On the 50th anniversary of Medicare, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., announced that he will introduce legislation that would provide affordable health care for all Americans.
At a morning rally organized by National Nurses United, Sanders was surrounded by registered nurses as he called for adoption of a nationwide system of health care coverage that doesn’t involve insurance companies as “middle-men.”
“The United States is the only major nation in the industrialized world that does not guarantee health care as a right to its people,” Sanders said, according to a news release from his office.
“Meanwhile, we spend far more per capita on health care with worse results than other countries. It is time that we bring about a fundamental transformation of the American health care system.”
The goal of the nationwide day of action was to prompt policymakers to “protect, improve, and expand Medicare to cover all Americans with a single standard of quality care not based on ability to pay,” a National Nurses United release said.
At a rally inside a park near the Capitol, Sanders told the crowd of nurses in Washington, D.C., of his plans for a Medicare-for-all bill.
“We need to expand Medicare to cover every man, woman and child as a single-payer national health care program,” Sanders said.
Martha Kuhl, RN, National Nurses’ secretary-treasurer agreed.
“There are still far too many people who are uninsured and under-insured, or priced out of access to needed care due to cost. Medicare for all is the answer.”
Previously, Sanders has tried to introduce single-payer health care in Senate.
Today’s outcry of union nurses comes after statements by presidential candidate, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a Republican, suggested phasing out Medicare.
National Nurses co-president Jean Ross, RN, said the program should be expanded, not killed, since it’s only grown in popularity since it was introduced by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965.
“After 50 years, we have a lot of experience with Medicare, enough time to see that it works, has kept tens of millions of Americans out of poverty, and remains enormously popular,” Ross said in a statement.
