People Who Cannot Afford Health Care Don't Deserve to Die

By Bernie Sanders, Reader Supported News

04 April 17

The message below was circulated as a Medicare organizing petition, with links to the petition. The link to the petition is at the bottom if you would like to sign. The message from Senator Sanders does a great job of laying out the core issues. MA/RSN

ast month, we won a very important victory against the Republican health care plan that would have taken away insurance from 24 million Americans, raised premiums for seniors and defunded Planned Parenthood. 

But we must be clear. This is just the beginning of our struggle, not the end. Our true goal is not just stopping Republicans from destroying health care. Our goal is guaranteeing health care as a right for all people.

Let me be blunt. The Affordable Care Act has done some very important things for our country. Today, 20 million Americans have health care who did not before the law was passed. We ended the obscenity of people being denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions and we put a cap on how much people with serious illnesses have to pay out of pocket. Progress was made but we can do better -- much better.

*That is why, within a couple of weeks, I am going to be introducing legislation calling for a Medicare-for-all, single-payer program.*

People who cannot afford health care don't deserve to die. We should not be spending far more, per capita, than any other nation for health care or be paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.

I believe now more than ever that the American people are ready to end the national disgrace of being the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care as a right for all of its people. Add your name if you agree.

The truth is that the insurance and pharmaceutical companies in this country are bribing the United States Congress. In recent years they have spent billions of dollars in lobbying and campaign contributions to make sure that we maintain a dysfunctional, but profitable, approach to health care. Enough is enough. Now is the time to take them on and do something about it.

They will try to make words like "NATIONAL HEALTH CARE" sound scary.

But the truth is, we already have a very large single-payer system in this country. It's called Medicare and it has succeeded in providing near-universal coverage to Americans over the age 65 and gets high marks from people who are enrolled in the program. I believe we can and should expand it to cover everyone.

I believe the American people are ready for a Medicare-for-all, single-payer system that guarantees health care as a right for all Americans. But getting there will require nothing short of a political revolution in this country. Add your name to say we're in this together.

Today, 28 million of our sisters and brothers are living without health care, while many others have high deductibles and co-payments. Despite the gains under the Affordable Care Act, there is still a major health care crisis in this country.

Our job, together, is to end that.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders
U.S. Senator, Vermont

Add your name as a citizen co-sponsor of my Medicare-for-all, single-payer health care bill that will guarantee health care as a right for all Americans.