Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart teamed up with Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday’s episode of The Weekly Show podcast to advocate for a “Medicare for All” health system and claim such a system is necessary for democracy itself. Naturally, the duo also claimed that anybody who disagrees with them has no problem with people dying because they only care about money.
Stewart claimed that “What I would do is I would introduce — we have a system called Medicare. And it's when you pay into the system and you reach a certain age, it allows you — you would never go broke if you got sick. You have access to, you know, government-funded insurance. It takes it — you're no longer tied to your job, where you have the freedom to make choices for your own agency as far as work is concerned.”
He also asserted this socialist takeover would be freedom defined, “It would be to remove insurance from employment, or underinsurance from lack of employment, would be one of the greatest drivers of liberty that Americans have experienced in decades. It would be expanded—”
Jon Stewart endorses (again) "Medicare for All" with Bernie Sanders, "It would be to remove insurance from employment or underinsurance from lack of employment would be one of the greatest drivers of liberty that Americans have experienced in decades. It would be expanded—"
Of… pic.twitter.com/HkwTmxIWIV— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) November 12, 2026
Sanders interrupted to claim, “Alright, you said it better than I did, Jon. What you're talking about is Medicare for All.”
After Stewart waved his arms around like a crazy person and called that “a very catchy name,” Sanders continued, “All right, and the reason it's a catchy name is Medicare is a popular program. We ought to expand it to cover dental, hearing, and vision. We got to lower the age. It's a four-year program, but here's the point, Jon, and stay with me on this one. So, you're going to have people getting up, they're Democrats, Republicans living in another world, saying ‘The healthcare system is broken. We have got to make sure we restore those 15 million people who lost their health care. Have a nice day.’ That's about it.”
Stewart lamented that might just mean, “Credits for the ACA, maybe” and Sanders agreed, “Yeah, exactly. Yeah, same thing. All right, and I support that as an immediate action. I'm not going to let 15 million people suffer and some die because, but we have got to do is pass Medicare for All.”
Later, Stewart compared his scheme to nationalize a massive part of the American economy with fixing potholes and with democracy itself, “But what he [New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani] did was, he did pothole democracy… wouldn't the Democrats be well served to do pothole democracy writ large on that scale, like healthcare? Be cheaper for the country in the long run.”
He then lamented, “But the thing I would ask you is, you know, Medicare for All, unfortunately begins to become a, kind of, a meaningless slogan in in the way of, like, when the media used to use the words the ‘big lie,’ and it was a stand-in for something that I don't think the public – so can you break down and make the case that Medicare for All would actually lower the cost of healthcare for people?”
Stewart then zeroed in on critics, “In other words, why is it so difficult for Democrats, and maybe there's not enough support for it, to make that case for Medicare for All in a manner that is rational and easy to digest for those that fear that type of change. For instance, they would say, ‘Well, you know there'd be wait times.’ Well, if you look at the wait times right now for people to see a gynecologist or a specialist, they're enormous.”
Fact-check: In the U.S. the wait to see a non-urgent gynecologist is about 31 days. In the U.K., that is roughly equal to what the wait time to see a private non-urgent gynecologist is, but for the government-run National Health Service, it is 18 weeks. In the U.S. it also takes an average of 31 days to see a specialist. In the U.K., it can be about 13 weeks before one is able to see an NHS specialist.
Stewart later compares this Medicare for All scheme to fixing potholes and equates it with democracy itself, "But what he [Zohran Mamdani] did was, he did pothole democracy. He basically just triage, “Let me go through. What do you got a pothole there?” and wouldn't the Democrats… pic.twitter.com/l6IXClIJSU
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) November 12, 2026
Predictably, Stewart was not the only one having trouble with the facts. Sanders tried to portray the media as an obstacle in their quest, “All right, good points. And again, we are taking on the whole system here. So, I have the opportunity to chat with you. I can't do that on CBS. I can't do that on NBC. They don’t want to hear this.”
Sanders also insisted, “What most Americans believe, what I believe, what you believe. Is A, the function of a rational healthcare system is not to make huge profits for the drug companies and the insurance companies, right? And that's what this system is doing. So right now, in many ways, the system is working—”
Stewart finished Sanders’s sentence with “as designed.”
In recent months, Stewart has committed to using The Weekly Show as a platform to push socialism, which is an odd thing to do on a network that has “Comedy” in its name, but then again, socialists are funny people, albeit unintentionally.
Here is a transcript for the November 11 show:
Comedy Central The Weekly Show
11/11/2026
JON STEWART: What I would do is I would introduce — we have a system called Medicare. And it's when you pay into the system and you reach a certain age, it allows you — you would never go broke if you got sick. You have access to, you know, government-funded insurance. It takes it — you're no longer tied to your job—
BERNIE SANDERS: Right.
STEWART: — where you have the freedom to make choices for your own agency as far as work is concerned. It would be to remove insurance from employment, or underinsurance from lack of employment, would be one of the greatest drivers of liberty that Americans have experienced in decades. It would be expanded—
SANDERS: Alright, you said it better than I did, Jon. What you're talking about is Medicare for All.
STEWART: Yes. That's a very catchy name. I like that, Senator. I like that.
SANDERS: All right, and the reason it's a catchy name is Medicare is a popular program. We ought to expand it to cover dental, hearing, and vision. We got to lower the age. It's a four-year program, but here's the point, Jon, and stay with me on this one. So, you're going to have people getting up, they're Democrats, Republicans living in another world, saying “The healthcare system is broken. We have got to make sure we restore those 15 million people who lost their health care. Have a nice day.” That's about it.
STEWART: Credits for the ACA, maybe.
SANDERS: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, same thing. All right, and I support that as an immediate action. I'm not going to let 15 million people suffer and some die because, but we have got to do is pass Medicare for All.
…
STEWART: But what he did was, he did pothole democracy. He basically just triage, “Let me go through. What do you got a pothole there?” and wouldn't the Democrats be well served to do pothole democracy writ large on that scale, like healthcare?
SANDERS: Right.
STEWART: But the thing I would ask you is, you know, Medicare for All, unfortunately begins to become a, kind of, a meaningless slogan in in the way of, like, when the media used to use the words the “big lie,” and it was a stand-in for something that I don't think the public – so can you break down and make the case that Medicare for all would actually lower the cost of healthcare for people?
SANDERS: Yes. Yes.
STEWART: Be cheaper for the country in the long run. In other words, why is it so difficult for Democrats, and maybe there's not enough support for it, to make that case for Medicare for All in a manner that is rational and easy to digest for those that fear that type of change.
For instance, they would say, "Well, you know there'd be wait times." Well, if you look at the wait times right now for people to see a gynecologist or a specialist, they're enormous.
SANDERS: Absolutely.
STEWART: In the system we have.
SANDERS: All right, good points. And again, we are taking on the whole system here. So, I have the opportunity to chat with you. I can't do that on CBS. I can't do that on NBC. They don’t want to hear this.
STEWART: Understood. Understood.
SANDERS: All right, but—
STEWART: I'll go tell them. You tell me. I'll go tell them.
SANDERS: Well, don't laugh. I am going to tell them. All right. Here is the point. Not a complicated point. No healthcare system in the world, not in Canada or Europe, is perfect. That's true. And technology makes it difficult. You got to keep up and all that stuff. But what most Americans believe, what I believe, what you believe. Is A, the function of a rational healthcare system is not to make huge profits for the drug companies and the insurance companies, right? And that's what this system is doing. So right now, in many ways, the system is working—
STEWART: As designed.
