The Seattle City Council adopted a resolution Monday that expresses support for a single-payer health care system proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders and calls out Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell for so far refusing to endorse the legislation.
The proposal in question goes by the slogan “Medicare for All” and would overhaul the existing health care system over the course of four years by lowering the eligibility age for Medicare, the federal insurance program that covers older Americans, by a decade each year before making it available to all Americans.
It would eliminate out-of-pocket expenses for users and institute a fee schedule for medical procedures, cutting out private insurance companies.
The plan would likely be expensive, and while Sanders provides much detail on the kind of health care Americans could expect — the plan would be more generous than other single-payer systems offered in Western nations — there is less information on how much it would actually cost and how the country would pay for it.
Ashley Archibald is a Staff Reporter covering local government, policy and equity. Have a story idea? She can be can reached at ashleya (at) realchangenews (dot) org. Twitter @AshleyA_RC
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