As Pelosi Unveils ACA Fix, Medicare for All Backers Say 'Now Is Not the Time for Watered-Down, Incremental Measures'

As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week unveiled legislation to shore up the Affordable Care Act, Medicare for All supporters made the economic, political, and moral case that Democrats should go all the way for single-payer instead of pushing incremental change.

“The incremental reform that I support is phasing in Medicare for All.”
—Sen. Bernie Sanders “Now is not the time for watered-down, incremental measures that will only put a Band-Aid on a broken health care system,” National Nurses United (NNU) president Zenei Cortez, RN, said in a statement.

“At a moment when the Trump administration is actively seeking to overturn the entire ACA,” Cortez added, “Democrats have an opportunity to show real leadership with the transformative change that will most protect all Americans.”

Pelosi introduced her bill as centrist Democrats rally around a number of healthcare half-measures, including Medicare for America and Medicare buy-ins.

The Partnership for America’s Health Care Future—an insurance industry front-group—celebrated Pelosi’s plan, but Cortez argued that it is “disappointing and totally inadequate to address the healthcare crisis confronting our country.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is expected to unveil an updated version of his Medicare for All legislation within the next few weeks, also declined to support Pelosi’s legislation in an interview with MSNBC‘s Chris Hayes this week.

“The incremental reform that I support is phasing in Medicare for All,” said Sanders, who is running for president in 2020.

While Democrats in the Senate this week expressed varying degrees of concern over the idea of ending the for-profit system, Sanders unequivocally called for the elimination of private insurance companies, telling Hayes, “You are not going to be able, in the long run, to have cost-effective, universal healthcare unless you change the system.”

“Poll after poll has shown that the majority of Americans favor a Medicare for All, single-payer health care system over a profit-driven health insurance system.”
Click Here: gws giants guernsey 2019—National Nurses UnitedSanders’ economic argument was backed up by Robert Pollin, economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.