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bernie sanders
Sanders Denounces Trump-GOP Healthcare Proposal as 'Absurd'—and Deadly
"Trump’s approach would lead to more medical bankruptcies, more unaffordable care, and more Americans dying unnecessarily in the richest nation on Earth."
Nov 20, 2025
President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have finally started talking about proposals to fix America's healthcare system, but Sen. Bernie Sanders so far has found their ideas to be severely lacking.
In an op-ed published by the Boston Globe on Thursday, Sanders (I-Vt.) denounced the GOP healthcare plans as "absurd" ideas that "would take our already broken healthcare system and make it even worse."
Sanders then ripped apart Trump's plan to simply send Americans a lump sum of money that they could use to negotiate their own healthcare package, which he said would be an "absolute disaster."
"At a time when more than 60 percent of our people live paycheck to paycheck, a $6,500 check is meaningless in the face of real medical costs," he argued. "How is someone who needs a $150,000 cancer treatment going to get the care they need with a $6,500 check? What is a pregnant woman supposed to do with a $6,500 check when the average cost of childbirth in America is over $20,000? How is someone who has a heart attack going to be able to afford a $50,000 hospital stay with just $6,500?"
All of this, Sanders continued, would simply cause more people in the US to go bankrupt from trying to afford their medical expenses, which is a situation that does not occur in any nation that has universal healthcare.
"Trump’s approach would lead to more medical bankruptcies, more unaffordable care, and more Americans dying unnecessarily in the richest nation on Earth," he said.
Sanders argued that the long-term solution for the US healthcare crisis is a single-payer Medicare for All system that he has been proposing for his entire political career.
However, he also acknowledged that this proposal currently lacks support in the US Congress, and he pitched some alternative ideas to serve as a bridge to truly universal healthcare, including extending the enhanced tax credits first passed in 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan; repealing the nearly $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid that were passed by Republicans earlier this year in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act; and expanding Medicare to cover dental, vision, and hearing care.
Sanders also challenged the president to support banning stock buybacks and dividends for health insurance companies, which he called a waste of resources that should be devoted to patients' care.
"The American people know that our healthcare system is broken," Sanders concluded. "With the country’s increased focus on health, Democrats must be strong in rallying the American people around a rational healthcare system that works for all, not just insurance and drug companies."
Sanders on Thursday made similar points in an op-ed published by Fox News in which he ripped the GOP for slashing Medicaid funding simply so Big Tech titans like Tesla CEO Elon Musk could have more money to "build millions of robots that will, by the way, decimate good-paying jobs throughout our country."
Earlier this week, the senator also sent a letter urging Democrats in Congress to support the policies outlined in his new opinion pieces.
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'Maybe It's Time to Pick a Fucking Side,' Says Murphy After Trump Calls for Execution of Lawmakers
"Clearly, Trump has learned something from his good friend MBS: If you don't like what your political opponents say, execute them," said Sen. Bernie Sanders. "Unfortunately for Mr. Trump, that's not what we do in America."
Nov 20, 2025
Democratic and Independent lawmakers on Thursday reacted with alarm and scorn on Thursday after President Donald Trump called for a handful of Democrats to be tried and executed for sedition after they called on active duty US soldiers and intelligence officials to uphold their constitutional duty not to obey unlawful orders.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) posted a video denouncing the president's social media posts on the matter, saying Trump's call for the execution "is not normal" and that "we cannot allow this to feel normal."
"As far as I know," Murphy said, a president saying such a thing "has never happened before in the history of the country," adding that "every Democratic member of the House and Senate, their life is in jeopardy right now" in the context of those threats.
The President of the United States just called for Democratic members of Congress to be executed. "HANG THEM", he posted.
If you're a person of influence in this country and you haven't picked a side, maybe now would be the time to pick a fucking side. pic.twitter.com/NtQhUe5wyn
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) November 20, 2025
"The president of the United States just called for members of Congress to be executed," said Murphy, visibly angry. "If you are a person of influence in this country, maybe it's time to pick a fucking side."
"If you are a Republican in Congress, if you are a Republican governor," he continued, "maybe it's time to draw a line in the sand and say that under no circumstances should the President of the United States be calling on his political opposition to be hanged."
Murphy said the nation "is at a very dangerous moment right now," with President Trump "engaged in the wholesale incitement, endorsement, and rationalization of political violence in this country. This is a very slippery slope that we are on."
The senator added that now is "a moment for people to step up," especially those in positions of power or influence, to denounce a president who would call for the "murder of his political opposition."
Murphy was far from alone in condemning the president's remarks.
"Clearly, Trump has learned something from his good friend MbS: If you don't like what your political opponents say, execute them," said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), referencing the president's meeting this week with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. "Unfortunately for Mr. Trump, that's not what we do in America."
Meanwhile, Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) asked the question: "Will the FBI investigate President Trump's call for the deaths of sitting Democratic lawmakers?"
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Short of Medicare for All, Sanders Offers Democrats 6 Other Ways to Tackle Healthcare Crisis
"There are a number of much-needed reforms to the healthcare system that we could offer now that would substantially improve the lives of the American people and are also incredibly popular."
Nov 18, 2025
As Americans face soaring health insurance premiums and a vote to extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies looms, Sen. Bernie Sanders argued in a Tuesday letter to Democratic lawmakers that "it is imperative that we all support that legislation, but we must do much more.
Congressional Democrats' fight for ACA subsidies led to the longest government shutdown in US history—which ended last week, after eight members of the Senate Democratic Caucus caved without securing any guarantees. Instead, as Sanders (I-Vt.) noted, Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) agreed to hold a vote on extending the tax credits no later than the second week of December.
"At a time when the Republicans have been forced to finally talk about the healthcare crisis facing our country, it is essential that the Democratic Caucus unify behind a set of commonsense policies that will make healthcare more affordable and accessible," Sanders wrote. "The American people are paying attention. Now is the time to act."
Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. The panel's chair, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), is now pushing President Donald Trump's proposal to encourage Americans to shift to high-deductible plans and have the government put money directly into their health savings accounts.
"What Republicans are proposing is a bad deal for hardworking Americans, but a good deal for the wealthy," Jessica Schubel, who was a healthcare adviser to former President Joe Biden, explained Tuesday in a Fox News op-ed. "This new proposal could push millions into buying high-cost plans that make you pay thousands of dollars before they start paying for your care. Healthcare costs could skyrocket while undermining the entire Obamacare system—putting care at risk for millions of Americans."
Sanders' letter similarly warns that "while President Trump and some other Republicans in Congress are rightfully going after what they call 'the money sucking, BIG, BAD Insurance Companies,' the policies they have been discussing would make a bad situation even worse" by leading to "more medical bankruptcies, more unaffordable care, and more Americans going without the healthcare they desperately need."
The country's current debate over ACA subsidies has sparked fresh calls for a shift to government-funded universal healthcare, for which Sanders has long led the fight in Congress. He acknowledged that "while I believe that the long-term solution to the healthcare crisis is Medicare for All, and I appreciate the 16 cosponsors we have on that legislation in the Senate, and the more than 100 cosponsors we have in the House, this bill does not yet have majority support in the Democratic Caucus."
"The good news, however, is that there are a number of much-needed reforms to the healthcare system that we could offer now that would substantially improve the lives of the American people and are also incredibly popular," he continued.
Specifically, Sanders called for:
- Extending the ACA tax credits;
- Repealing Trump and congressional Republicans' $1 trillion in cuts to the ACA and Medicaid;
- Expanding Medicare to cover dental, vision, and hearing;
- Cutting the cost of prescription drugs by at least 50% with legislation requiring pharmaceutical companies to charge no more for medications in the United States than they do in Europe or Canada;
- Expanding primary healthcare with investments in the National Health Service Corps as well as community and teaching health centers; and
- Banning stock buybacks and dividends, and restricting CEO compensation.
"At a time when the vast majority of Americans understand that our current healthcare system is broken, dysfunctional, and cruel, we must offer serious proposals which begin to address the systemic deficiencies within American healthcare," he stressed. "We should not be defending a system which is not only, by far, the most expensive in the world, but one which numerous international studies describe as one of the worst."
For example, last year the US-based Commonwealth Fund examined 10 peer countries—Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States—and found that "the US continues to be in a class by itself in the underperformance of its healthcare sector."
Without federal intervention, conditions in the US sector are on track to get worse. Thanks to expiring subsidies, soaring premiums, and Trump and GOP lawmakers' recent cuts in their so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, an estimated 15 million Americans could lose health insurance altogether over the next decade.
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