Hillary Clinton joked with Rachel Maddow about who her potential running mate could be. | Getty Clinton says she won't rule out a female running mate

Bernie Sanders' plan would "end all the kinds of health care we know," Hillary Clinton declared in an interview Thursday, in the latest escalation of words between the Democratic candidates ahead of the Iowa caucus.

Sitting down with MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" on Thursday, during which she also touched on the idea of a female running mate, Clinton remarked that she was "a little surprised" to be debating health care in her race against Sanders.


"And it’s really a very general debate when it comes to Sen. Sanders about no, we need to have a single payer system. Well, what does that mean? " Clinton asked, according to a transcript of the interview.

Absent Sanders' campaign health care plan, which he has not introduced, Clinton pointed to the nine different times Sanders has laid out a health care plan before Congress.

"And it’s a bit concerning to me because it would basically end all the kinds of health care we know, Medicare, Medicaid, the CHIP program, children’s health insurance, TRICARE for the National Guard, military, Affordable Care Act exchange policies, employer-based policies," she went on.

When Maddow pointed out that Sanders refers to it as "Medicare for all," Clinton seized upon the reference, repeating her campaign's line this week that Sanders' plan would jeopardize all health care by granting Republican governors control. "Medicare for all is not the same if you’re turning it over to the states," she said.

The conversation ended with Maddow asking Clinton pointedly whether she would consider a woman as a running mate should she be the nominee.

"In any other year they would definitely be short-listed for vice president," Maddow said of a list that included Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo and New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan. "But the common wisdom this year says there’s no way any of them get picked, not if you’re the nominee."

She then asked if it's out of the question for Clinton to choose a female running mate.

"Absolutely not. Absolutely not," Clinton responded, remarking that she is "looking for a team" and that the most important member would be her running mate. "And I'm not ruling anybody out."

Maddow asked, "You don’t have to choose some Grizzly Adams mountain man in order to like comfort the people who would be so freaked out by the prospect of a woman president?"

"Well, yes. I’m going to — I’m going to look at a lot of different people…" Clinton said. "Grizzly Adams?" Maddow repeated.

"I’m not sure you know Leo DiCaprio is available, but we’ll see, right?" Clinton remarked, alluding to the Oscar-nominated actor's latest turn as a rugged frontiersman in "The Revenant."

"You’ll have to ask a bear," Maddow said, another reference one of the film's more talked-about scenes.

"Yes, ask a bear," Clinton responded.