Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) has a stark message for the Republican Party: If you pass a health care bill that rips away insurance from millions of Americans, then it will be time to push for Medicare for all.
In a conversation with the New Republic's Brian Beutler, Murphy ripped the GOP for not being honest about the contents of the recently passed American Health Care Act, and he warned that the Democrats would do everything in their power to restore health benefits to Americans who lost them as a result of the GOP's legislation.
"If Democrats get control of the House and the Senate, and Republicans rip away health care from 24 million people, we are going to do whatever it takes to restore health care to the people who had it taken away," he said. "If they actually allow insurance companies to discriminate against sick people, then they’re going to lose majorities of the House and the Senate in 2018, and we’ll have the numbers potentially necessary to restore those benefits."
Murphy then mused about what shape the Democrats' new health package could take, and said that they would have to seriously consider a universal option to join Medicare as the easiest and most politically popular route.
"Clearly extending Medicare to everyone is much more easy to explain and much easier to comprehend," he explained. "It’s probably most easy for the public to stomach if they’re given the choice to sign up for a Medicare program or stay on their private plan; I think you would see, if they were given that choice, a pretty massive gravitation over to a Medicare-for-all type vehicle, because it would likely provide better benefits and at lower cost."
Because of this, Murphy said that Medicare for all is "clearly... going to be on the table" if Trumpcare passes.
Listen to the full interview below.
