"The bottom line is, We need to make sure that every American is able to get health care," South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg said. | Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo 2020 elections Buttigieg: 'Medicare for all' wouldn't end private insurance

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a declared 2020 presidential candidate, on Sunday said a single-payer health care system is "the right place for us to head as a country," while saying a "Medicare for All" program doesn’t necessarily require doing away with private insurance.

Buttigieg responded to questions from ABC host George Stephanopoulos about whether Medicare for all means an end to private insurance.


"I don't see why it requires that," the 37-year-old said.

"If the framework we're using is Medicare, a lot of people who have Medicare also have Medicare supplements, Medicare Advantage, something like that," Buttigieg added. "So if we want to make Medicare available to everybody, whether it's as a public option to buy in or simply establishing that as how the payer structure works in this country, that's going to be the center of gravity."

COUNTDOWN TO 2020 The race for 2020 starts now. Stay in the know. Follow our presidential election coverage. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

"The bottom line is," he said, "We need to make sure that every American is able to get health care."

California Sen. Kamala Harris, also a Democratic presidential candidate, has drawn fire for saying in a CNN town hall that she was ready to see the private health insurance industry killed off.

She and her staff later walked back those comments.