Rep. Dean Phillips signed on as a cosponsor of H.R. 3421, Medicare for All, and announced his support for a universal health insurance system with no copayments, no deductibles, and no other direct costs to patients.
Inspired by conversations with small business owners and ordinary citizens, the move makes Phillips, a presidential candidate, one of the leading moderate voices backing the legislation within the Democratic Party.
Phillips launched his campaign for the White House after concluding that President Joe Biden is not capable of defeating disgraced former President Donald Trump or any other Republican contender.
“Since Dean Phillips first took office in 2019, he has defended the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and worked to curb high prescription drug costs, so while it took him five years to support Medicare for All, this is welcome news because Joe Biden has refused to embrace this obvious solution to one of America’s greatest problems,” said Lisa McCormick, one of New Jersey’s leading progressive activists.
“Transitioning to a single-payer Medicare for All system will eliminate the middleman, allowing doctors to treat their patients without requiring the approval of a bean counter in a corporate office across the country,” said McCormick, who is sponsoring a petition for citizens to endorse “Medicare for All (as) the only way to ensure that all Americans have access to the quality, affordable health care they need and deserve.”
Even during the peak of the coronavirus emergency, Biden said he still opposes a “Medicare for All” system for health care coverage. A KFF Health Tracking Poll from March 2023 also showed strong support for Medicare for All among Democrats, with 89% holding a favorable view of the concept.
Sen. Bernie Sanders and an army of progressive Democrats say the pandemic elevated the need for a single-payer plan that covers everyone but Biden has never publicly supported universal healthcare and has said he would veto bills that implement a Medicare for All system. His stated policy goal is ‘affordable’ healthcare achieved by expanding existing programs.
“Medical debt accounts for 67% of bankruptcies in the United States and exorbitant healthcare costs prevent millions of Americans from getting the care they need for themselves and their families,” said Phillips. “As president, my first priority will be ensuring every American has access to affordable, exceptional healthcare. I believe that Medicare for All is the best way to accomplish that priority.”
Phillips’s endorsement of Medicare for All comes after a very personal journey with the healthcare system. In 2014, his daughter, Pia, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
While in the children’s hospital in Minnesota, Phillips and Pia saw firsthand the devastating effects the current health insurance system has on families who are already fighting unimaginable battles, like having children with cancer.
“Medicare for All isn’t just the right decision, it’s the pragmatic and financially sound one. The money is already in the system- we just need to spend it on people, not profits,” said Phillips. “Americans are begging us to bring their health care costs down and outcomes up, and I’m grateful to Rep. Pramila Jayapal for her leadership on this transformational path forward.”
After previously endorsing a state-by-state single-payer approach and supporting a public option, Phillips’ discussions with Americans across the country led him to realize those solutions are not enough.
Americans owe more than $195 billion in medical debt, money that could be recirculating and bolstering our economy.
The massive burden of saddling small business owners and workers with health insurance costs is stifling innovation and killing competition by tying Americans to their jobs for fear they will lose access to medical care.
To address the full ‘sick care’ industry in this country, the government needs to enact Medicare for All.
Phillips’s plan includes:
- Creation of a Medicare for All national health insurance program to provide everyone in America with comprehensive health care coverage, free at the point of service. This means no deductibles, no copays, no surprise bills, no networks.
- The inclusion of a much broader umbrella of medical coverage – including dental, vision hearing, mental health and substance abuse treatment, reproductive and maternity care, long-term care, in-patient and out-patient services, prescription drugs, and more.
- Ending the loopholes that allow the pharmaceutical industry to price-gouge hardworking Americans, ensuring the US stops overpaying for drugs compared to similar countries.
Phillips noted that under his approach private health insurance companies will just wither on the vine when they compete with a federal insurance program with no copayments or deductibles.
“If private health insurers really have to compete with Medicare for All’s no copayments and no deductibles, in a very short period virtually all of America will voluntarily move to Medicare for All. Some people and businesses believe today that they want to keep their 20th-century insurance plans,” said Phillips. “If so I say to them, go right ahead. Once they see the cost savings and the increased benefits of Medicare for All – a program for the 21st century and beyond – I’m confident they will have a change of heart.”
This is the second pillar of the Dean Phillips Affordability Plan.
He previously outlined his commitment to tuition-free public college/vocational schools and zero-interest student loans.
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