Bernie Sanders has mocked Donald Trump after the president praised Australia’s universal health care, just hours after Republicans voted to strip millions of Americans of theirs.
On Thursday evening, the President met with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, aboard the USS Intrepid to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea.
During a short press conference, Trump said: “It’s going to be fantastic health care.
“I shouldn’t say this to our great gentleman and my friend from Australia because you have better health care than we do.”
During an interview with MSNBC, Sanders said of the clip: “Well Mr President, you’re right, in Australia and every other major country on Earth they guarantee healthcare to all people.
“They don’t throw 24 million people off health insurance. So maybe when we get to the Senate we should start off with looking at the Australian healthcare system.”
Australia instituted its universal and government-funded health care programme, Medicare, in 1984.
It is part-funded by taxes on the rich.
Sanders carried on his attack on Friday, tweeting:
The bill to repeal and replace significant parts of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) passed the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, leaving millions of Americans facing the prospect of losing their health insurance.
Sanders tweeted:
Trump’s planned replacement will allow insurers to charge older customers five times as much, ditches a requirement that companies with more than 50 employees provide coverage for employees, and allows states to opt out of providing essential benefits like emergency care and cancer treatment.
It also allows them to waive protection for people with pre-existing conditions.
It would also scrap taxes for people with higher incomes and for the insurance companies and prescription drug makers that operate in a multi-billion dollar industry.