Sanders Demands Drug and Insurance Industries Explain the Hundreds of Millions They Seem Willing

[Uncle Joe]

to Spend to Defeat Medicare for All

Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is calling on the top lobbyists of the nation's private health insurance and pharmaceutical industries to explain to the American people why they are willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars this election cycle to attack his proposal for Medicare for All—a plan that would provide everyone in the country with healthcare coverage by improving and expanding the existing Medicare program.

In a letter sent Friday to Matt Eyles and Stephen Ubl, the respective heads of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), Sanders asked them both to "please explain to the American people why you believe it is more important to spend such an enormous sum of money on advertising, lobbying and campaign contributions than it is to make sure that no one in the wealthiest country in the world dies or goes bankrupt because they cannot afford to purchase life-saving prescription drugs or go to a doctor."

(snip)

"You made a $100 billion in profits last year," Sanders states in the video, addressing the two industries. "How much are you going to be spending of that $100 billion to oppose Medicare for All? Is it $200 million? Is it $500 million? Is it a billion dollars in order to protect your profits?"

(snip)

While poll after poll continues to show that the American people are increasingly supportive of Sanders' Medicare for All proposal—especially when survey questions are framed without industry-friendly talking points designed to scare consumers about costs or benefits—the corporations that have the most to lose if the for-profit system goes away, such as private insurers and drug manufactures, have mobilized their deep-pocketed public relations machine to stem the growing demand for a more cost-effective and universal system.

(snip)

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/08/10/sanders-demands-drug-and-insurance-industries-explain-hundreds-millions-they-seem

[BeckyDem]

1. Yea, I would like to hear their answer too.

Smart, Bernie.

[Duppers]

2. K & R

[elleng]

3. Good

[TexasTowelie]

4. Perhaps this is a subtlety,

but demanding something and "please explain" are not exactly the same. Besides, Bernie (nor any of the other 2020 Democratic candidates) are in a position to demand anything from anyone.

I suspect that Matt Eyles and Stephen Ubl will not explain and that Bernie's letter will end up in the trash can unless they decide to frame it.

[TreasonousBastard]

5. The Presidential candidate is still a Senator, and has been for quite a while. Instead of making...

silly demands of industry, perhaps he could start with a push for legislation on the pricing of generic drugs.

Just sayin'...

[betsuni]

6. Is this a "strongly worded letter" I've seen so many here mock?

[Uncle Joe]

7. No, I believe it's more like a letter of Jiu Jitsu