Chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), announced that the Senate Budget Committee will hold a hearing Thursday to examine the economic, social and financial benefits of implementing Medicare to All to combat the present health care crisis.
The COVID pandemic has claimed over 1 million lives in the U.S. so far, has highlighted the inequities in the U.S. health care system — which were already vast before the pandemic, Sanders wrote in a press release. The senator’s plea, which he has been making for yearsThis is a familiar saying: the U.S. must catch up with other countries. every other wealthy countryworldwide and implement universal healthcare.
“Estimates show that nearly 27 million Americans and their families lost their health care coverage when they lost their jobs due to COVID-19,” Sanders said in a tweet on Tuesday. “Let me be clear: health care is a human right, not a job benefit. Yes. It’s time for Medicare for All.”
The hearing, entitled “Medicare for All: Protecting Health, Saving Lives, Saving Money,” will feature testimony from health and policy experts, as well as testimony from the director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which has previously analyzedHow the U.S. budget would be affected by a single-payer healthcare system.
Sanders pointed out that the U.S. spends approximately $2.5 trillion annually twice as muchThe average wealthy country spends less per capita on health care than the average poor country, but the average country has the lowest level of life expectancy and more doctor visits than other wealthy countries. according to The Commonwealth Fund. Over a quarter of the entire U.S. adult population is not insured or is underinsured because of the country’s highly exclusive private health care system; as a result, tens of thousands of Americans die each year because they either put off or don’t seek medical care when they need it, the press release says.
These inequalities have been made more stark by the pandemic. Due to the pandemic-related layoffs, tens of millions of people lost their health insurance. This created large disparities in health outcomes between those who are insured and those who aren’t.
Implementing Medicare for All would be immensely beneficial for health outcomes and equity in the U.S., the press release goes on — and it would also come with economic benefits.
“[E]stimates show that Medicare for All could save 68,000 lives per year, and numerous studies find that Medicare for All saves the American people and the U.S. health care system billions of dollars a year,” the press release says.
“According to the Congressional Budget Office, Medicare for All would save $650 billion each year, improve the economy, and eliminate all out-of-pocket health care costs,” the press release continues. “Even a study done by the right-wing Mercatus Center estimated that Medicare for All would save more than $2 trillion over a decade.”
In March, Sanders He promised that he would soon bring back the lions.His Medicare for all bill, which he received reintroduced several timesThe past decade has been a great one.
The proposal has been supported by the House of Representatives and lawmakers. The first hearing of the pandemic-era was heldThis March, I wrote a piece on the subject. Earlier this year, Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s (D-Washington) version of the bill gainedA Record 121 cosponsors in the House — far short of the roughly 218 votes needed to pass the House, but a sign that the idea is gaining momentum among the Democratic caucus.
The public loves the measure. Morning Consult/PollPolitico last yearA poll conducted by the 2020 American Public Survey found that 55 percent of Americans support Medicare For All and only 32 percent oppose it. The Hill/HarrisX foundThat 69 percent of voters support Medicare For All
