Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders sparred one-on-one Sunday in a Democratic debate, held without a live audience in the shadow of a growing coronavirus pandemic.
A look at how some of their claims compare with the facts:
SANDERS: Noting that the U.S. is the only major country that doesn’t guarantee health insurance, he says “we're spending so much money, yet we are not prepared for this pandemic.”
BIDEN: “It has nothing to do with ‘Medicare for All’ — that wouldn’t solve the problem at all.”
THE FACTS: Biden has a point. The coronavirus pandemic has taken countries by surprise regardless of the type of health care system that they have. Spain has a single-payer system, known as “social security” in that country. Italy guarantees coverage for all through a regionally based system. But both countries have struggled to get control of the outbreak, and their governments have been forced to take stringent measures not yet seen in this country.
Associated Press writer Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.
EDITOR'S NOTE — A look at the veracity of claims by political figures.
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