Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday issued a statement condemning former Vice President Joe Biden for parroting insurance industry talking points in an effort to convince voters that Sanders is "trying to con the American people" with Medicare for All.

"It is really sad that Joe Biden is using the talking points of the insurance industry to attack Medicare for All," said Sanders. "Joe must know that we currently spend twice as much per capita on healthcare as the people of almost any other major country and that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs."

"Under Medicare for All, funded in a progressive manner, all Americans will have comprehensive healthcare coverage as a guaranteed human right and, with no premiums, co-payments, or out-of-pocket expenses, ordinary Americans will be spending far less for that care than they currently pay," the Vermont senator added.

The statement comes a day after Biden attacked Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) for "playing Trump's game" by supporting Medicare for All.

"The idea that someone is going to be able to go out and spend what turns out to be, if you add on everything that's going to be free beyond Obamacare, excuse me beyond Medicare for All, which is going to come out to about $3.4 trillion a year," Biden told reporters during a campaign event Wednesday.

As Common Dreams reported Wednesday, Biden failed to mention that the United States spent $3.65 trillion on healthcare in 2018.

During Tuesday night's Democratic debate in Ohio, Sanders said he is "tired... of people defending a system which is dysfunctional, which is cruel."

"I will tell you what the issue is here," Sanders added. "The issue is whether the Democratic Party has the guts to stand up to the healthcare industry which made a $100 billion in profits; whether we have the guts to stand up to the corrupt, price-fixing pharmaceutical industry which is charging us the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. If we don't have the guts to do that—if all we can do is take their money—we should be ashamed of ourselves."