Senator Sanders and Reps Jayapal and Dingell to reintroduce Medicare For All Act
They just held a live press conference
https://www.c-span.org/program/news-conference/sen-sanders-and-others-news-conference-on-medicare-for-all-act/659226]
Read Press Release
https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/media-advisory-sanders-jayapal-dingell-to-introduce-medicare-for-all/]
In America today, despite spending twice as much per person on health care as other wealthy nations, more than 85 million Americans are uninsured or under-insured, one out of every four Americans cannot afford their prescription drugs, over half a million people go bankrupt due to medically-related debt, and more than 60,000 die because they cannot afford to go to a doctor.
“The American people understand, as I do, that health care is a human right, not a privilege and that we must end the international embarrassment of the United States being the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all of its citizens,” said Sanders. “It is not acceptable to me, nor to the American people, that over 85 million people today are either uninsured or underinsured. Today, there are millions of people who would like to go to a doctor but cannot afford to do so. This is an outrage. In America, your health and your longevity should not be dependent on your wealth. Health care is a human right that all Americans, regardless of income, are entitled to and they deserve the best health care that our country can provide.”
Under this legislation, Medicare would provide comprehensive health care to every American with no premiums, no co-payments and no deductibles. It would also expand Medicare to include dental, hearing, and vision care, and it would give every American the freedom to choose their doctors without endless paperwork or fighting their insurance company. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that Medicare for All would save our health care system $650 billion a year. Further, researchers at Yale University have estimated that Medicare for All would save 68,000 lives a year.
This legislation would also create a health care system that finally puts people over profits. In fact, since 2001, the top health care companies in America spent 95 percent of their profits, $2.6 trillion, not to make Americans healthy but to make their CEOs and stockholders obscenely rich. While nearly one out of four Americans cannot afford the life-saving medicine their doctors prescribe, ten top pharma companies made $102 billion in profits in 2024. Meanwhile, the CEOs of just 4 prescription drug companies – Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, and Merck – together made over $100 million last year.
Details
What: Press conference to reintroduce the Medicare for All Act
When: Tuesday, April 29, 11:00 a.m. ET
Where: Upper Senate Park, opposite Russell Senate Office Building Delaware door. The press conference will also be livestreamed on Sanders’ social media.
Who:
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.)
Nurses, health care providers, and workers
= new reply since forum marked as read
We know the Rethugs will vote against it, because A)Trump won't let them vote for it, & B)they're flaming assholes who don't give a damn about people.
But it will make them vote against it. It will make them come up with more word salads about how corporate profits are more important than people's lives, and more lies about how Trump had a mandate. It will put them on the record as being against their own constituents, and they'll have to run on it next year. They're too scared now to face the voters, can you imagine after they vote against this? This needs to be introduced, if for no other reason, I want to see them squirm under a barrage of yelling, screaming voters.