Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Sanders To Cruz: Health Care Access ‘Doesn’t Mean A Damn Thing’ If You Can’t Afford It
Huffington Post ^ | 02/08/2017 | Chris D'Angelo

Posted on 02/08/2017 7:36:51 AM PST by SeekAndFind

On the issue of health care, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) agree on very little.

At a town hall debate Tuesday night hosted by CNN, the two former presidential candidates clashed on the future of the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, which President Donald Trump and Republican members of Congress have vowed to repeal.

One of the more spirited exchanges came after Sanders asked Cruz if he believes, as Sanders does, that every American is entitled to health care as a right.

“What is a right is access to health care,” Cruz said. “What is a right is choosing your own doctor.” Another right people have is “for government not to mess with you,” he said.

Sanders snapped back, saying that without enough money to afford such care, access to it is meaningless.

“You want to buy one of Donald Trump’s mansions? You have access to do that as well,” he said. “Oh, you can’t afford $5 million for a house? Sorry. Access doesn’t mean a damn thing! What it means is whether people can afford it, can get the health care that they need.”

In his opening remarks, Sanders acknowledged the Affordable Care Act isn’t perfect, but said repealing it would have devastating consequences to millions of Americans. Cruz, who has repeatedly called for a full repeal, said that unlike Sanders and Democrats, who “want government to control health care,” he trusts people and their doctors to make their own choices.

Watch a clip of the exchange below.

(Excerpt) Read more at huffingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: berniesanders; healthcare; obamacare; tedcruz
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-63 next last

1 posted on 02/08/2017 7:36:51 AM PST by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Cruz won, but I wish he had said something like “We ALL have access to the mansion. If we really want it and if we work hard and save our money then we CAN have that mansion if we really want it. It’s not just going to be given to us.”


2 posted on 02/08/2017 7:41:40 AM PST by DouglasKC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I get Medicaid coverage.

Bernie Sanders’ statement people don’t get access to health care is a flat-out lie.

Nobody is being left to die on the streets due to inability to pay for health care.


3 posted on 02/08/2017 7:42:18 AM PST by goldstategop ((In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Neither does a 5% rebate on the new Mercedes AMG S65, at $236,250 msrp. Such is life.


4 posted on 02/08/2017 7:42:39 AM PST by bigbob (We have better coverage than Verizon - Can You Hear Us Now?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
If there are rioters they will be the Obamacare people that are getting it free. The free ride will cause the idiots that believe they are entitled to everything free to go crazy.
5 posted on 02/08/2017 7:43:03 AM PST by Logical me
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Not ever going to give Huffblows traffic. They are fake news 99% of the time. Severely progressive. Extremely unreliable.


6 posted on 02/08/2017 7:43:05 AM PST by TheStickman (And their fear tastes like sunshine puked up by unicorns.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All

To a poor man: “You don’t have to pay $750 a month because you get a subsidy...You only pay $250 a month....”

Untold to the same man: “If you use the ACA, you have a $12,000 deductible...”


7 posted on 02/08/2017 7:43:13 AM PST by JBW1949 (I'm really PC....PATRIOTICALLY CORRECT!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
Friends of mine have Ebolacare. Costs them $1600 a month for both of them, plus a $7000 deductible.

Not very affordable.

8 posted on 02/08/2017 7:45:09 AM PST by mountn man (The Pleasure You Get From Life, Is Equal To The Attitude You Put Into It)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

So how can you “afford” it? Well, the best way over the long term is to create a dynamic market that drives the cost of new procedures and drugs down. That happens. What people don’t like is that they don’t all have access to the top of the line, new treatments and drugs without paying a fortune. But the paradox is that if you remove the profit incentive to creating new drugs, progress will stop. Everyone will be able to afford the current treatments but nothing new will be produced and medical technology and procedures will stagnate. If we put universal healthcare in place in the 1950s, our medical technology and medicines would probably have advanced to the point where they were in the 1970s at this point.


9 posted on 02/08/2017 7:45:31 AM PST by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

It’s just semantics. But the biggest healthcare problem is cost, not who’s going to pay.

Didn’t Sanders say that Democrats and Republicans are owned by the Pharmaceuticals? Make that the entire healthcare establishment.

I’m getting suspicious of the “medical breakthrough” stories run regularly on the evening news. They are also advertisements for the medical industry.

Get your iPad handy and look up the cost of the numerous prescription drugs advertised in TV commercials. Go to goodrx.com.


10 posted on 02/08/2017 7:47:14 AM PST by cymbeline
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

The health care debacle suggests that I who busted my rear for decades and had to pay for it along with everything else that I have would be free for snowflakes and indigents in general and then now I would also have to pay for them too??

Find the truly needy folks in our society and I am happy to help where I can. But the useless crud that wants to sit on their fat @$$e$ watching flat screen tvs and living off of everything I have earned for decades can go pound sand.


11 posted on 02/08/2017 7:47:26 AM PST by Vaquero ( Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

12 posted on 02/08/2017 7:48:28 AM PST by Daffynition ("The New PTSD: Post-Trump Stress Disorder" - The MLN didn't make Trump, so they can't break Trump.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DouglasKC

I didn’t see it. But there needs to be, if you talk about unfairness, a point made re poor people not having to put forth one iota of effort to get expensive treatments and time with learned medical professionals. The squirrel who works hardest should get the most nuts. Middle class people struggle to afford braces for their kids’ teeth and often do without something else in their life (including leisure time!) to pay for them. Whereas there are “programs” for poor people to get free braces. Their parents didn’t have to put ANY EFFORT toward the cost. Things like that are so unfair.


13 posted on 02/08/2017 7:49:36 AM PST by Yaelle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
Sanders To Cruz: Health Care Access ‘Doesn’t Mean A Damn Thing’ If You Can’t Afford It

And the appropriate response to this communist puke is, "And O-Holecare ensures no one will be able to afford it, you dumbass.

14 posted on 02/08/2017 7:50:31 AM PST by Common Sense 101
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DouglasKC

Or just run against hitlary and she’ll give you a mansion to go away, right boiney?


15 posted on 02/08/2017 7:50:37 AM PST by longfellow (Bill Maher, the 21st hijacker.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Maybe Sanders doesn’t remember what it was like before Obamacare. I couldn’t afford health care insurance before going on Medicare & then there was no Obamacare. Obamacare came along & money was taken from Medicare(& other things)in an effort to make it work. It hasn’t worked for the most part.


16 posted on 02/08/2017 7:51:43 AM PST by oldtech
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

And if you put the government in charge NO ONE will be able to afford it.

Doctors used to make house calls- I remember one coming to my house when I was a kid.


17 posted on 02/08/2017 7:52:45 AM PST by Mr. K ( Trump kicked her ass 2-to-1 if you remove all the voter fraud.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

It means something to those who CAN afford it. And those that can’t might want to look at working toward a career that brings in more money.

Same thing can be said for cars, houses, food and anything else people want to have. That is why we work.

I’m still trying to figure out why the government is involved, other than to protect a business environment that ensures maximum efficiency between buyers, sellers and producers of products.


18 posted on 02/08/2017 7:52:54 AM PST by Mr. Douglas (Best. Election. EVER!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

And socialism makes it unaffordable because those not paying taxes get their voice subsidized while those who do get shut down

enough said


19 posted on 02/08/2017 7:53:57 AM PST by JudgemAll (Democrats Fed. job-security Whorocracy & hate:hypocrites must be gay like us or be tested/crucified)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Vaquero

Make them watch CRT picture tubes.


20 posted on 02/08/2017 7:54:21 AM PST by Lisbon1940 (No full-term Governors (at the time of election!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-63 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson