Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of the Job Creators Network, unloaded on the Democrats’ “Medicare for All” healthcare plan, calling it a socialist scheme that would “cripple the economy” and throw the U.S. into a recession.

“This is just the latest evidence that Democrats in Congress are being rapidly consumed by socialism. Alfredo Ortiz said in a statement released after the first Congressional hearing on “Medicare for All. “‘Medicare for All’ is socialism by any other name. It’s a government takeover of private health insurance, which over 200 million Americans rely on, including 38 million small business employees.”

“The financial cost, estimated at $33 trillion, would cripple our economy and probably throw us into recession,” Ortiz continued. “Now is the time for reasonable Democrats to speak out and push back against ‘Medicare for All.’ Americans deserve a real healthcare debate, not just failed ideas and cheap slogans.”

Indeed, Rep. Jim McGovern, the chairman of the House Rules Committee, claimed during Tuesday’s Medicare for All hearing that “People aren’t going to lose their health care with Medicare for All; you would actually get to keep your doctors and go to the hospitals you currently have, the only difference is that you wouldn’t deal with insurance companies.”

Of course, McGovern’s claims are eerily similar to those Barack Obama repeatedly made about Americans being able to keep their health care plans and doctors when he was helping the Affordable Care Act through Congress.

Experts have pegged the cost of the Democrats’ healthcare overhaul at over $60 trillion over the next decade.

“This week, JCN distributed a letter to all the House members who are not cosponsors of Jayapal’s bill, urging them to publicly reject “Medicare for All,” the Job Creators Network release said. You can read a copy of Job Creator Network’s letter here.

Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson