical behemoths Merck & Co. and
Gilead Sciences, the Washington Post reported on
Wednesday.
"Sanders has opted not to
hold fundraisers catering to wealthy donors," the Post noted,
"and is not seen by insurance and drug companies as an ally."
The Vermont senator tweeted Wednesday
that candidates who refuse to take the No Health Insurance and Pharma Money
Pledge should explain to the American public "why those interests believe
their campaigns are a good investment."
"The main point that I'm
going to be making is that the struggle we are having in this country for
healthcare for all—for a Medicare for all single-payer system—is really not a
debate over healthcare policy," Sanders said in an interview with
the New York Timesahead of his speech. "It is a question of whether,
as a nation, we are prepared to take on the incredible power of the insurance industry,
the drug industry, and the entire healthcare industry."
Sanders's speech will come
after several days of sparring with the Biden campaign over the most effective
and humane way to confront America's healthcare crisis.
As Common Dreams reported on
Monday, Biden—who has recently spent a significant
amount of time attacking single-payer on the campaign trail—unveiled
an incremental healthcare plan that would create a public option and expand
Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Matt Bruenig, founder of the
left-wing think tank People's Policy Project, estimatedthat
Biden's proposal could cause the deaths of 125,000 people over 10 years by
leaving millions of Americans uninsured.
In response to the former vice
president's plan, the Sanders campaign circulated
a chart highlighting the contrasts between "Bidencare" and
Medicare for All, which would guarantee insurance to everyone in the United
States.
"Biden's plan would
preserve a broken system," read the campaign's graphic
In his interview with
the Times on Wednesday, Sanders said he doesn't believe "there
really is much of a debate as to whether or not the current healthcare system
is dysfunctional."
"The real question that
we have to ask ourselves is, why? How did we end up where we are?" said
the Vermont senator. "What the real debate is about is: do we have the
courage to take on these incredibly powerful special interests, who make huge
profits?"
In his interview with
the Times on Wednesday, Sanders said he doesn't believe "there
really is much of a debate as to whether or not the current healthcare system
is dysfunctional."
"The real question that
we have to ask ourselves is, why? How did we end up where we are?" said
the Vermont senator. "What the real debate is about is: do we have the
courage to take on these incredibly powerful special interests, who make huge
profits?"
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