[ [link removed] ]Democratic Socialists for Medicare for All

Dear John,

Hello and thank you for reading the March issue of All In, the DSA
Medicare for All campaign newsletter!

Super Tuesday showed us one important thing: Bernie Sanders can run, and
win, on Medicare for All. Sanders won California, the contest’s largest
prize, by sweeping with almost 34% of the vote [ [link removed] ](out of about 4 million
votes). The state is notorious for taking weeks to reveal the final
delegate tally, but the fact that Sanders solidly won the popular vote in
the world’s fifth-largest economy shows that his platform, and Medicare
for All in particular, resonates with voters.

Now that the contest for the democratic nominee is down to him and Biden,
Medicare for All will likely be one of Bernie’s strongest talking points,
too. On Wednesday Sanders himself [ [link removed] ]floated the idea of an hour-long
debate with Biden on healthcare while [ [link removed] ]doubling-down on the crucial need
for Medicare for All.

It’s an area where Biden is vulnerable. His healthcare plan is especially
weak because it creates a “public option” — which preserves the role of
private insurers to the detriment of any public plan — and [ [link removed] ]would leave
an estimated 3 percent of Americans, or 9.8 million people, completely
uninsured. What’s more, his legislative track record shows he’s [ [link removed] ]been
willing to use cuts to Social Security as a bargaining chip for more than
40 years.

If the [ [link removed] ]Nevada caucuses are any indication, healthcare will continue to
be the top issue for voters across the country. As Matt Karp points out,
voters in the 12 Super Tuesday states [ [link removed] ]were asked if they support “a
government plan for all instead of private insurance,” and all 12 answered
with a resounding “yes.”

When it comes to electing the best candidate on healthcare, Sanders is the
clear — and only — choice.

If you have friends, family members or colleagues who are interested in
keeping up with the campaign, [ [link removed] ]tell them to sign up here to receive All
In straight to their inbox. Thanks for reading, and see you next month!

From the campaign

News from the M4A blog and the broader campaign

The Medicare for All campaign is proud to endorse National Nurses United's
[ [link removed] ]Patients Over Profits Pledge! By taking the pledge, politicians at all
legislative levels must reject campaign contributions over $200 from
executives, lobbyists, and PACs affiliated with corporate front group,
Partnership for America’s Health Care Future. We stand in solidarity with
NNU and other coalition organizations fighting for a universal,
comprehensive and free-at-the-point-of-use Medicare for All system.
[ [link removed] ]Sign up here to get involved in their campaign.

Fifty-seven percent of Americans say they’ve received a medical bill they
weren’t expecting, which is why we agree with [ [link removed] ]Meagan Day’s list of
precautions in Jacobin on how to avoid unexpected medical bills: just
enact Medicare for All.

Legislation aimed at fixing this complex billing network should not lead
people into believing the solution involves more labyrinthine,
technocratic rules and regulations. In fact, it only serves to obscure how
simple the fix could be. “A single federal tax-funded health insurance
program would end not just surprise billing but all individual billing. No
person would ever have to worry about whether they can personally afford
the health care they need,” Day writes. “Gone would be the imploring
GoFundMe’s, the medical debt-induced bankruptcies, and the endemic fear of
ambulances.”

News

Related news articles, essays, articles from outlets beyond the campaign

Joe Biden is a big part of the reason drugs and vaccines are so expensive.
[ [link removed] ]As Ryan Grim and Aída Chávez point out in The Intercept, Bernie
Sanders authored and passed an amendment in 2000 to reinstate a rule that
ensured drugs and vaccines developed using public dollars would be sold to
the public at a reasonable price. Known as the “reasonable pricing” rule
in the House, Paul Wellstone of Minnesota pushed similar legislation in
the Senate. But Joe Biden, then a Senator in Delaware, voted to table
Wellstone’s amendment. The amendment was ultimately defeated and Sanders’
language in the House bill was stripped. As a result, the federal
government continues to fund research that leads to private gain.

In the case of pandemics — like we’re seeing now with the novel
coronavirus — this can result in a huge toll on human life. With 152
infections and 11 deaths in the US, [ [link removed] ]lawmakers continue to struggle
over how to make any potential vaccine “affordable.” We have an idea:
enact Medicare for All.

Not everyone can see a doctor or stay home when they’re sick, and
[ [link removed] ]those hit hardest likely work in customer-facing industries that offer
few, if any, paid sick time or health insurance benefits. More than 27
million people are uninsured, making them less likely to seek preventative
care or see a doctor when they are actually sick. Some of these people are
Portia Green, a 33-year-old restaurant worker in New York. She has no sick
leave, no health insurance, and no childcare options if schools close or
she’s too ill to take care of her child. In the restaurant industry, she
says, the expectation is that you show up unless you’re “green.” In the
face of a global pandemic, Medicare for All would help stop the spread of
dangerous viruses and give people the time they need to rest and recover.

“Black babies are more than twice as likely to die in infancy than babies
born to white mothers, and Black women are three or four times more likely
to die from pregnancy-related complications than their white peers,”
[ [link removed] ]Sen. Bernie Sanders writes in an exclusive op-ed in Essence magazine.
Sanders makes the case that Medicare for All is a feminist and racial
issue that will materially improve the lives of those often hit hardest by
the private healthcare industry. “In my view, any plan that targets Black
maternal health that doesn’t include unequivocal support for a universal
health care system that is free at the point of delivery is not good
enough.”

When someone does try to do the right thing and get treatment for a
possible viral infection, who pays? If you’re a U.S. citizen, you do.
[ [link removed] ]Frank Wucinski and his daughter accepted the U.S. government’s offer
to evacuate from Wuhan, China in February as the new coronavirus spread.
After being monitored for signs of the virus and quarantine for two weeks,
he was hit with almost $4,000 in charges from hospital doctors,
radiologists and an ambulance company. “My question is why are we being
charged for these stays, if they were mandatory and we had no choice in
the matter?” Mr. Wucinski said. Some charges have since been dropped, but
others are still outstanding.

Social media

The best stuff from our feeds

❤️ [ [link removed] ]“When my mom died, the hospital bill was 300 thousand dollars for a
single 36 hour span.”

🗣️ [ [link removed] ]Joe Biden wasn’t misspeaking; he meant it

🚫 [ [link removed] ]A win for Biden is a win for private insurance

📅 [ [link removed] ]Infectious diseases don’t care what month it is

🙄 [ [link removed] ]Love to “afford” “access” to a coronavirus vaccine. Thanks for your
bravery, Speaker Pelosi!

💖 [ [link removed] ]Only voters trust Bernie on healthcare


 
This email was sent to [email protected]. Email is the most important way for us to reach you about opportunities to act. If you need to remove yourself from our email list, click here to unsubscribe: [link removed]