A "Medicare For All" program would take the current Medicare system, which is the most popular healthcare coverage system in America, and use it to cover all Americans.
Currently, there are bills in both houses of Congress (H.R. 1384 and S. 1804) and a NY State Bill that is in both the NY House and the NY Senate (New York Health Act (A5248 and S3577 - click here for more information on the NY Health Act) that would create such a system.
Numerous studies and real life examples from other countries have shown that a system like this would be able to cover every single American at a lower cost than our current "for profit" healthcare system. (Click here to see a list of single-payer healthcare studies for more information)
Medicare for All eliminates monthly premiums, co-pays, & deductibles. For 97% of tax payers, the cost would be lower than their current healthcare expenses.
Doctors and hospitals would still be private companies. Instead of billing you or your insurance company, they would sent the bill to Medicare.
- Almost every other country has a "Medicare for All" style program in which every single person us guaranteed healthcare. America is the only major country with a for-profit healthcare system.
- The World Health Organization ranks the U.S. as the 37th best healthcare system. The countries with the best healthcare all have something like "Medicare for All". They achieve better results at a lower cost.
- Tens of thousands of Americans die each year due to a lack of healthcare. Many more face serious financial hardships or even bankruptcy as a result of our for-profit healthcare system.
- Medicare for All would lift a huge burden off of businesses, especially small businesses, that provide private healthcare insurance for their employees.
- Medicare for All is actually very popular, according to recent polling. Over 60% of Americans favor the plan, including approximately 80% of Democrats, 60% of Independents, and nearly 40% of Republicans.
- Medicare for All would separate healthcare for employment. Workers would no longer lose their (and their family's) health insurance if they became unemployed. This would also make it much easier for people to start a new business without risking their family losing their healthcare.
- Medicare for All currently has over 120 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives and 17 in the Senate. In NY, the bill has already passed the Assembly and is only a few votes away from passing in the NY Senate.