Progressive lawmakers echoed billionaire Elon Musk on Monday when Musk waded into the debate over America’s healthcare system.
“Shouldn’t the American people get what they pay for?” Musk wrote on X, formerly Twitter. He made the comment in response to another X user, who posted a chart showing that the United States has the highest health care administrative costs per capita, compared to other Cooperation Organization countries and Economic Development (OECD). The OECD is an international alliance dedicated to fostering economic growth and trade.
In response to Musk, Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, wrote: “Yes, they should be – and I have the solution. It’s called Medicare for All. »
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Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders also weighed in.
“Yes,” Sanders wrote. “We waste hundreds of billions a year on health care administrative expenses that make insurance company CEOs and wealthy shareholders incredibly wealthy, while 85 million Americans remain uninsured or underinsured .”
“Health care is a human right,” he added. “We need Medicare for All.”
David Sirota, Sanders’ former speechwriter, pointed out that he “wrote a memo to Elon about ways his DOGE could save on health care,” referring to the Department of Government Efficiency that Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy were tasked with leading.
In his memo, Sirota cited a 2020 report from the Congressional Budget Office that found that a Medicare for All program would save the United States approximately $650 billion annually.
“This seems like a great initiative that should be championed by the Department of Government Effectiveness! » Sirota wrote in another article.
Thursday wasn’t the first time Sanders appeared to find common ground with Musk.
This weekend, he spoke out in favor of Musk’s interest in reducing defense spending in the United States.
“Elon Musk is right,” Sanders wrote on senators voted against the military-industrial complex and a defense budget full of waste and fraud.
Meanwhile, the conversation around the US healthcare system heated up this week after a gunman killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday. The suspect remains at large and authorities released two images of him on Thursday.
Thompson’s wife, Paulette, said her husband received threats before he was killed.
“There have been threats,” she told NBC News. “Basically, I don’t know, a lack of media coverage? I don’t know the details. I just know he said some people were threatening him.”
Police also said the words “delay” and “deny” — two words frequently used when insurance companies refuse to provide coverage — were written on bullet casings recovered from the scene of the shooting.
