US Democratic frontrunners clash over healthcare reform

The Democratic front-runners in the US presidential race clashed over healthcare policies in the party’s third debate on Thursday.

The most contentious issue was how to reform the US healthcare system with a glaringly stark division between the more progressive and the more moderate Democrat candidates plainly obvious.

Bernie Sanders and Elisabeth Warren, two of the main candidates, both backed universal Medicare coverage which would mean expanding the already extant federal programme for the elderly to all Americans in a single-payer insurance system.

The other candidates said such a reform would be too expensive and that efforts should focus on improving Obama’s Affordable Care Act instead.

Another main point of contention was gun control, with Beto O’Rourke supporting the confiscation of assault-style rifles.

"Hell yes we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We're not going to allow it to be used against your fellow Americans anymore,” he said.

The debate in Houston, Texas, was the first time Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders faced off on stage. They were accompanied by the rest of the 10 most voted Democratic candidates with the winner likely to run against President Donald Trump in the November 2020 poll.

Biden was leading current polls by a considerable margin with Massachusetts Senator Warren and Sanders in second and third place and the rest of the field polling in single figures.