WASHINGTON—Let’s take a look at some of the claims Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton made during their Sunday debate and how they compare with the facts:
SANDERS: “We’re not going to tear up the Affordable Care Act,” but build on it.
THE FACTS: Sanders’ plan would indeed mean a radical change in direction—one that makes the government the payer of health care for everyone, not just for the elderly or the poorest Americans or members of the military.
Whether that means building on President Barack Obama’s health care law or ripping it up may be a semantic argument. But at the core, Sanders would switch the country away from a private health insurance system. Employees, employers and others would pay higher taxes in return for health care with no premiums or deductibles, a departure from the subsidies and conditions that Obama’s law has overlaid on the existing system.
