CNN's Jake Tapper asks Sen. Bernie Sanders about making Vermont a test case for single-payer health care. Sen. Sanders responds that it would be "politically difficult" to try in Vermont, but that California still might try the plan.



"ook, taking on the insurance companies and the drug companies, taking on Wall Street, taking on a lot of very powerful forces that make billions of dollars a year from the current health care system is not going to be easy," the senator explained.





SANDERS: We should join the rest of the world, begin that discussion immediately. And I will be introducing legislation to do just that.



TAPPER: Why couldn't this happen in Vermont then? I mean, what's the issue in Vermont? Vermont would seem to be a perfect test case.



SANDERS: Well, this is -- politically, this is difficult. And by the way, in California, the debate is not over.



It passed, I think, the Senate. It's now gone to the House. And that debate will continue.



Look, taking on the insurance companies and the drug companies, taking on Wall Street, taking on a lot of very powerful forces that make billions of dollars a year from the current health care system is not going to be easy. And it's not going to take place until millions of people get involved in this struggle and appreciate the fact that whether you're rich or whether you are poor, health care is a right.



The idea that the Republicans wanted to throw 32 million people off of health insurance, cut Medicaid by $800 billion, raise premiums for older workers, defund Planned Parenthood, make it almost impossible for people to have a pre-existing -- who have pre-existing conditions get the health care they need. That is abominable. That is moving in exactly the wrong direction.



So we need a serious discussion about a serious issue. And I believe at the end of the day, the American people will conclude that Medicare -- Medicare is working now for people 65 --



TAPPER: Right.



SANDERS: -- or older. Let's expand it to everyone.



TAPPER: You were asked recently about the possibility of running for president again in 20. You said -- quote -- "I am not taking it off the table."



On August 31st you're going to be back in Iowa, specifically Iowa City, to promote your book "Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution." Are you testing the waters for 2020? Is this still possible that you're going to run for president again?



SANDERS: I know hard to believe, Jake.



You know, Jake, one of the things that I always get a kick out of is that in Canada they have elections, I think it is two month period. In the U.K. it's even shorter than that.



In the United States we have never ending elections.

SANDERS: A single payer health care system, in my view and according to studies that I have seen, would save the average family significant sums of money.



And what Republicans sometimes do is confuse the issue and they say, well, you're going to pay more in taxes. What they forget to tell you is that, if you are a family of four now paying $15,000 or $20,000 a year in private health insurance, you're not going to be paying that at all.



Once again, if you look at Canada single payer health care system per capita, their costs are far, far less than the United States. If you look at the U.K., if you look at countries around the world, all of one -- all of which have different approaches to a national health care system in every instance, they are spending substantially less per capita than we spend in the United States, substantially less for prescription drugs.



The problem with our system is it is so complicated for the consumer, for the doctors is that a hospital, for example, might be dealing with 15, 20, 30 different insurance policies. It takes an enormous amount of time, energy and expense to figure out that you have a $5,000 deductible, you have a $10,000 deductible. The goal simply is to say that every person in this country through a single payer system is entitled to a comprehensive health care approach and that will save substantial sums of money in administrative costs, substantial sums of money in lower prescription costs, substantial sums of money in doing away with the profiteering of the drug companies.



By the way, the five top drug companies in 2015 made $50 billion in profit. The CEOs in the health care industry make enormous salaries.

Sanders advocates for the Medicaid for all plan: