Three More Lawmakers Support Medicare for All; Legislation Now Has 111 Co-Sponsors
Statement of Eagan Kemp, Health Care Policy Advocate, Public Citizen
Note: Three more lawmakers – U.S. Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), David Price (D-N.C.) and John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) – signed on in the past week to the Medicare for All legislation led by U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.). Yarmuth is chair of the U.S. House Budget Committee; Price is on the Budget Committee and Doggett is chair of the health subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee. This brings to 111 the number of co-sponsors on the legislation in addition to Jayapal.
Momentum for Medicare for All continues to grow as members of Congress, including chairs of key committees and subcommittees, sign on. With more hearings planned in both the House Budget Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, the public’s understanding of and demand for Medicare for All will only continue to grow.
Coming in the wake of successful hearings in the U.S. House of Representatives and the announcement of future hearings, the backing of Medicare for All by Reps. Doggett, Price and Yarmuth highlights just how much the tide is turning toward guaranteed health care for everyone in the U.S.
The calls for Medicare for All continue to grow in the halls of power as well as on Main Streets across the country. Too many working families are unable to afford the care they need when they need it and are realizing that the perverse incentives of our for-profit health care system are not serving their needs.
We cannot afford to wait for one more family to lose a loved one to a preventable disease or to lose a home because of medical debt or bankruptcy. The time has come for Medicare for All.