More than 100 House Democrats rally behind Medicare for All

More than 100 House Democrats on Wednesday will introduce a healthcare plan that would transition nearly everyone living in the U.S. onto a government-financed system in two years.

“All we are saying is that there will be one point of payment and it will be the government,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., the lead sponsor of the plan known as the Medicare for All Act, said in a call with reporters Tuesday.

The proposal would make Medicare coverage more extensive than it is now and extend it to the whole population. Coverage would pay for emergency surgery, prescription drugs, mental health, long-term services, addiction treatment, and dental and eye care, all without co-pays. The program also would cover abortion, a controversial policy proposal that nearly caused Obamacare to fail.

The bill would keep the Department of Veterans Affairs and Indian Health Service agencies in place while covering almost every other U.S. citizen. It punts the question over whether to also cover people who are living in the U.S. illegally by turning it over to the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Such an arrangement means that, under the law, each administration would have the power to change the rules about covering people who entered the U.S. illegally.

“We have made our intent very clear: everybody in, nobody out,” Jayapal said, adding that she thought a future health secretary would support coverage regardless of immigration status.

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