After voting to open debate on the Senate healthcare reform plan last night, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) made the following statement:
“While I voted to proceed to the health care legislation, I have made it clear to the administration and the Senate Democratic leadership that my vote for the final bill is by no means guaranteed. In the weeks to come I intend to do everything I can to make this legislation stronger and more effective for working families and taxpayers in Vermont and America and something all Americans can be proud of.”
“I voted to proceed on health care reform,” Sanders added, “because our current health care system is disintegrating and must be reformed. Forty-six million Americans are uninsured, and 45,000 die every year because they don't have access to a doctor. We have almost one million Americans going bankrupt because of medically-related diseases, health care costs are soaring and we end up spending almost twice as much per person on health care as any other nation. It is clear that we need real health care reform.
Sanders might be more measured in his tone and approach, but he's an even stronger supporter of Medicare for all than Dennis Kucinich or Alan Grayson.
“We need real health care reform,” he concluded. “We cannot be the only country in the world that does not guarantee health care for all people.”
Sanders is the strongest, clearest, and most articulate supporter of a cost-saving, intelligent, humane healthcare reform plan we have in the Senate. While Roland Burris has stepped up to support a strong public option, his lame duck status, ethical problems, and perceived illegitimacy make him a less viable advocate.
But Sanders speaks for all of us who believe that a government-funded single-payer system would be the best approach.
Sanders is part of the coalition that will continue to shape and develop healthcare reform. And while the media continues to give an inordinate amount of air time to the corporate-funded Republican opponents of reform, we ought to be rallying behind Sanders.
Don't get me wrong. I think pressure on our swing Senators - Landrieu, Nelson, Lincoln, and Lieberman - is worth the effort. But the swing votes need to recognize that a lot of us progressives have already sacrificed a tremendous amount - stretched to the limits of tolerance - and that the Senate bill has already given away a tremendous amount to the for-profit insurance companies that are trying to block real reform and maximize their own profits.
We know the present course is unsustainable. We know that Medicare and Medicaid are not in fiscal crisis because of inefficiency - they're in crisis because corporate greed drove our economic ship aground. Rather than pursuing sustainable growth, we've continued to spend outrageously large sums of money on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - all in the name of "homeland security" - while our real homeland security evaporates and we continue to diminish our own security by running up a credit card to foreign nations.
I find it disgusting that the same Congress which passed a $680 billion Defense Appropriations bill for ONE YEAR is now quibbling over $10-15 billion a year that would save thousands of lives and prevent thousands of bankruptcies, while simultaneously creating more jobs and better opportunities for families and small businesses.
What's worst is that the corporate-owned media continues to push the talking points from drug companies, insurance companies, and hedge fund managers who are putting private profits ahead of the American people.
We need to rally behind Bernie Sanders, who is the only Senator I can find who's truly fighting for the best possible reform plan - a plan that cuts costs, covers the uninsured, and promotes the economic security of families, businesses, and the government.
Update 8:18 PM CST: Sanders' Senate website has an update on his position - he continues to push for a strong public option and says others will do the same.
“The overwhelming majority of Americans want to be able to choose between a strong public option and a private insurance plan. Without that competition, there is very little in this bill that would keep health insurance premiums from escalating rapidly,” Sanders said.
“This legislation cannot simply be a huge subsidy to private insurance companies that will get millions of new customers and be able to raise their rates as high as they want,” he added. “I strongly suspect that there are a number of senators, including myself, who would not support final passage without a strong public option,”