Warren gets stumped by Colbert when pressed on middle-class tax hikes to fund Medicare-for-all

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., faced an unexpected grilling from "Late Show" host Stephen Colbert on whether or not the middle class will face a tax hike to fund Medicare-for-all.

During the interview on Tuesday night, Colbert began the exchange by referring to Medicare-for-all as her "most radical" policy position.

"You keep being asked in the debates how are you going to pay for it, are you going to be raising the middle-class taxes... How are you going to pay for it? Are you going to be raising the middle-class taxes?" Colbert asked.

"So, here's how we're going to do this," Warren responded. "Costs are going to go up for the wealthiest Americans, for big corporations... and hard-working middle-class families are going to see their costs going down."

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"But will their taxes go up?" Colbert pressed.

"But, here's the thing," Warren said.

"But, here's the thing," Colbert grinningly interrupted. "I've listened to these answers a few times before and I just want to make a parallel suggestion to you that you might defend the taxes perhaps that you’re not mentioning in your sentence."

He continued by sharing his "parallel suggestion": "Isn’t Medicare-for-all like public school? There might be taxes for it, but you certainly save a lot of money sending your kids to school and do you want to live in a world where your kids aren’t educated? Do you want to live in a world where your fellow citizens are dying, even if it costs a little bit of money?”

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"So, I accept your point and I believe in your point," Warren responded. "Health care is a basic human right. We fight for basic human rights, and that’s Medicare-for-all. Everyone gets covered."