Ocasio-Cortez: ‘Frustrating’ that lawmakers oppose Medicare-for-All while enjoying cheap government insurance

Incoming Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted Saturday that she was frustrated to learn that her healthcare costs would be chopped my more than half upon entering Congress, accusing her fellow lawmakers of enjoying cheap government health insurance while opposing similar coverage for all Americans.

In a tweet, the New York freshman lawmaker-elect wrote that her healthcare as a waitress was “more than TWICE” as high as what she would pay upon taking office as a congresswoman next month.

“In my on-boarding to Congress, I get to pick my insurance plan. As a waitress, I had to pay more than TWICE what I’d pay as a member of Congress,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote Saturday afternoon.

“It’s frustrating that Congressmembers would deny other people affordability that they themselves enjoy. Time for #MedicareForAll,” she added.


Ocasio-Cortez is one of several progressive freshman lawmakers supportive of Medicare-for-All, a system that would extend government Medicare coverage to every American.

The plan was popularized as a major campaign platform for the 2016 presidential run of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), for whom Ocasio-Cortez served as a campaign volunteer before her own bid for Congress.

70 percent of Americans would support an implementation of such a system, according to a poll from Hill.TV and the Harris Polling Company in October.

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