Democratic socialist congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asked why Republicans are okay with "unlimited war" but not Medicare for all, something she said is affordable, in an interview Wednesday night with CNN's Chris Cuomo.



Ocasio-Cortez, addressing the "sticker shock" of Medicare for all, said we don't incorporate "the cost of funeral expenses of those who die because they can't afford access to health care" in the current system.



"That is part of the cost of our system," she also said in her case for government-sponsored health care.











Ocasio-Cortez said the plan will be economically beneficial because it will increase work productivity and prevent people from going on disability due to "issues like diabetes."



"Why don't we talk about the cost of reduced productivity because of people who need to go on disability, because of people who are not able to participate in our economy, because they have -- because they're having issues like diabetes or they don't have access to the health care that they need?" she asked.



"I think at the end of the day we see that this is not a pipe dream. Every other developed nation in the world does this. Why can't America?" she asked.



She defended the Supreme Court's reasoning for upholding the Affordable Care Act -- because it was ruled it as a tax.



From Cuomo Primetime:





ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY), CANDIDATE FOR U.S. CONGRESS: So first of all, the thing that we need to realize is people talk about the sticker shock of Medicare for all. They do not talk about the sticker shock of the cost of our existing system.



You know, in a Koch brothers-funded study, if any study's going to try to be a little bit slanted it would be one funded by the Koch brothers, it shows that Medicare for all is actually much more -- is actually much cheaper than the current system that we pay right now.



Let's not forget that the reason that the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act is because they ruled that each of these monthly payments that everyday Americans make is a tax. And so while it may not seem like we pay that tax on April 15th, we pay it every single month or we do pay it in tax season if we don't buy, you know, these plans off of the exchange.



So we're paying for this system. We -- Americans have the sticker shock of health care as it is. And what we're also not talking about is why aren't we incorporating the cost of all the funeral expenses of those who die because they can't afford access to health care? That is part of the cost of our system.



Why don't we talk about the cost of reduced productivity because of people who need to go on disability, because of people who are not able to participate in our economy, because they have -- because they're having issues like diabetes or they don't have access to the health care that they need.



I think at the end of the day we see that this is not a pipe dream. Every other developed nation in the world does this. Why can't America? And that is the question that we need to ask. We have done these things before. We write unlimited blank checks for war.

Watch the full interview: