MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript: Health Care

Interview

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SCHULTZ: Now, let`s bring in Senator Bernie Sanders who has been an absolute fighter for the working folk of America. Senator, this really a day of celebration. I mean, when you think about all the heated discussions that took place in committee for several years the votes, the back and forth and the anti, the -- and the millions of dollars that were thrown at this, isn`t rather amazing we`re at this point?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I) VERMONT: Ed, try tens of millions of dollars thrown against us.

Look, here`s the point, the point is that our Republican friends are desperate during the eight years of the Bush Administration, they did nothing to address the crises of healthcare. In the last several years, their healthcare efforts have been to cut Medicare, to cut Medicaid, to cut disease prevention programs, and now they are faced with the reality that tens of millions of people desperately need health insurance and they`re signing up for Obamacare.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

SANDERS: And the other very important point to be made is we have finally got rid of this obscenity called pre-existing conditions. A colleague of mine was talking to a person in his state, she has a kid with diabetes, she was rejected 34 times for insurance because her kid has diabetes. That`s finished. That`s gone with.

So we`re making progress. Republicans are now on the defensive but clearly we have got to go further. We cannot be the only nation in the industrialized world that doesn`t guarantee healthcare to all people as a right.

SCHULTZ: Senator, your response to the accusation from someone on the other isle, Senator Barrasso, who says that the administration is cooking the books.

SANDERS: Look, I think they don`t like the results that they are seeing. They don`t like the fact that we`re seeing more and more people signing up that in fact Obamacare is working for many, many millions of people. The real issue that my friend Senator Barrasso should be asking is how does it happen, Ed, that in over 20 states in this country run by Republicans they are denying people Medicaid despite the fact that 100 percent of the cost for the next three years will be paid for by the federal government.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

SANDERS: What does that say to you about the Republican Party?

SCHULTZ: Well, they are just ideologically opposed to any kind of changes in healthcare. They are for profit, that`s all they want. And --

SANDERS: That is --

SCHULTZ: -- it has to be pointed out that during the Bush years it was double digit increases on premiums. Those have slowed down quite a bit. That doesn`t mean that premiums aren`t going to go up but outcomes are going to be better. Senator, how do the Democrats run on Obamacare in the midterms? How do you see it?

SANDERS: Well , I think you talked with pride about the fact that more and more people are getting health insurance. I think you talked about the fact that Obamacare has played a role in cutting back on the escalating cost of healthcare. I think you turn the tables on them. And you ask what kind of party would deny working families the need, the ability to get healthcare when in fact some of them are going to die because they don`t get to a doctor when they should. I think it`s time to turn the tables on them.

SCHULTZ: So they want to cut education. They want to cut social security. They don`t want to do minimum wage, they want to abolish that. They want to do bad trade deals. They want to get rid healthcare. They actually want to take money away from American workers, because Obamacare has saved a lot of people money. I hear it everyday. It`s all over that place.

SANDERS: Right.

SCHULTZ: They simply are on the wrong side of history.

SANDERS: Well, Ed, at the time when we have so much income and wealth and equality, it very clear that the Republican Party is hooked up to Sheldon Adelson, to the Cope brothers. Their job is to deliver for the millionaires and billionaires and in the process big time they`re turning their backs on working families and low income people. It is beyond comprehension that governors -- Republican governors would deny working people the opportunity, in some cases for the first time in their lives --

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

SANDERS: -- to have health insurance because of their ideological nature.

SCHULTZ: It is a high five day for the Democrats and the Progressive movement, nodoubt. Senator Bernie Sanders, good to have you on. Thanks so much for joining ustonight.

Remember to answer tonight`s question there at the bottom of the screen. Share your thoughts on Twitter at Ed Show and on Facebook, we always want to know what you think.

Coming up, Republican presidential hopefuls, what do they do? Well, they flock to Las Vegas this weekend in hopes of wooing billionaire mega donor Sheldon Adelson. The Rapid Response Panel weights in on the winners and losers.

But first, the Rosebud Sioux nation stands up against the Keystone XL, exclusive footage from my visit to South Dakota over the weekend to the Sioux spiritual encampment on the proposed pipeline route next.Stay with us.

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