In this video from 2009 Senator Bernie Sanders talks about universal health care. 

He begins his speech by looking at two “socialized medicine” systems currently provided by the United States government: the VA and Medicare. He describes their popularity with Americans and then compares that popularity with the popularity of the private healthcare system. Specifically, he mentions that Medicare and the VA do not throw people off of insurance because of preexisting conditions.

Senator Sanders argues that the function of the United States government’s policy on healthcare should not be to support the insurance industry. Instead, it should be to help the American people by providing the “best quality healthcare in the most cost effective way” and Senator Sanders uses polling to demonstrate that the majority of the American public is in support of universal health insurance program.