On Wednesday afternoon on the second floor of the Hart Senate Office Building, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) officially unveiled his much-hyped Medicare for All plan. The senator was flanked by his 16 co-sponsors, many of them rising stars in the Democratic party and nearly every one of them talked about as a potential presidential candidate in 2020.
The basic idea of the plan is this: Over the course of four years, the state would expand eligibility for Medicare until every resident o...
health care
7 tough questions single-payer advocates must answer before their ideas can become law
Single-payer health care is having a moment.
The unexpected success of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) presidential campaign, Democratic lawmakers searching for a new agenda in the Trump era, and the fact that Obamacare has revealed both the benefits and the limitations at a market-driven plan to expand health access have all combined to make a unified, government-run health plan seem like an attractive solution to our broken system.
Nearly every Senate Democrat with presid...
This is how Bernie Sanders wants to implement single-payer
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) Medicare for All bill would eliminate out-of-pocket costs and deductibles for any resident of the United States, as well as build on the health care services covered by the Affordable Care Act, according to an executive summary and outline of the bill provided to ThinkProgress.
Sanders, a longtime single-payer advocate, will hold a press conference on Wednesday afternoon to detail his policy ideas for transforming the current health care landscape.<...
The grassroots activists who paved the way for single-payer health care’s political moment
If you’re a Democratic party star who’s being talked about as a potential 2020 candidate for president, you probably recently announced your support for single-payer legislation.
Sen. Bernie Sanders will unveil his Medicare for All bill on Wednesday afternoon, flanked by high-profile co-sponsors including Sens. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).
It’s a sharp d...
As Republicans try to undercut Obamacare, census data shows record low uninsured rate
The number of people without health insurance fell to 8.8 percent in 2016, or 28.1 million — a record low.
The uninsured rate between 2015 and 2016 decreased by 0.3 percent. In 2015, the percentage of people without health insurance coverage for the entire calendar year was 9.1 percent or 29 million. The U.S. Census Bureau announced its new findings Tuesday as lawmakers on Capitol Hill negotiated how best to stabilize the Affordable Care Act (ACA) individual marketplace.
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The Senate is rehashing an old GOP idea during the Affordable Care Act stabilization talks
While some Democrats pivot to single payer legislation this week, the immediate health policy agenda item is shoring up the 2018 Affordable Care Act (ACA) individual marketplace in time for September 27, the final deadline for insurers to decide if they’ll participate or not. The Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee is resuming hearings Tuesday on how best to stabilize the marketplace this week, and one theme continues to dominate bipartisan negotiations: s...
Four more Democratic senators will co-sponsor Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All bill
Four more Democratic senators, Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), have announced that they will co-sponsor Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) Medicare for All bill.
Booker announced his support on NJTV news Monday afternoon, where he echoed comments made by Harris and others who have come out in support of the bill.
First on @NJTVNews: @CoryBooker co-sponsoring @SenSanders ‘Medicare for all’ bi...
How governors want to fix the finicky Obamacare marketplace
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace is less competitive than the drafters intended it to be. President Barack Obama once said the marketplace — where people can shop online for health insurance and compare plans — would be like an “Expedia for health care.” But if Expedia were anything like the ACA, people in some states would log on and see just one airline listed. In Virginia, they’d log on and see no listings at all.
To date, 1,476 counties are...
Top Democrats are making support for single-payer the party standard
It’s looking increasingly likely that supporting single-payer health care will be the standard for Democratic lawmakers who want to be considered serious 2020 candidates, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) announced Thursday that she will co-sponsor Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) Medicare for All bill.
“There is something fundamentally wrong when one of the richest and most powerful countries on the planet can’t make sure that a person can afford to see a doctor when they’re sick. T...
3 things we learned from the Senate’s first Obamacare hearing since the GOP health bill failed
Early in the summer, hearings on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) seemed unlikely to ever happen. But with fall swiftly approaching, the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has decided it will hold four, the first of which took place on Wednesday.
During this week’s hearing, senators were joined by state insurance commissioners. Wonk-ish health experts guided senators on how best to strengthen the law’s marketplace. Commissioners from blue and red state...