Comedian Theo Von discussed the cost of medical care in the United States during his latest interview with former President Donald Trump.
The interview, which premiered Tuesday night, has gone viral on social media and garnered over 4 million views on YouTube.
The two discussed a variety of topics ranging from the nation's opioid crisis, the 2024 presidential election, and health care.
Von said he recently spoke with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on his podcast and noted Sanders and Trump had similar takes on the nation's health care system.
"Certainly you guys don't agree on a lot of things, but I think you both acknowledge how horribly rigged the health care system is against the American people," Von said. "Because hospitals and insurance companies get away with hiding their prices from all of us and literally they can charge whatever they want."
The comedian said Americans being stuck with exorbitant medical care costs was a form of "extortion," to which Trump agreed.
"It's a form," Trump said.
Von then referenced Trump's 2019 executive order on improving price and quality transparency in the health care system though noted the order hadn't been enforced.
"Biden got away with it," Trump said.
"Hospital and insurance companies, they're still not showing their prices," Von said.
"They hated it," Trump added. "It would have made it very competitive and Biden let it go. He never enforced it." If you only watch 3 minutes of the Theo Von podcast with Donald Trump, this is the 3 minutes. pic.twitter.com/z0QrUz2xAB
— CitizenLenz (@CitizenLenz) August 21, 2024
Trump said the executive order was intended to lower the cost of physical and mental care by 50-60%.
"Biden and Kamala didn't press it," Trump continued. "It was a big thing to get it, but I'll be pressing it."
The former president went on to suggest some "vehemently" opposed transparency with medical care costs for "financial reasons."
"Those people can go to hell, dude. That's insane," Von said. "Especially because one of the leading causes of bankruptcy in America is medical debt. I mean, that's crazy."
Von joked: "I don't even think I made that up either."
The comedian went on to say he thought Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was a "deviant mastermind" in politics.
"Well, he's one of the people that is hurt, and he's one of the people that keeps the prices high," Trump said of Schumer. "He gets a lot of contributions from the people on the other side. ... Him and plenty of other people."
"It's a very powerful lobby," Trump added.
"Why do those people want people to suffer though, just so they can make money?" Von asked.
"Yeah," Trump responded.