Sen. Sanders preps a plan to 'end all medical debt' in US

In addition to canceling student loan debt, Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will introduce a new proposal to eliminate Americans’ medical debt.

During a town hall in South Carolina on Friday, the 2020 presidential hopeful said he is working on legislation to “end all medical debt in this country.”

“The bottom line is it is an insane and cruel system, which says to people that they have to go deeply into debt or go bankrupt because of what? Because they came down with cancer or they came down with heart disease or they came down with Alzheimer’s, or whatever,” Sanders told reporters. “In the midst of a dysfunctional health care system, what we have got to do is say that you cannot go bankrupt … because you got terribly sick.”

It is unclear how Sanders plans to pay for the proposal. A spokesperson for Sanders’ campaign did not immediately return FOX Business’ request for comment.

He has said that taxes on the middle-class will rise in order to fund the plan, but has added that overall health care costs will be lower. The senator has estimated taxes could increase by $10,000 for American families.

Sanders has also proposed canceling $1.6 trillion worth of student loan debt, which he plans to pay for by introducing a financial transaction tax on Wall Street. The “Inclusive Prosperity Act” calls for a tax of 0.5 percent for stock trades, 0.1 percent for bonds and 0.005 percent for derivatives. A $1,000 stock trade would be taxed $5, while a $1,000 trade in derivatives would be taxed $0.05.

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