Bernie Sanders just unveiled how he'll pay for his biggest plans, from Medicare for All to erasing student debt

Advertisement
Bernie Sanders just unveiled how he'll pay for his biggest plans, from Medicare for All to erasing student debt
Bernie Sanders
  • Sanders released a list on Monday evening outlining how he'd pay for his largest campaign plans, ranging from Medicare for All, the Green New Deal and student debt erasure.
  • But the released document doesn't fully match his own estimates of how much some of his proposals could cost, including Medicare for All.
  • In a recent interview on CBS News, Sanders said the plan would cost $30 trillion over a decade.
  • But the list released by the campaign identifies only $17.5 trillion in new federal spending.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Sen. Bernie Sanders released a list on Monday evening outlining how he'd pay for his biggest plans, including Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and the elimination of $1.6 trillion in American student debt. He announced the list during a CNN town hall.

Advertisement

As the Vermont senator racked up several victories in early primary states and cemented his position as the frontrunner in the Democratic primary, pressure has grown on him to fully explain how he'd pay for his sweeping proposals.

Until now, he's resisted explaining the funding mechanism around Medicare for All, which would provide comprehensive health insurance to every American. It's also the largest portion of his $50 trillion platform to reconfigure the American economy.

But the released document doesn't fully match his own estimates of how much some of his proposals could cost. In a recent interview on CBS's "60 Minutes," Sanders said Medicare for All would cost $30 trillion over 10 years.

Sanders identified nine methods to finance the plan. Together, they would raise around $17.5 trillion over a decade. They include:

Advertisement

  • Creating a 4% income-based premium for employees that exempts the first $29,000 of income for a family of four. This would generate $4 trillion.
  • Enacting a 7.5% income-based premium that employers pay, but that excludes the first $1 million in payroll generated by small businesses. It would raise $5.4 trillion.
  • Eliminating health tax expenditures, which would net $5.2 trillion.
  • Taxing capital gains equally to income, raising $2.5 trillion.
  • Restoring the federal corporate tax rate to 35%, and directing $1 trillion of the revenue towards financing Medicare for All.

Sanders also proposed using some of the funds collected from his wealth and estate tax as well as raising the top marginal income tax rate to 52% on income above $10 million to fund universal healthcare.

Yet there still appear to be budgeting gaps. Marc Goldwein, the senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan organization, said in a tweet that the identified revenue options were "well short of what is needed" to cover the ambitious plan.

By comparison, Sen. Elizabeth Warren's Medicare for All plan would require $20.5 trillion in new federal spending over a decade. She has since said she would pursue an optional government health insurance plan first.

Under Medicare for All, the government would provide health insurance coverage for every American and virtually eliminate private insurers. It would reorder the $3.6 trillion healthcare sector, and the plan has created a deep ideological rift among progressive candidates seeking drastic change and moderates opting for an incremental approach to reform.

The Vermont senator also said in the document that making universities and public colleges tuition-free for students would cost $2.2 trillion over 10 years. And it would be covered by a 0.1% tax on Wall Street stocks and bonds to raise $2.4 trillion in that same period.

Advertisement

Sanders also pledged to raise $16.3 trillion to fund the Green New Deal and combat climate change, relying on new taxes imposed on the fossil fuel industry and cuts to defense spending.

{{}}