The “Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act” (H.R. 676), is a bill in Congress that establishes a single-payer health insurance system, building upon the existing Medicare framework. The bill is sponsored by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan and co-sponsored by 121 other representatives.
The goal of this single-payer system is to expand access to health care for all U.S. citizens regardless of employment, income or health status. The program would be funded through a combination of methods including existing federal and state health care spending, payroll and income taxes.
With our current system, the administrative costs born by private for-profit insurers account for nearly one-third of our health care dollars. According to Physicians for a National Health Program, replacing the fragmented patchwork of private insurance companies with a single-payer system would save over $400 billion per year on administrative costs, and over $100 billion per year on lower prices for pharmaceuticals.
The program would cover all medically necessary services, including primary and preventive care, inpatient care, outpatient care, emergency care, prescription drugs, long term care, mental health services, dentistry, eye care, chiropractic and substance abuse treatment.
Covering everyone is affordable, while our current private insurance system is not.
Over 120 of our elected House representatives and a third of our Senators support a single-payer system. The doomsday scenarios of long lines, poor care and excessive government regulation are propagated by the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. Don’t just believe what you hear. Learn more at pnhp.org or healthoverprofit.org.
Greg Phillips
Durango
