CNN’s Jake Tapper fact-checked Democratic socialists Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) during a segment that aired on Friday over their claims that a study funded by the Koch brothers showed that universal health care would save the U.S. government money.
Tapper noted that the study, conducted by The Mercatus Center, was written by senior research strategist Charles Blahous, who said that Ocasio-Cortez’s and Sanders’ claims were not what the report concluded.
“It is likely that the actual cost of Medicare-for-all would be substantially greater than these estimates, which assume significant administrative and drug cost savings under the plan, and also assume that health care providers operating under Medicare-for-all will be reimbursed at rates more than 40 percent lower than those currently paid by private health insurance,” Blahous wrote in the paper’s abstract, according to factcheck.org.
Tapper said at the of the three-minute clip that CNN was not looking to weigh in as to whether Medicare-for-all was a viable option to be implemented in the U.S., but noted that “it does seem pretty clear that the presentation being made by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez about this study lacks a lot of context.”
WATCH:
