{"id":26393,"date":"2023-05-10T11:47:50","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T18:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=26393"},"modified":"2023-05-10T11:47:51","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T18:47:51","slug":"sanders-vows-to-reintroduce-medicare-for-all-as-biden-extends-privatization-ploy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/05\/10\/sanders-vows-to-reintroduce-medicare-for-all-as-biden-extends-privatization-ploy\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanders Vows to Reintroduce Medicare for All as Biden Extends Privatization Ploy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li>March 21, 2022 (sanders.senate.gov)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BernieM4A.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BernieM4A.jpeg 960w, https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BernieM4A-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BernieM4A-150x100.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BernieM4A-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BernieM4A-225x150.jpeg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/articles\/sanders-vows-to-reintroduce-medicare-for-all-as-biden-extends-privatization-ploy\/\">By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams<\/a><\/h6>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday said he intends to reintroduce Medicare for All legislation in the U.S. Senate in the coming days as the Biden administration moves ahead with a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2022\/02\/25\/band-aid-tumor-critics-blast-biden-rebrand-trumps-medicare-privatization-scheme\">Medicare privatization scheme<\/a>&nbsp;and millions of Americans remain at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/coronavirus-pandemic-health-insurance-medicaid-e200bba0-7897-4b1e-8849-fb923367965d.html\">imminent risk<\/a>&nbsp;of losing their insurance once pandemic protections expire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn the midst of the current set of horrors \u2014 war, oligarchy, pandemics, inflation, climate change, etc. \u2014 we must continue the fight to establish healthcare as a human right, not a privilege,\u201d Sanders (I-Vt.), the chair of the Senate Budget Committee,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenSanders\/status\/1505593166329692171\">wrote<\/a>&nbsp;in a Twitter post. \u201cI will soon be reintroducing our Medicare for All legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sanders\u2019 announcement came weeks after Biden\u2019s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2022\/02\/25\/band-aid-tumor-critics-blast-biden-rebrand-trumps-medicare-privatization-scheme\">said<\/a>&nbsp;that instead of terminating a Medicare&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2021\/11\/30\/congress-asleep-switch-biden-continues-trump-era-ploy-privatize-medicare\">privatization experiment<\/a>&nbsp;hatched under the Trump administration, it would rebrand the pilot program and make minor changes that critics \u2014 including physicians and Medicare for All advocates \u2014 say would leave the scheme\u2019s most dangerous components intact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, millions of people across the U.S. are set to lose Medicaid benefits once the federally declared coronavirus public health emergency (PHE) expires. In January, the Biden administration extended the PHE through April 16, but it\u2019s unclear whether there will be another extension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Writing for&nbsp;<em>The Daily Poster<\/em>&nbsp;earlier this month, healthcare policy writer Libby Watson&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/the-coming-medicaid-purge\/\">warned<\/a>&nbsp;that \u201cthe potential scale of this mass disenrollment could be huge: The Urban Institute&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.urban.org\/sites\/default\/files\/publication\/104785\/what-will-happen-to-unprecedented-high-medicaid-enrollment-after-the-public-health-emergency_0.pdf\">estimated<\/a>&nbsp;in September that up to 15 million people could lose their Medicaid coverage when the PHE ends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Georgetown Center for Children and Families estimated in a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ccf.georgetown.edu\/2022\/02\/17\/millions-of-children-may-lose-medicaid-what-can-be-done-to-help-prevent-them-from-becoming-uninsured\/\">report<\/a>&nbsp;released in February that 6.7 million children are likely to lose coverage,\u201d Watson added. \u201cMany of the new enrollees over the past few years will genuinely no longer be eligible \u2014 not a surprise, since the income limits for Medicaid are very low \u2014 but many others who are eligible will lose coverage anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, progressives have argued that the best way to prevent such disastrous&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.peoplespolicyproject.org\/2019\/07\/29\/health-insurance-churn-in-the-us-is-a-nightmare-2\/\">health insurance churn<\/a>&nbsp;is to establish a single-payer system under which everyone is guaranteed comprehensive coverage regardless of income or other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last March, Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.)&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2021\/03\/17\/everyone-nobody-out-jayapal-dingell-introduce-medicare-all-act-112-co-sponsors\">reintroduced<\/a>&nbsp;Medicare for All legislation in the House with the backing of more than half of the chamber\u2019s Democratic caucus. Despite strong support for the bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2021\/02\/13\/medicare-for-all-force-the-vote\/\">yet to allow a floor vote<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jayapal and Dingell are&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2022\/01\/05\/jayapal-leads-50-democrats-urging-biden-end-trump-era-assault-medicare\">among the progressive lawmakers<\/a>&nbsp;urging President Joe Biden to terminate the Medicare privatization experiment, which is now known as&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cms.gov\/newsroom\/fact-sheets\/accountable-care-organization-aco-realizing-equity-access-and-community-health-reach-model\">ACO REACH<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2021\/03\/16\/medicare-all-would-have-prevented-hundreds-thousands-covid-deaths-new-report\">analysis<\/a>&nbsp;released just before Jayapal and Dingell re-upped their bill last year, the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen estimated that hundreds of thousands fewer people would have died of Covid-19 in the U.S. if the country had a Medicare for All system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cUnder Medicare for All, everyone would have consistent coverage regardless of their employment status or employer,\u201d Public Citizen\u2019s report noted. \u201cAnd because Americans would have their choice of providers, instead of facing the narrow networks their employers choose for them, they would face fewer challenges getting care, especially during a pandemic where some hospitals and providers are overwhelmed by demand.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday said he intends to reintroduce Medicare for All legislation in the U.S. Senate in the coming days as the Biden administration moves ahead with a&nbsp;Medicare privatization scheme&nbsp;and millions of Americans remain at&nbsp;imminent risk&nbsp;of losing their insurance once pandemic protections expire&#8230;. <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/05\/10\/sanders-vows-to-reintroduce-medicare-for-all-as-biden-extends-privatization-ploy\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[88,55],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26393"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26393"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26395,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26393\/revisions\/26395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}