Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sat down with CNBC’s John Harwood for an interview, published Tuesday, and the presidential hopeful didn’t have an answer for how he’d pay for his “Medicare for All” plan.
In fact, Sanders said that at this moment, he doesn’t have to tell anyone how he’s going to make the plan work.
"You're asking me to come up with an exact detailed plan of how every American — how much you're going to pay more in taxes, how much I'm going to pay. I don't think I have to do that right now," Sanders told CNBC.
The Vermont senator, along with other Democratic presidential candidates, has yet to explain how much “Medicare for All” will put a dent into Americans’ wallets. But Sanders has admitted that taxes would have to be raised for it to work, even saying he believes Americans will be “delighted” for the smaller paychecks they would receive as a result.
As The Hill reports:
Sanders last spring released a list of financing suggestions for his updated Medicare for All legislation, but the list would only cover about half the cost. A conservative group estimated Medicare for All would cost about $33 trillion over a decade, but Sanders has said that amount is inflated.
When pressed by Harwood about where he would get the other half of the funding, Sanders said he was confident the plan would be fully paid for.
“All that I’m saying is that we have laid out a variety of options that are progressive. We’ll have that debate,” Sanders said. “At the end of the day, we will pay for every nickel of Medicare for All, and it will save the overwhelming majority of the American people, who will no longer pay premiums.”