Senator Bernie Sanders introduces single payer bill
Sen. Bernie Sanders Continues Fight for Single Payer
'The 113th Congress should recognize and proclaim that healthcare is a human right'
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) continued his push for a single-payer system healthcare system on Monday, introducing legislation that he says would allow for better care at lower costs.
Called the American Health Security Act of 2013, the legislation states that "the 113th Congress should recognize and proclaim that healthcare is a human right," and calls for a Medicare-for-all system that would not only provide economic benefits but would address the "unacceptable rate" of Americans who are uninsured.
"It is time that we bring about a fundamental transformation of the American health care system," Sanders stated. "It is time for us to end private, for-profit participation in delivering basic coverage. It is time for the United States to provide a Medicare-for-all single-payer health coverage program."
In an op-ed earlier this year, Sanders called a single-payer program "the only long-term solution to America's healthcare crisis."
Such a program recently got the vocal approval of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who said at an event last week, "I don't see why we can't do what Europe is doing, what Canada is doing, what Korea is doing, what all these other places are doing."
"I am not an expert in healthcare, or Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, or however you choose to describe it, but I do know this: I have benefited from that kind of universal healthcare in my 55 years of public life."