Bernie Sanders’ brilliant plan to make Americans stop being so scared of health-care reform

September 15, 2017 health care, Health Care Reform, Ideas, Medicare, News, obamacare, politics, ST

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An Obamacare bill — that has nothing to do with repealing it — could pass

September 15, 2017 health, health care, News, politics

The month of September has been bombarded with health care bills. This week alone, Democrat and Republican senators introduced both a single-payer plan and an Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal and replacement plan. But the most important bill has yet to be released. Language to the only health bill that’ll immediately secure the ACA marketplace and relieve nearly 22 million people of stress next year — and a host of coverage providers — will be released soon.

The la...

Trump doesn’t actually think single-payer is a horrible idea

September 14, 2017 Donald Trump, health care, News, politics

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has proposed the only health care plan that would fulfill all the health care promises made by President Trump—but White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders slammed the single-payer health care plan Wednesday, saying Trump thinks it would be a horrible idea.

“I think that the president as well as the majority of the country knows that the single payer system that the Democrats are proposing is a horrible idea,” Huckabee Sanders told reporters. “I ...

While attention turns to health care for all, let’s talk about coverage for immigrants

September 14, 2017 health, health care, News

As progressives consider proposals to implement universal health care, it’s important to define the principle that’s driving them. What unites Democrats right now is the idea that health care is a right afforded to all. If that’s the self-imposed litmus test, it’s essential to define “all” when discussing universal health care.

Millions of people who live in the United States are currently uninsured. High costs remain a major barrier to coverage; ...

How Bernie Sanders would fund his Medicare for All plan

September 13, 2017 congress, health, health care, News, politics

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...

7 tough questions single-payer advocates must answer before their ideas can become law

September 13, 2017 health care, News

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

September 13, 2017 health care, Health Care Reform, News, obamacare

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

September 13, 2017 Activism, congress, health care, News, politics

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

September 12, 2017 ACA, health care, News

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

September 12, 2017 Affordable Care Act, health care, News, obamacare

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...