Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) called out the so-called “public option” advocated by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden during a Sunday appearance on the Trump campaign’s War Room Weekly show.
“It’s like most other lies that we hear: if you like your plan, you can keep it, was the original promise – but now this promise is if you like your plan you can keep it or you can get the government plan, it’s really not going to cost anything, I promise you, it won’t cost anything,” Paul told host Tim Murtaugh, the campaign communications director. “But it’s just not true. These things turn out to be very expensive, so we have to put them in context.”
Paul went on to critique the existing healthcare entitlement system to expose the risks of introducing socialized healthcare.
“Right now, Medicare, as we know it for senior citizens, is $35 trillion in a hole,” Paul said. “Doctors and hospitals know this, because every year we’re forcing the prices that we pay doctors and nurses and hospitals down because there’s not enough money.”
“If you ask a hospital, do you make money off Medicaid or Medicare, they say, oh yeah, well, we kinda break even, but if we don’t have private insurance we’d all lose money,” Paul continued. “So what really happens is rural hospitals are loaded up with Medicaid, they lose every patient, then they have Medicare, but if they lose private insurance they won’t make any money at all and they will go bankrupt.”
Healthcare has re-emerged as a major campaign issue in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has led to increased strain on hospitals. Democrats suggest the solution is a free, state-run “public option”, while Republicans prefer to leave the issue to the private sector.
