John Conyers is a great Democrat and great person. First elected to Congress in 1965, Conyers is the oldest serving representative in the House. He represents the western part of Detroit, River Rouge, and adjoining areas. He has won re-election twenty-five times and is serving in his twenty-sixth term. And he has been introducing a Medicare-for-All bill in the House since 2003. In this eloquent passage on his website, he explains why:
Half a century ago, addressing the convention of the Medical Committee for Human Rights, Martin Luther King Jr. declared, "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."
I strongly agree with Dr. King, which is why I have been a firm supporter of President Obama’s landmark Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA has resulted in 17.6 million uninsured people gaining health coverage as the law’s coverage, and minorities have seen the largest increase in insurance coverage: About four million Latino adults gained coverage, an 11.5% drop in the uninsured rate, while nearly three million African-Americans gained insurance, a 10.3% reduction. Another seven million white adults became insured, representing a 6% drop.
But there is still much more to be done to eliminate injustice in health care in the United States, while making our system more cost-efficient. The United States still spends almost twice as much per person on health care as any other country, yet our key outcomes – life expectancy, infant mortality and preventable deaths – too often lag behind our peers. A recent Commonwealth Fund study ranked the U.S. healthcare system dead last among 11 highly developed countries in terms of quality, efficiency and access to health care.
That is why I am leading the charge in the House of Representatives for single-payer, universal healthcare system. By implementing a “Medicare for All" system – the standard for health care throughout the industrialized world – we can achieve hundreds of billions of dollars in cost savings that can be used to cover the nation's remaining uninsured and upgrade coverage for millions of underinsured citizens. More and more people across the country understand that a single-payer healthcare system is the only way to guarantee quality care and at the same time reduce medical costs. A poll from [date] showed that more than half of Americans -- including 80 percent of Democrats and a quarter of Republicans -- support expanding health reform to "Medicare for All."
That is why I have introduced my bill, The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act, in every Congress since 2003. It is co-sponsored by more than 50 Members of Congress and support continues to grow.
Congressman John Conyers, Jr.
This is an idea whose time has come.
"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."
It is our duty as human beings to address that inequality.
Here is a brief summary of the Conyers bill:
- This bill establishes the Medicare for All Program to provide all individuals residing in the United States and U.S. territories with free health care that includes all medically necessary care, such as primary care and prevention, dietary and nutritional therapies, prescription drugs, emergency care, long-term care, mental health services, dental services, and vision care.
- Only public or nonprofit institutions may participate. Nonprofit health maintenance organizations (HMOs) that deliver care in their own facilities may participate.
- Patients may choose from participating physicians and institutions.
- Health insurers may not sell health insurance that duplicates the benefits provided under this bill. Insurers may sell benefits that are not medically necessary, such as cosmetic surgery benefits.
- The bill sets forth methods to pay institutional providers and health professionals for services. Financial incentives between HMOs and physicians based on utilization are prohibited.
- The program is funded:
- (1) from existing sources of government revenues for health care,
- (2) by increasing personal income taxes on the top 5% of income earners,
- (3) by instituting a progressive excise tax on payroll and self-employment income,
- (4) by instituting a tax on unearned income, and
- (5) by instituting a tax on stock and bond transactions. Amounts that would have been appropriated for federal public health care programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), are transferred and appropriated to carry out this bill.
- The program must give employment transition benefits and first priority in retraining and job placement to individuals whose jobs are eliminated due to reduced clerical and administrative work under this bill.
- The Department of Health and Human Services must create a confidential electronic patient record system.
- The bill establishes a National Board of Universal Quality and Access to provide advice on quality, access, and affordability.
- The Indian Health Service must be integrated into the program after five years. Congress must evaluate the continued independence of Department of Veterans Affairs health programs.
Thanks to delphine for providing this summary.
Update I: Now 116 co-sponsors in the House.
Cosponsor statistics: 116 current - includes 51 original