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| Long title | To establish an improved Medicare for All national health insurance program. |
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| Announced in | the 117th United States Congress |
| Number of co-sponsors | 121 |
| Legislative history | |
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| This article is part of a series on |
| Healthcare reform in the United States |
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 United States portal Health care portal |
The Medicare for All Act (abbreviated M4A), also known as the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act or United States National Health Care Act, is a bill first introduced in the United States House of Representatives by Representative John Conyers (D-MI) in 2003, with 38 co-sponsors.[1][2] In 2019, the original 16-year-old proposal was renumbered, and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) introduced a broadly similar, but more detailed, bill,[3] HR 1384, in the 116th Congress.[4] As of November 3, 2019[update], it had 116 co-sponsors still in the House at the time, or 49.8% of House Democrats.[5]
The act would establish a universal single-payer national health insurance system in the United States, the rough equivalent of Canada's Medicare and Taiwan's Bureau of National Health Insurance, among other examples. Under a single-payer system, most medical care would be paid for by the federal government, ending the need for private health insurance and premiums, and re-casting private insurance companies as providing purely supplemental coverage, to be used when non-essential care is sought. The national system would be paid for in part through taxes replacing insurance premiums, but also by savings realized through the provision of preventive universal health care and the elimination of insurance company overhead and hospital billing costs.[6]
On September 13, 2017, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a parallel bill in the United States Senate, with 16 co-sponsors.[7][8][9] The act would establish a universal single-payer health care system in the United States.[6]
- ^ H.R. 676
- ^ "House Reps Introduce Medicare-for-All Bill" Becker's Hospital Review, Feb. 14, 2013
- ^ "Medicare for All bill loses its special number". Modern Healthcare. February 2, 2019. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
- ^ "Dingell, Jayapal and more than 100 Co-Sponsors Introduce Medicare For All Act of 2019". U.S. Representative Debbie Dingell. February 27, 2019. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
- ^ "H.R.1384 - Medicare for All Act of 2019". U.S. Congress. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
- ^ a b Krugman, Paul (June 13, 2005). "One Nation, Uninsured". The New York Times. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
- ^ "Bernie Sanders to Sponsor Single-Payer Healthcare Bill". Newsweek. March 26, 2017.
- ^ RoseAnn DeMoro [@RoseAnnDeMoro] (September 13, 2017). ".@BernieSanders shouts out the Democrats that did the right thing in supporting #MedicareForAll. #WednesdayWisdom" (Tweet). Retrieved September 13, 2017 – via Twitter.
- ^ "115th United States Congress". U.S. Congress. 2017–2018.