Friends -
Health care is a human right, not a privilege. The function of a rational health care system is to provide quality care to all, regardless of income, in a cost-effective way – not to provide huge profits to private insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry.
The cruelty and dysfunction of our current health care system was apparent long before this horrific pandemic. But if there was ever a time to recommit ourselves to fighting for Medicare for All and granting health care as a human right, now is that time.
Over the course of the pandemic, as millions of Americans have lost their jobs, it is virtually impossible for any rational person to defend a system that ties health care to employment status — a system that prioritizes its own profits over the needs and well-being of the American people.
In the United States, unlike any other major country in the world, when you lose your job, you lose your health care. That is insane.
That is why I'd like to ask you to do something today to help send a powerful message that health care must be guaranteed as a human right in this country, not just an employee benefit.
In early May I will reintroduce Medicare for All legislation. Before I do that, it's important that we send an unmistakable message to my colleagues in the Senate that the time is long overdue to grant health care as a right to all Americans.
Please sign my petition:
It was not long ago that the idea of Medicare for All was dismissed and ridiculed by the corporate media and political establishment of this country.
Too radical, they said. Fringe. Crazy. Pie in the sky.
Well, they are not saying that anymore. Because today, not only do a strong majority of Americans believe health care should be a right in this country, it is also a mainstream Democratic Party position.
Let me be very clear: that did not happen by accident. It happened because of you — because of us. It is thanks to the incredible work we accomplished together over the course of our two presidential campaigns and the support of many of my Congressional colleagues.
Now, if there is any positive outcome to the COVID-19 pandemic we find ourselves in today, it is that we must use this moment to reflect on the foundational institutions of our society and determine how we best go forward to create a better future together.
Do we really want to continue spending twice as much per capita for health care as any other country while our social outcomes — life expectancy, infant mortality, maternal deaths — lag behind many of them?
Do we really want to continue with a system that is designed to boost its own profits while millions of Americans struggle to get the care they need?
Do we really want to continue the current cruel system that ties health care to our jobs, leaving us without health care when we are unemployed and most vulnerable?
Do we really want to continue being ripped off by the greed and collusion of the pharmaceutical industry that charges us outrageously high prices for prescription drugs?
Do we really want to continue the complicated, wasteful and bureaucratic system that requires an absurd amount of paperwork to determine how much of our deductible we've paid, how much of our procedure is covered by our plan and whether we saw a doctor in the correct "network"?
Do we really want to continue having a grossly unfair system where medical and nursing school graduates, facing crippling amounts of student debt, tend to go to communities where they can make the most money, rather than the locations where they are needed most?
The goal of a humane health care system should be to provide health care to everyone in a cost-effective way — not to make billions in profits to benefit CEOs.
It won't surprise you to hear that the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies do not support our Medicare for All plan. They would rather continue making billions in profits off a dysfunctional health care system that leaves millions of Americans struggling to get the care and prescription drugs that they need.
It has never made sense to me that our health care system is primarily designed to make huge profits for multibillion-dollar insurance companies, drug companies, hospitals and medical equipment suppliers. Health care is not a commodity. It is a human right. And the goal of a sane health care system should be to keep people well, not to make stockholders rich.
The good news is that a large number of Americans — particularly as we experience this pandemic — believe that it is time for a Medicare-for-All, single-payer system that guarantees universal health care to every man, woman, and child as a basic human right.
So before I re-introduce this legislation in the Senate, I am asking you to say you're a part of that effort:
There is no question that passing Medicare for All won't be easy. We are taking on the incredible wealth and power of the insurance companies, the drug companies and an entire industry which puts profits before the well-being of the American people. We are taking on an army of well-paid lobbyists and the politicians who receive their campaign contributions from the health care industry.
But we can win this struggle if we engage people in the political process in an unprecedented way. Let us stand together and fight back. Let us make health care a human right, not a privilege.
Thank you for adding your name to show that, together, we are committed to replacing our current cruel health care system with universal health care through Medicare for All.
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders
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