Public Citizen Supports Sanders’ Medicare for All Act of 2019

WASHINGTON, April 10 -- Public Citizen issued the following statement by President Robert Weissman, Melinda St. Louis, campaign director of Medicare for All, and Eagan Kemp, health care policy advocate at Congress Watch:

Today U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.,) along with 14 co-sponsors, reintroduced the Medicare for All Act of 2019 in the U.S. Senate. Similar legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in February by U.S. Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.).

"We have a health care system that is cruel, arbitrary, wildly expensive, unfair and structured to deny care to those who need it - all to advance the profits of the health insurance industry, Big Pharma and the for-profit hospitals. This legislation takes the part of our health care system that works best - Medicare - and improves and expands it to cover all Americans. It proves that we can prioritize compassion and public health on the one hand, and economic efficiency on the other - so long as we don't capitulate to the power of the insurance and health care corporations. Americans support Medicare for All in increasing numbers, and the day is not far off when it will be the law of the land."

"Too many people are facing bankruptcy, are forced to resort to GoFundMe donations to pay medical bills or have lost loved ones because they couldn't receive vital medical treatment due to the cost. The American people know it's time for guaranteed, government-funded health care for all and are demanding that their elected leaders, local and federal, take a stand and support this important bill."

"Medicare for All is the cure for what ails our fragmented and excessively expensive health care system, and this crucial reform cannot come quickly enough. We are currently spending far more than any other country on health care, more than $10,000 per person and nearly 18 percent of our GDP, while having among the worst health care outcomes of similarly wealthy countries. Nearly all other comparably wealthy countries spend significantly less on health care while achieving higher life expectancy and lower infant mortality rates, and covering their entire populations. The time has come for the U.S. health care system to focus on patient wellbeing instead of corporate profits."