With Democratic support, Bernie Sanders to introduce bill for universal health care


Backed by at least 15 Democratic senators, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will introduce legislation Wednesday to expand Medicare into a universal health insurance program.
The only way for the U.S. to move away from "a dysfunctional, wasteful, bureaucratic system into a rational health-care system that guarantees coverage to everyone in a cost-effective way" is to introduce "Medicare for All," Sanders told The Washington Post. His bill, the Medicare for All Act of 2017, would replace the current health-care system with a public system paid for by higher taxes, covering everything from prescription drugs to mental health treatment to eye care, with no co-payments. Employers would pay higher taxes, but would no longer have to cover health insurance for workers, and there would still be private insurers for people who wanted elective treatments like plastic surgery. Doctors would be reimbursed by the government.
Sanders told the Post he thinks Americans would be fine with paying more in taxes in exchange for no longer having to fight with health-care companies. He admitted this isn't a cheap proposition, but pointed out that the average American paid $11,365 in taxes while the average Canadian shelled out $14,693, but the average American also paid twice as much in health care as the average Canadian. Read more about the proposal, and the Republicans who are excited to challenge it, at The Washington Post.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial unease
Speed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B deal
speed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine
Speed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance