WATCH: Kamala Harris Calls For Elimination Of Free Market In Healthcare, Wants Government Takeover

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris embraced the radical left on Monday night during a CNN town hall in which she called for the elimination of the free market in healthcare and advocated for a complete government takeover of the industry.

Harris made the comments while responding to a question from an audience member, who asked: “What is your solution to ensure that people have access to quality health care at an affordable price, and does that solution involve cutting insurance companies as we know them out of the equation?”

“I believe the solution — and I actually feel very strongly about this — is that we need to have Medicare for all,” Harris responded. “That’s just the bottom line.”

Harris defended her position by claiming that healthcare is a right (it’s not), declaring that the current system was “inhumane” to people.

CNN’s Jake Tapper, who used to be a Democratic political press aide, noted that Harris’ stance would “totally eliminate private insurance.”

“So for people out there who like their insurance, they don’t get to keep it?” Tapper asked.

“Let’s eliminate all of that,” Harris responded, saying it’s time to “move on” from the current system.

“Well, listen, the idea is that everyone gets access to medical care, and you don’t have to go through the process of going through an insurance company, having them give you approval, going through the paperwork, all of the delay that may require,” she said. “Who of us has not had that situation where you’ve got to wait for approval, and the doctor says, well, I don’t know if your insurance company is going to cover this. Let’s eliminate all of that. Let’s move on.”

The plan that Harris supports would cost over $32.6 trillion and would require historic tax increases — including doubling federal individual and corporate income tax receipts — which still would not cover the full cost of the program.

WATCH:

Partial transcript:

AUDIENCE MEMBER: What is your solution to ensure that people have access to quality health care at an affordable price, and does that solution involve cutting insurance companies as we know them out of the equation?

KAMALA HARRIS: I believe the solution — and I actually feel very strongly about this — is that we need to have Medicare for all. That’s just the bottom line.

HARRIS: And I’ll say this, and this is I think why you’re also asking this question. What we know is that to live in a civil society, to be true to the ideals and the spirit of who we say we are as a country, we have to appreciate and understand that access to health care should not be thought of as a privilege. It should be understood to be a right. It should be understood to be something that all people should be entitled to so that they can live a productive life, so they can have dignity. And having a system that makes a difference in terms of who receives what based on your income is unconscionable. It is cruel. And in many situations that I have witnessed, inhumane. I have talked about my personal experience of my mother, who passed away many years ago and going through the health care system with her. And she had — she had the benefit of having Medicare, but not everybody does. It is inhumane. It is inhumane to make people go through a system where they cannot literally receive the benefit of what medical science can offer because some insurance company has decided it doesn’t meet their bottom line in terms of their profit motivation. That is inhumane.

JAKE TAPPER: So just to follow up on that, and correct me if I’m wrong. To reiterate, you support the Medicare for all bill, initially co-sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders. I believe it will totally eliminate private insurance. So for people out there who like their insurance, they don’t get to keep it?

HARRIS: Well, listen, the idea is that everyone gets access to medical care, and you don’t have to go through the process of going through an insurance company, having them give you approval, going through the paperwork, all of the delay that may require. Who of us has not had that situation where you’ve got to wait for approval, and the doctor says, well, I don’t know if your insurance company is going to cover this. Let’s eliminate all of that. Let’s move on.

TAPPER: Let’s go to the next question.

HARRIS: That too.