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

Dear John,

Enjoy this month’s issue of All In, the DSA Medicare for All newsletter.
Read on for more about last month’s DSA Medicare for All Weekend of
Action, Medicare for All and the Democratic primary candidates (spoiler:
Bernie is the best), and M4A in the news. And check out the latest from
our DSA chapter organizing!

In solidarity,

Dustin Guastella
DSA Medicare for All Campaign Committee

 

[1]BANNER: All In: The DSA M4A Newsletter

 

Hello and thanks for reading the June issue of All In!

Since Austin DSA and others pushed Rep. Lloyd Doggett to cosponsor H.R.
1384, Medicare for All Act of 2019, we’ve seen a domino effect in
Congress. The latest legislators to sign on to single-payer are Rep. Brad
Sherman (D-CA 30th District) and Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA 24th
District). [ [link removed] ]That brings the number of cosponsors of Rep. Jayapal’s
H.R.1384 to 114! To capitalize on this momentum and keep the energy going,
we held our third national Weekend of Action on June 15-16, with dozens of
DSA chapters participating across the country [ [link removed] ](check out the photos on
Facebook!).

Our movement’s pressure has also led to the first ever hearing on Medicare
for All in the House Ways and Means Committee. Unlike the Budget hearing,
this committee has the authority to legislate the bill’s primary policy
and funding structure. [ [link removed] ]Sanders Institute Fellow Michael Lighty
explained the significance of this on camera, and [ [link removed] ]went further in
Jacobin: “The Ways and Means Committee must be used as a platform today
and a focus for organizing based on our program... We cannot stop our
outside agitation.”

Beyond Congress, Democratic primary candidates are also feeling the
pressure. [ [link removed] ]Joe Biden has been making absurd arguments against Medicare
for All, [ [link removed] ]Kamala Harris bizarrely took back her initial support during
the Democratic debates and [ [link removed] ]even Elizabeth Warren has failed to fully
back the bill. The only person truly championing Medicare for All in the
presidential primary is democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, and he has a
serious shot of winning.

The attacks are coming from elsewhere too. Just in time for the first
debate, Mitch McConnell’s One Nation group is spending $4 million of
undisclosed money to blanket the airwaves with attack ads against Medicare
for All. This is just the beginning of [ [link removed] ]a massive corporate campaign to
fight our movement. The reactionary TV spot plays on fears of longer wait
times, but we know our care is already rationed — by ability to pay.

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!

From the campaign

News from the M4A blog and the broader campaign

“If we let the Democrats define what’s possible, we will never achieve
universal healthcare,” said longtime healthcare activist and Sanders
Institute fellow Michael Lighty [ [link removed] ]in a fiery speech at a Medicare for
All town hall hosted by East Bay DSA and San Francisco DSA. “The only way
to combat this is with a mass movement... Our struggle for health justice
can reclaim our humanity.”

Lighty was later joined by Gordon Mar (SF Board of Supervisors), Jasmine
Ruddy (National Nurses United), and Uma Tadepalli (DSA SF and Physicians
for a National Health Program) for a panel discussion on how to make
Medicare for All a reality. [ [link removed] ]You can watch a recording of the entire
discussion here (the discussion starts at around the 22-minute mark). Stay
tuned for more announcements on Michael’s next speaking tour dates!

The statistics never feel less shocking, no matter how many times we hear
them: 45 percent of Americans worry that a major health issue could
bankrupt them, [ [link removed] ]writes Boulder DSA member Dave Anderson, citing [ [link removed] ]a
recent Gallup poll. “The only truly universal proposal is offered in the
bills by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington state) and Sen. Bernie Sanders
(I-Vermont) to institute an expanded and improved Medicare for All,” he
writes. “We are close to a historic floor vote on Medicare for All. It’s
time to get into the fight.”

The fight for Medicare for All also means fighting for reproductive rights
— including abortion — without apology, [ [link removed] ]writes Lillian Cicerchia. Sen.
Sanders’ S. 1804 and Rep. Jayapal’s H.R. 1384 both include “comprehensive
reproductive care” and also nullify the [ [link removed] ]Hyde Amendment, which prevents
Medicaid programs from providing federal funds for abortions except in
dire circumstances. In this way, Sanders’ bill frames women’s healthcare
in a radical, holistic light. “By tying abortion access into a health
system that addresses all of women’s needs, it affirms a more expansive
sense of reproductive justice: both the right to reproduce and the right
not to in a safe and healthy environment.”

News

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

East Bay DSA’s Meagan Day is in Jacobin this month with a personal plea:
[ [link removed] ]“I’m Gay and I Want Medicare for All.” In it, she writes “I support
Medicare for All because it’s for everyone — but it’s especially important
for gay and transgender people. It should be a central demand of the
movement for our liberation.” Especially on point during Pride season,
Day’s article touches on some specific ways M4A would be liberating and
life-changing for millions of queer people as well as how the universal
demand for healthcare can bring people together across lines of
difference, united against profit-motivated insurance and pharmaceutical
companies. Simply put, “When we have Medicare for All, everyone — gay and
straight, cisgender and transgender — will be able to get the drugs and
services they need to flourish and lead better lives.”

Elizabeth Warren seems to have a plan for everything, so what about
healthcare? [ [link removed] ]Tim Higginbotham is back in Jacobin this month asking the
question on everyone’s mind. Since announcing her campaign for the
presidency, the senator has come out strong with progressive policy
proposals on topics like universal childcare, abolishing student debt and
even taxing the richest Americans. She has criticized Joe Biden’s
conservative record and decried the greed of corporations. She’s even a
cosponsor of Sen. Bernie Sanders’s  S.1804 — the Medicare for All Act of
2017! Healthcare is a major issue for voters, but that doesn’t seem to be
the case for Warren. Her silence is a bitter disappointment for the future
of single-payer.

Activist and DSA member Ady Barkan shared his thoughts on the first ever
hearing on Medicare for All in the Ways and Means Committee. In an op-ed
revealingly titled [ [link removed] ]“I’m Dying of ALS, And Watching Congress Debate
Healthcare This Week Gave Me Hope,” Barkan reminds us how far our movement
has come. After years on the fringes, “now, thanks to decades of activism
and principled leadership... we have held three hearings in two months on
Capitol Hill, in full view of TV cameras. If the old maxim is true ― first
they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win
― they’re certainly not ignoring us anymore.” He also implores readers to
join him in the fight, writing  “...(Medicare for All) will mean that we
stop thinking about health care as a commodity that some people are too
sick or too poor to afford. Instead, we’ll be making a fundamental
commitment to one another: that healthcare is a human right and we all
deserve to live with dignity.” We couldn’t agree more.

On June 12th, [ [link removed] ]Bernie Sanders gave a historic speech on democratic
socialism. In it, he says we are in a critical moment to stand up to
forces of authoritarianism and oligarchy and lays out his vision “to bring
our people together in the fight for justice, decency and human dignity.”
Sanders draws a parallel between our current social and political climate
and that of FDR’s progressive New Deal era, which saw the implementation
of initiatives like Social Security, unemployment compensation, the
minimum wage, and massive infrastructure improvements that are now
considered pillars of American society. As part of his plan, Sanders gave
us a 21st Century Economic Bill Of Rights that establishes once and for
all that every American, regardless of his or her income is entitled to:

* The right to a decent job that pays a living wage
* The right to quality health care
* The right to a complete education
* The right to affordable housing
* The right to a clean environment
* The right to a secure retirement

Chapter spotlight

A look at what locals are doing around the country

Check out all the posts from chapters who participated in our [ [link removed] ]3rd
National Weekend of Action! From June 15-16, DSA chapters across the
country held and attended events, canvassed, and otherwise got the word
out about Medicare for All and encouraged their neighbors to pressure
their Representatives to cosponsor H.R. 1384. From [ [link removed] ]Seattle to
[ [link removed] ]Boston and [ [link removed] ]everywhere [ [link removed] ]in [ [link removed] ]between, huge thanks to our
campaign volunteers for making the weekend a success!

Boulder DSA held a town hall panel on June 16 as part of the Medicare for
All Weekend of Action. The panel is a good explainer on why Medicare for
All is the only option and how to win the rhetoric war against the public
option and ACA reform. [ [link removed] ]You can watch it here.

Kern County DSA [ [link removed] ]shared this video of their birddogging Rep. TJ Cox
about his failure to cosponsor H.R. 1384. Rep. Cox was so uncomfortable,
he felt the need to get a nearby officer involved. Yikes! But our comrades
didn’t back down and got their message across. Something tells us Rep. Cox
can expect to hear a lot more from his constituents on this. Probably
easier to just cosponsor the bill, dude.

Also out of California, we hear Pinellas DSA had a hand in pressuring
[ [link removed] ]Rep. Brad Sherman to become co-sponsor #113! We’re thrilled the
momentum is building and more and more chapters are confronting
Congressmembers and demanding their support for a bill that meets our 5
principles. If you’d like to launch your own pressure campaign, [ [link removed] ]check
out our new Organizing Guide.

What’s that? Another one?! Thanks to Santa Barbara DSA, we’re ending the
month with 114 cosponsors on H.R. 1384. Incredible! [ [link removed] ]Ady Barkan met
with Rep. Carbajal just a few days ago, and along with his coalition
convinced the Congressman to affirm his commitment to healthcare as a
human right. We continue to be inspired by Ady using his platform to build
the mass movement we need to take on private interests and win Medicare
for All.

Social media

The best stuff from our feeds

☢ [ [link removed] ]3.6... not great, not terrible

⚠️ [ [link removed] ]It’s a sign (that she won’t fight for m4a)

🔥 [ [link removed] ]I choose you!

🤔 [ [link removed] ]Seems like a lot of people actually don’t like private insurance?

🍽 [ [link removed] ]Accept no substitutes

🙄 [ [link removed] ]How *not* to campaign on Medicare for All


 
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