Name: Sanders and Warren Urge Biden to Expand Medicare in the American Families Plan
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Sanders and Warren Urge Biden to Expand Medicare in the American Families Plan

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SharePrisons &amp; PolicingPolitics &amp; ElectionsRacial JusticePolitics &amp; ElectionsEnvironment &amp; HealthPolitics &amp; ElectionsThe two-page(pdf) from Sanders and 17 Democratic senators — including other 2020 presidential candidates Cory Booker of New Jersey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts — asks Biden to “propose reducing the Medicare eligibility age, expanding Medicare benefits to include hearing, dental, and vision care, implementing a cap on out-of-pocket expenses under traditional Medicare, and negotiating lower drug prices” as part of the president’s “American Families Plan” that he is expected to showcase during his first address to Congress Wednesday night.Calling Medicare, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, “one of the most successful and popular federal programs in our nation’s history,” the letter argues “the time is long overdue for us to expand and improve this program so that millions of older Americans can receive the health care they need, including eyeglasses, hearing aids, and dental care.”The lawmakers argue that lowering the Medicare eligibility age — currently set at 65 — down to 60, 55, or even 50 would be a way to expand coverage, save lives, and enact a broadly popular reform to a program that is already wildly popular by a majority of the American people across the political spectrum. The letter states:Lowering the eligibility age for Medicare would help [millions of uninsured or under-insured older Americans] significantly. Twenty-seven percent of adults age 50 to 64 are not confident that they can afford health insurance over the next year, and more than a quarter report issues with navigating health insurance options, coverage decisions, and how their choices will affect their out-of-pocket costs. Researchers have found that there is a massive spike in the diagnosis of cancer among Americans who reach the age of 65 that could have been diagnosed much earlier if the Medicare eligibility age had been lower. Lowering the Medicare eligibility age to 60 could expand Medicare coverage to 23 million people, including nearly 2 million uninsured people, while lowering it to 55 could give over 42million people access to the program, and lowering it to 50 could cover 63 million Americans. Lowering the Medicare eligibility age is not only the right thing to do from a public policy perspective, it is also what the overwhelming majority of Americans support. According to a recent Gallup poll, 65 percent of Americans support lowering the Medicare eligibility age.In addition to Sanders, Booker, and Warren, the letter sent to Biden on Sunday was signed by Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).Biden’s proposal for an approximately $1.8 trillion spending plan, theWashington PostSaturday, is expected to devote “hundreds of billions of dollars to national child care, prekindergarten, paid family leave and tuition-free community college, among other domestic priorities.” On healthcare reforms specifically, however, the White House has not finalized how far it is willing to go.to thePost:In a potential last-minute change, White House officials as of Friday were planning to include about $200 billion to extend an increase in health insurance subsidies through the Affordable Care Act exchanges, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal internal discussions.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been the key driver in Congressto private insurers under the Affordable Care Act in order to make the program created under the Obama administration more affordable and widely available, but Sanders has been leading the charge on the call to expand Medicare.“We cannot continue to deal with millions and millions of seniors — primarily low-income seniors — who cannot afford to go to a dentist, so cannot ingest the food they eat, or the millions of seniors who live in isolation because they can’t hear,” SandersthePostearlier this month.On Friday, the Congressional Progressive Caucus backed a both/and, as opposed to an either/or, approach when it comes to healthcare expansion under the Biden plan.“Voters delivered us governing majorities and now we must deliver for them on health care policies that are not only urgent but wildly popular,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the CPC, said in a statement.“We must immediately lower the cost of prescription drugs and use the massive savings from this to lower Medicare’s eligibility age and improve benefits while at the same time ensuring the permanent affordability of health plans obtained through the Affordable Care Act,” Jayapal. “These necessary policies that are supported by large bipartisan majorities of the American people enjoy the strong support of our Democratic Caucus, and can be accomplished simultaneously.”Citing the American Rescue Plan signed into law as Biden’s first major piece of legislation earlier this year, Jayapal argued passage of that Covid-19 recovery and stimulus legislation should be a lesson to Democrats “This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.RelatedBiden is under intense pressure to choose people over pharmaceutical profits as COVID outbreaks continue globally.With most Democrats in favor of reducing military spending, there’s a chance to shift the focus of federal expenditures.Biden’s American Rescue Plan, like the Affordable Care Act, does not move us any closer toward a single-payer system.Get daily news, in-depth reporting and critical analysis from the journalists, activists and thinkers who are working to improve our world..

SharePrisons &amp; PolicingPolitics &amp; ElectionsRacial JusticePolitics &amp; ElectionsEnvironment &amp; HealthPolitics &amp; ElectionsThe two-page(pdf) from Sanders and 17 Democratic senators — including other 2020 presidential candidates Cory Booker of New Jersey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts — asks Biden to “propose reducing the Medicare eligibility age, expanding Medicare benefits to include hearing, dental, and vision care, implementing a cap on out-of-pocket expenses under traditional Medicare, and negotiating lower drug prices” as part of the president’s “American Families...

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Jon Queally is managing editor for Common Dreams. Follow him on Twitter: @jonqueally

https://www.commondreams.org/author/jon-queally-staff-writer

Jon Queally

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Sanders and Warren Urge Biden to Expand Medicare in the American Families Plan

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