IssuesMedicare for All

Health care must be recognized as a right, not a privilege. Every man, woman and child in our country should be able to access the health care they need regardless of their income. The only long-term solution to America's health care crisis is a single-payer national health care program.

Policy initiatives

We must ensure all Americans can access the health care they need regardless of their income.

We must stop forcing working Americans to choose between bargaining for higher wages or better health insurance.

We must get our runaway health care spending under control by eliminating waste and focusing on our patients.

We need a system that works not just for millionaires and billionaires, but for all of us.

Americans should not have to fear losing their health insurance if they lose their job or change employment.

We must ensure those making over $250,000 per year pay their fair share in taxes.

Under Bernie's plan, the typical middle-class family would save over $5000 per year on health care.

We need a system that prioritizes the health of working-class families over the profits of insurance companies.

We need to streamline our health care system to provide the best health care to all patients, not just the richest.

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Read the full plan

Medicare for All: Leaving No One Behind

It has been the goal of Democrats since Franklin D. Roosevelt to create a universal health care system guaranteeing health care to all people. Every other major industrialized nation has done so. It is time for this country to join them and fulfill the legacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson and other great Democrats.

The Affordable Care Act was a critically important step towards the goal of universal health care. Thanks to the ACA, more than 17 million Americans have gained health insurance. Millions of low-income Americans have coverage through expanded eligibility for Medicaid that now exists in 31 states. Young adults can stay on their parents’ health plans until they’re 26. All Americans can benefit from increased protections against lifetime coverage limits and exclusion from coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Bernie was on the U.S. Senate committee that helped write the ACA.

But as we move forward, we must build upon the success of the ACA to achieve the goal of universal health care. Twenty-nine million Americans today still do not have health insurance and millions more are underinsured and cannot afford the high copayments and deductibles charged by private health insurance companies that put profits before people.

The U.S. spends more on health care per person, and as a percentage of gross domestic product, than any other advanced nation in the world, including Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. But all that money has not made Americans healthier than the rest of the world. Quite simply, in our high-priced health care system that leaves millions overlooked, we spend more yet end up with less.

Video

Bernie Sanders on Medicare for All

If the goal of health-care reform is to provide comprehensive, universal health care in a cost-effective way, the only honest approach is a single-payer approach.

Bernie Sanders