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Sanders, a
self-described democratic socialist who ran for the Democratic
presidential nomination last year, also said the Senate should
use the Australian system as a model while crafting an
alternative to Republican healthcare legislation that Trump
endorses.
"President Trump is right. The Australian healthcare system
provides healthcare to all of its people at a fraction of the
cost than we do," Sanders commented on Twitter.
The tweet was accompanied by a short video that set out the
virtues of Australia's universal healthcare system, saying it
guarantees better service to all Australians at about half the
cost of U.S. healthcare. The video also noted that Australians
can expect to live longer than Americans, on average.
Sanders' tweet came two days after Trump told Australian Prime
Minister Malcolm Turnbull in New York: "You have better
healthcare than we do."
The president's comment raised eyebrows, coming just after the
U.S. House of Representatives had approved a Trump-backed bill
that would overturn much of former President Barack Obama's
signature healthcare law and move the U.S. system further away
from universal coverage.
The White House later said Trump was simply being nice to an
ally and does not think the United States should adopt
Australia's healthcare approach.
The healthcare legislation that Trump endorses would pare back
insurance protections for the sick, and, according to
nonpartisan congressional researchers, would lead to 24 million
more Americans being without health coverage by 2026.
But the bill's approval in the House on Thursday sent the
legislation to the Senate, where it has little support.
"We will take this pathetic healthcare bill, throw it in the
garbage can and do something that will work for ordinary
Americans instead," Sanders said in a second Saturday tweet.
A Vermont independent, Sanders has become more influential in
the Senate since 2016, when he took his long-shot presidential
bid and turned it into a political movement against inequality.
(This story corrects name of Australian prime minister in
paragraph 5)
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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