Washington, DC – Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, released the following statement upon the unveiling of Senator Bernie Sanders’s (I-VT) Medicare for All Act of 2017 today:
“Many Americans already get quality health care coverage through single-payer plans. Single-payer veterans’ care is often delivered by government doctors in government hospitals. Single-payer Medicaid is delivered in plans run by individual states. Single-payer Medicare is paid for by government and accepted by providers in every community. Single-payer Tricare covers military families, both in military hospitals and with private physicians. At the same time, unions often have excellent health and benefit plans they have negotiated through collective bargaining. And many employees and retirees are content with health insurance they get through their employers. We must find a way to provide the best aspects of these high-quality plans–namely, economic security and peace of mind–to every American. This is the start of a long and worthy conversation. Thank you, Bernie, for helping to open it up.”
Earlier this week, Whitehouse announced that he is cosponsoring the Medicare for All Act, which would create a universal Medicare program providing every resident of the United States with comprehensive, affordable health insurance coverage.
Whitehouse is also the author of the Consumer Health Options and Insurance Competition Enhancement Act, a bill he introduced in January to add a public health insurance option to the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges.
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