Medicare for All is one of the bills that is meant to health millions of the United States citizens to attain affordable healthcare. The bill was initially introduced into congress in September 2017 by Senator Bernie Sanders. It was meant to create a single, and federal government-administered program to provide healthcare to all Unlisted States residents. However, the bill wasn’t successful, and in February of 2019, the bill was re-introduced by Representative Pramila Jayapal. The new bill was based upon Bernie Sanders’ concept, although it had several changes. The primary purpose of the bill is to create a federal universal health insurance program to help in the provision of comprehensive coverage for all Americans including both inpatient and outpatient hospital care, primary and preventive services, emergency services, mental health, and substance abuse treatment, maternity and newborn care, prescriptions drugs, home and community based long-term services and supports, vision services, audiology, and dental services.
According to the “Medicare for All” bill of 2019, all the basic needs of the patients are covered. The patient can choose a doctor, and there are no deductibles, no surprise bills for out-of-network services, and no copays. If the patient changes their job, they don’t have to go and change the insurance plans or even worry about losing the coverage, which they depended on together with their family. The act assures that healthcare will be affordable, and therefore there are no worries of whether an individual can afford to get the care they need or how to pick the right insurance plan for their family. Also, to the providers, the bill allows health providers to spend more time with their patients and less time doing the paperwork. The universal healthcare system will also enable the country to make more investments to education and training of the health providers, and as well make smart investments to avoid provider shortages. Besides, the bill ensures that the communities are able to access the healthcare providers they need. The bill is not only beneficial to the patients and healthcare providers alone but also to the employers. Instead of the employers struggling to provide health insurance, they will only be required to payroll tax the same way Medicare requires. Under the “Medicare for All” bill, Americans will have the freedom and security resulting from the separation of health insurance from employment, making them live happier, healthier, and more lives. Besides, the bill will also promote innovation and entrepreneurship, and this will also help in improving the economy, saving the country of billions.
The “Medicare for All” bill has earned massive support, especially from the citizens, but this has been faced by changing opinions. According to polls, the support for the bill was maintained at 50% and above, while the opposition for the bill increased from 29% in January 2019 to 36% in January 2020. Concerning the political divides, the net support, those who supported less those who opposed, dropped 10 points among Democrats, 12 points among the independent candidates and also, 14 points among the Republicans. Besides, among the people aged 65 and above, 50% support the program as of January 2019, however, the support increased to 54% in January 2020. Based on this, people aged more than 65 years have massive support for the program.
Some of the politicians in support of Bernie Sanders’s bill include Senators Tammy Baldwin, Richard Blumenthal, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Mazie Hirono, Martin Heinrich, Patrick Leahy, Edward Markey, Jeff Merkley, Brian Schatz, Tom Udall, Elizabeth Warren, and Sheldon Whitehouse. In my opinion, the “Medicare for All” bill will be of great benefit to the Americans, and therefore, it is worth supporting.