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Bernie Sanders understands

Bernie Sanders believes health care is a human right, not a privilege. This is a corollary of The Declaration of Independence, since the human rights proclaimed therein (life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness) can’t be fully realized without a guarantee of health care.

Why is Medicare for All our best chance to achieve universal health care? First, it guarantees everyone lifelong coverage, irrespective of health and employment. Second, it’s comprehensive coverage, including mental, dental, ear and eye care. Third, it’s accountable, unlike private plans. Fourth, it minimizes individual health care costs, because there’s no high provider costs, co-pays, premiums or deductibles, just reasonable (income-sensitive) taxes, and drug costs are reduced. So, average patient total costs are greatly reduced.

Fifth, it minimizes total health care costs for America. Privatized coverage, like ACA, must fund wasteful costs, like overhead and profit for insurance companies, as well as health care. So-called moderate solutions, that add a public option to private coverage, must still cover unnecessary costs of insurance companies. And, since the sickest patients are likely to choose the cheaper public option, public costs are also inflated. The cheapest system is a single-payer public system, like Medicare for All, which eliminates unnecessary privatization costs and minimizes public costs by spreading the health care load amongst everyone.

It’s misguided to scare away supporters from Medicare for All by mentioning its high costs, because all other forms of universal coverage are even more expensive. Bernie understands Medicare for All is our best hope to fulfill the health care rights of all Americans.