During the season premiere for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, the comedian broke down Medicare For All and where the presidential candidates stand on the issue:
“I shit on Britain a lot on this show, and I’m not going to stop anytime soon. But one thing Britain does well is the National Health Service… I’ll be honest with you, I’ve never had a bad experience, and I don’t know anyone who has. But, since moving to America, I don’t think I’ve met anyone who doesn’t have at least one insurance industry horror story.”
Oliver backs some form of the plan, saying:
“I will own all the things about it that are difficult, including the fact that politically, it would be incredibly hard to get passed, but in return, anyone who’s resistant to significant change is going to have to own all the flaws of our current system.. One in which, when Americans get sick, they can find themselves comparison shopping with a burst appendix, flipping a coin between lifesaving medications, and praying they can come up with a catchy enough hashtag to cover their care.”
One plan he doesn’t agree with is from Pete Buttigieg:
“What Buttigieg is referring to when he says Medicare for All Who Want It is basically the public option. That is where the government doesn’t replace the private insurance system. It just introduces its own plan that would compete with it. It would definitely be an improvement over what we have now. The problem is, it would leave so much of our current insurance infrastructure with all of its problems intact.”
Watch above.
The John Oliver segment on Medicare for All had some jaw dropping moments. An insurance company that flies patients to Mexico to buy medicine! A british charity that runs free outdoor medical clinics in the US! Kennedy from MTV is a host on Fox business! https://t.co/ZhUob9WF8T
— David Hill (@davehill77) February 17, 2020