Former Arizona Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, who is running for Congress again, told a voter that she would fight for free health care for all living in the U.S., including illegal immigrants.
In August audio recently obtained by by The Daily Caller News Foundation, Kirkpatrick tells a voter who was identified as “Jorge” that she would support Medicare for All. The comments come as Kirkpatrick, who is running in Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District, has campaigned on the Affordable Care Act being her “proudest vote” while she served in Congress in 2010.
“If I decide to support you, will you guarantee people like me and those who can’t afford health insurance will receive Medicare for All? And whether DACA recipients like me can receive citizenship status? […] And you know, things right now in El Salvador are terrible. So if I elect you, what will you do to help DACA recipients like me with no health insurance and guarantee that I will be able to finish my degree?” the voter asked Kirkpatrick.
The Democratic candidate responded that she wants to restore DACA, adding she wanted to amend the Affordable Care Act in order to provide health insurance “for all,” even though Medicare for All would cost taxpayers $32.6 trillion over a 10-year time period.
“Well, first of all, I want to make sure that DACA is restored, and we’re introducing legislation to do that. If we have a Democratic House, we can make that happen. The other thing is to amend the Affordable Care Act to provide health insurance,” Kirkpatrick said in response.
“For all?” the voter followed up. “For all, yeah,” she added.
Kirkpatrick also said that she tried to get those changes into the original Affordable Care Act, saying “there just wasn’t enough support for it. Uh, but I think we can change it now.” (RELATED: House Democrats Launch 66-Member ‘Medicare for All’ Progressive Caucus)
The Affordable Care Act has increased health care premiums for Arizonans, as some in the state have been hit with a 116 percent increase.
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