Bernie Sanders seeks 'citizen co-sponsors' for single-payer health care bill
Sen. Bernie Sanders is seeking “citizen co-sponsors” for a “Medicare-for-all†health care bill he plans to introduce in a few weeks.
While pledging to fight GOP efforts to repeal Obamacare, the Vermont independent told supporters in a Wednesday email that the ultimate goal is a single-payer system, a federally administered program that would eliminate the role of private insurers in basic health care coverage.
He asked supporters to sign on as citizen co-sponsors because — in a reprise of his 2016 presidential campaign’s clarion call — “getting there will require nothing short of a political revolution.”
“It is time to wage a moral and political war against a dysfunctional health care system in this country,” he wrote. “When I introduce the legislation, I want it to be clear that the American people believe health care should be a right in this country.”
Republicans say the single-payer approach to health care is a “government takeover†of insurance that will cost trillions and be financed on the backs of taxpayers. They point to an Urban Institute study of Sanders’ proposal during his presidential campaign that said it would increase federal expenditures by $32 trillion over 10 years, though a Sanders aide says the forthcoming bill will cost less than the campaign plan.
Sanders, in his email, said the system would save lives and “hundreds of billions” in annual health care costs.
“The savings for businesses would be astronomical and allow them to compete on equal footing with companies in Europe,” he wrote. “And for the millions of Americans who are currently in jobs they don’t like but must stay put because of health care access, they would be free to explore more productive opportunities as they desire.”
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