now is the time

The New York Times
Opinion | OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

Bernie Sanders:  Why We Need Medicare for All

By Bernie Sanders
Sept. 13, 2017


This is a pivotal moment in American history.  

Do we, as a nation, join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee comprehensive health care to every person as a human right?  Or do we maintain a system that is enormously expensive, wasteful and bureaucratic, and is designed to maximize profits for big insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry, Wall Street, and medical equipment suppliers?


We remain the only major country on earth that allows chief executives and stockholders in the health care industry to get incredibly rich, while tens of millions of people suffer because they can't get the health care they need.  

This is not what the United States should be about.

All over this country, I have heard from Americans who have shared heartbreaking stories about our dysfunctional system.  Doctors have told me about patients who died because they put off their medical visits until it was too late.  These were people who had no insurance or could not afford out-of-pocket costs imposed by their insurance plans.


I have heard from older people who have been forced to split their pills in half because they couldn't pay the outrageously high price of prescription drugs.  Oncologists have told me about cancer patients who have been unable to acquire lifesaving treatments because they could not afford them.  This should not be happening in the world's wealthiest country.

Americans should not hesitate about going to the doctor because they do not have enough money.  


They should not worry that a hospital stay will bankrupt them or leave them deeply in debt.  


They should be able to go to the doctor they want, not just one in a particular network.  


They should not have to spend huge amounts of time filling out complicated forms and arguing with insurance companies as to whether or not they have the coverage they expected.



Even though 28 million Americans remain uninsured and even more are underinsured, we spend far more per capita on health care than any other industrialized nation.  In 2015, the United States spent almost $10,000 per person for health care; the Canadians, Germans, French and British spent less than half of that, while guaranteeing health care to everyone.  Further, these countries have higher life expectancy rates and lower infant mortality rates than we do.


The reason that our health care system is so outrageously expensive is that 

it is not designed to provide quality care to all in a cost-effective way, 

but 

to provide huge profits to the medical-industrial complex.  

Layers of bureaucracy associated with the administration of hundreds of individual and complicated insurance plans is stunningly wasteful, costing us hundreds of billions of dollars a year.  As the only major country not to negotiate drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry, we spend tens of billions more than we should.


The solution to this crisis is not hard to understand.  A half-century ago, the United States established Medicare.  Guaranteeing comprehensive health benefits to Americans over 65 has proved to be enormously successful, cost-effective and popular.  Now is the time to expand and improve Medicare to cover all Americans.


This is not a radical idea.  I live 50 miles south of the Canadian border.  For decades, every man, woman and child in Canada has been guaranteed health care through a single-payer, publicly funded health care program.  This system has not only improved the lives of the Canadian people but has also saved families and businesses an immense amount of money.


On Wednesday I will introduce the Medicare for All Act in the Senate with 15 co-sponsors and support from dozens of grassroots organizations.  



Under this legislation, every family in America would receive comprehensive coverage, and middle-class families would save thousands of dollars a year by eliminating their private insurance costs as we move to a publicly funded program.


The transition to the Medicare for All program would take place over four years.  In the first year, benefits to older people would be expanded to include dental care, vision coverage and hearing aids, and the eligibility age for Medicare would be lowered to 55.  

All children under the age of 18 would also be covered.  In the second year, the eligibility age would be lowered to 45 and in the third year to 35.  By the fourth year, every man, woman and child in the country would be covered by Medicare for All.



Needless to say, there will be huge opposition to this legislation from the powerful special interests that profit from the current wasteful system.  The insurance companies, the drug companies and Wall Street will undoubtedly devote a lot of money to lobbying, campaign contributions and television ads to defeat this proposal.  

But they are on the wrong side of history.


Guaranteeing health care as a right is important to the American people not just from a moral and financial perspective; it also happens to be what the majority of the American people want.  According to an April poll by The Economist/YouGov, 60 percent of the American people want to "expand Medicare to provide health insurance to every American," including 75 percent of Democrats, 58 percent of independents and 46 percent of Republicans.


Now is the time for Congress to stand with the American people and take on the special interests that dominate health care in the United States.  Now is the time to extend Medicare to everyone.
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Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) is an independent senator from Vermont.

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3 Reader Comments:


Mike B.    East Coast
------------- As the wealthiest nation on the planet, it is high time for us to join the rest of the civilized world and provide health care for all, based upon a single-payer system.  

Putting profits ahead of caring for those who need immediate medical attention is outrageous.  Frankly, I'm surprised that our privatized health care system has lasted this long.  It's an absolute disgrace.


Medicare-for-All is the one and only solution to our health care problems.  Every man, woman, and child should have access to the best health care available whenever needed.

Thank you, Bernie, for being the torch bearer for Medicare-for-all.



Paul    Peaks Island, Maine
---------------- I have been waiting for years for someone to finally state clearly that the obvious problem with the healthcare system in the United States is that we allow health insurance companies to profit off health care.  

It is immoral for insurance and drug company executives to take multi-million dollar salaries while millions of people go without healthcare.  

If everyone's house is covered by the local fire department should it catch on fire, surely one's own body should be covered by Medicare should illness strike.  

Thank you Bernie for this excellent bill -- I will not vote for any Senator or Representative that does not support this bill.



Ernest Ciambarella
7471 Deer Run Lane
------------- Thank you Sen. Sanders.  Two recent studies show that a majority of physicians now support single payer.  The reasons are physician burnout over not being able to take care of patients because of insurance, administration overhead and that it's a moral issue which also contributes to burnout.

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