Senator Sanders Hosts Summer Conversations with Seniors

Sen. Bernie Sanders discussed the state of the nation and its many challenges during a forum at the St. Johnsbury House Tuesday. Sanders delivered remarks to a packed house for about 15 minutes and then fielded questions for the next 45 during an event that began with a free community meal and concert.

Sanders opened by noting the pandemic’s toll, especially on seniors, and how thankful he was to resume a series of forums across the state. The one in St. Johnsbury was the sixth Sanders has held this summer, and he raced from St. Johnsbury to Newport to hold another forum Tuesday afternoon.

Sanders described these times as some of the most difficult in recent memory, discussing economic concerns, income and wealth inequality, healthcare, climate change, political division and more.

“I’m going to ask you a question and, again, I don’t want you to give me the answer that you think I want. In your judgment is the current health care system broken?” asked Sanders, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

“Yes,” bellowed the crowd of well over 50. “The exception is the VA (Veteran’s Administration,” said an audience member.

Sanders laid out the costs of healthcare in the U.S., explaining that the nation spends $13,000 per person on average for healthcare, higher than all other industrial nations. He spoke about the profits of insurance companies and high prescription costs as some of the drivers of healthcare costs.

Sanders shifted gears to address the erosion of democracy, expressing concern over the mistrust sown by the denial of election results by former President Trump and the pervasive influence of money in politics.

Sanders also addressed the daunting challenge of climate change. He cited recent examples of unprecedented weather events and global displacement due to climate-related catastrophes.

“Overall, I think it is fair to say that we have a heck of a lot of challenges that we as a nation face,” said Sanders. “We’ve had to face them throughout the history of this county and I’m confident that if we stand together we can overcome these challenges, but they are big challenges.”

Sanders fielded a large number of questions, many of which focused on the challenges of the health care system, as well as immigration, divisive politics, the war in Ukraine, Social Security, recent Supreme Court decisions and more.

Dennis Labounty asked about recent news regarding large budget increase requests from Vermont’s hospitals as well as fears that the US Government may shut down over budget disagreements.

“I didn’t mention enough problems, you wanted to add a few more,” joked Sanders in response. He touched on the additional cost drivers for hospitals, like the expense of traveling nurses and the need to train Vermonters to take these honorable and well-paying jobs, as well as the need to train more doctors, dentists and other health care professionals.

Darryll Rudy, who asked a question about Alzheimer’s medication and treatment, opened by putting an unsolicited plug in for Sanders’ book “It’s OK To Be Angry About Capitalism.”

“You can ask two questions,” said Sanders after acknowledging the praise for his book and lamenting income inequality.

He stressed that healthcare should be a human right, and bemoaned the fact that medical costs are a major cause of bankruptcy in America.

Sanders received a standing ovation from the receptive audience at the end of the forum, then hustled out the door to get to Newport for the next event.