In an appearance on Anderson Cooper 360, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) explained why the newly-release Affordable Health Care Act is “the most harmful piece of legislation” he’s ever seen.

“If you throw over 23 million people off of health insurance, if you cut Medicaid by over $800 billion dollars, there is no question, but that thousands of Americans will die,” Sanders told Cooper.

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According to Sanders, the Republican repeal of the Affordable Care Act will cause the deaths of people with chronic illnesses who can’t afford health insurance will either die “or suffer year after year after year” — and the purpose of the bill, he claims, is to benefit “the top two percent.”

“You know what the purpose is – its to provide $500 billion in tax cuts to the top two percent of Americans” and to benefit insurance companies, Sanders said.

Sanders refuted Republican reports of the Affordable Care Act “collapsing under its own weight” by claiming that insurance agencies claim that the GOP purposefully sabotaged the ACA by defunding cost-sharing incentives and the individual mandate, among others.

He went on to call the bill “barbaric” for its mistreatment of the most vulnerable, including disabled children who may be thrown off their health insurance. He also announced plans for his own “Medicare for all” bill.

“What kind of country do the Republican leadership think we are, to bring about this type of legislation,” Sanders said.

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Watch parts one and two of the Sanders interview below via CNN.



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