Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Friday that if the United States Constitution were to be rewritten today, "healthcare for all" would be included

Appearing on C-SPAN's Washington Journal, Sebelius made the remark when asked by a caller why the U.S. does not guarantee healthcare for its citizens as many European nations do. After saying the caller had made a "good point," the former secretary described how when Barack Obama became president, he had inherited a system in which roughly half of the country was obtaining insurance through their employers.

"His decision was that rather than uprooting everybody's healthcare, rather than starting over from scratch, which I think anybody would do — if you wrote a new constitution, you'd have healthcare for all," she said. "His idea was let's fill the market, let's work on this gap in coverage."

Sebelius added that she didn't "disagree" with the caller's point and praised Medicare as a "wonderful insurance program" for those over 65. She also said that she wishes Congress would be pushing for a Medicare-for-all system rather than for revisions to the Affordable Care Act.

Her remarks contrast with those from House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who touched on the issue when pressed by NBC's Chuck Todd on whether healthcare is a right or a privilege.

"Not from the government," Ryan said. "So if you say that healthcare is a government-granted right, then we as citizens are giving the government far too much power over our lives. If we are saying we want this to be a government-granted right, then we as citizens are saying that it's the government who gets to decide where, how, when and under what circumstances we get healthcare. That's giving the government far too much power over our lives."

"Healthcare is a need and we respect that need," he added.

The comments from Sebelius also come in the midst of a heated healthcare debate. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., announced Friday that the House will likely vote on the House bill later next week despite continued criticism from conservative lawmakers.

The House Freedom Caucus announced Friday after President Trump's meeting with the Republican Study Committee that they remain opposed to the legislation in its current form despite changes to Medicaid.