Pushing everyone onto a government-run healthcare system such as the Medicare-for-all plan many 2020 Democratic candidates want is a move that's "too far to the left," Rep. Seth Moulton, a candidate and veteran of the Iraq War said Friday while relating the care he's received through the Department of Veterans' Affairs.
"As soon as I start having this conversation with voters and listening to them and what they want, they start to realize we could have a better system," the Massachusetts Democrat told CNN'S "New Day." "We could have competition in the system. A public option that competes against private plans would be better for everyone. It makes more sense. That's what voters want at the end of the day. They want better healthcare. They want coverage for pre-existing conditions. They also want an American system that makes sense."
Moulton said that as a veteran, he's likely the only candidate in the race who has used a single-payer socialized medical plan because he committed to using the VA even after he was elected to Congress because it's what his fellow veterans use.
He noted that he recently had a hernia operation, and 20 minutes after giving his name and Social Security number it couldn't be proven that he had been a veteran, but they took him as a "humanitarian" case.
Moulton called his surgeon "great' and said she volunteered to work at the VA, but right after the surgery, he was sent back to Capitol Hill with some "very strong painkillers" that turned out to be the wrong medication.
"That's the experience of a lot of veterans," Moulton said. "Now there are things I think the VA does well…The VA actually negotiates drug prices, which Medicare does not do."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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