We Need Medicare for All
By Eagan Kemp | Public Citizen
Medicare for All was reintroduced in Congress in both the House and the Senate May 17th, 2023. This year’s introduction was an exciting one that came at an important time for the Medicare for All movement.
The main events for this year’s launch included a Medicare for All town hall that was hosted at the Capitol Visitors Center and a bicameral press conference. The Medicare for All town hall featured Sen. Sanders, Rep. Jayapal, and a panel of health care providers and patients describing the numerous failures of our broken health care system.
The Medicare for All press conference featured fiery remarks from Sen. Sanders, Rep. Jayapal, and Rep. Dingell, in addition to remarks from patients affected by our broken health care system and additional members of Congress, including Reps. Jim McGovern, Veronica Escobar, Maxwell Frost, Robert Garcia, and Jamaal Bowman.
Now that the legislation is introduced, it will be important to continue to add cosponsors to Medicare for All in both the House and the Senate. In addition, we can anticipate that Sen. Sanders — as the Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Committee — will continue holding important hearings on health care issues that would be improved by Medicare for All, as he was able to do last Congress as then-Chair of the Senate Budget Committee.
In addition to the House and Senate bills being reintroduced in Congress, another bright spot of Medicare for All activism has been the campaign for municipal resolutions calling for federal lawmakers to enact this all-important legislation. At the Medicare for All press conference, the role of Medicare for All Resolutions as a crucial organizing tool was highlighted by freshman Congressman and cosponsor Robert Garcia (CA-42), who previously served as the Mayor of Long beach and passed a resolution there in 2021. Recently, the 119th and 120th resolutions were passed in Austin, TX and Larimer County, CO.
In addition, the movement for Medicare for All has been building momentum by highlighting how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated our already broken health care system. As such, Public Citizen released a new factsheet detailing how our health care system created fertile ground for a pandemic like COVID-19 and how countries with universal health care are already bouncing back from COVID-19 more quickly than the United States.
Adding to the chorus of voices demanding Medicare for All is the best way to take on the powerful corporate interests that put profit ahead of patients and continue to block the reforms we need. In time,the movement we are building will overcome all obstacles to finally ensure that health care is a human right in the United States. As an important step toward reaching that goal, I hope you will join the fight and call on your members of Congress to cosponsor Medicare for All!
