On Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) held a press conference to discuss reintroducing Medicare for all.
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00:00Billions for the insurance companies and the drug companies, it is to provide quality health
00:06care to every man, woman and child has a human right.
00:16Today in America, and a lot of folks don't know this, we spend twice as much per capita
00:24on average as the people of other countries.
00:28And yet, despite spending over $14,000 for every man, woman and child on health care, 85 million
00:38of us are uninsured or underinsured.
00:44And we have 68,000 people every year who die because they can't get to a doctor on time.
00:55Can you imagine that?
00:56And I want to mention just something else to show you how cruel this system is.
01:07Today, 42% of cancer patients deplete their entire life savings within the first two years
01:16of their diagnosis.
01:18Can you believe that?
01:20So here you are, coming down with a terrible diagnosis of cancer.
01:24You're fighting for your life.
01:26And I have talked to those folks, and they're worried about their family going broke.
01:33How insane is that?
01:36In terms of life expectancy, at the end of the day, we all want to live long, happy, and productive
01:42lives, right?
01:43That's what it's all about.
01:45And yet, we live four years, shorter lives than the people in other wealthy countries,
01:51despite all of our expenditures.
01:53And working class people, on average, live seven years, fewer years than the wealthy.
02:01Got that?
02:03And working class in this country is, in many ways, a death sentence.
02:08We have the dubious distinction of having, by far, the highest infant mortality rate of
02:15any other wealthy country on earth.
02:17And as bad as our overall health care system is, our primary health care system is even worse.
02:26Today, tens of millions of Americans live in communities where they can't find a doctor,
02:33they can't find a nurse, they can't find a dentist, they can't find a psychologist,
02:39while others have to wait months in order to get into a medical office.
02:44That is absurd.
02:48So for all of those reasons, for the fact that health care is a human right,
02:55for the fact that we waste enormous amounts of money on administration,
03:00and on profiteering, and on advertising, for all of those reasons and more, today,
03:08Pramila, Debbie, and I are introducing Medicare for All single-pay legislation.
03:14And let me very briefly tell you what this legislation is about.
03:27Our legislation would provide comprehensive care to all Americans, rich, poor, young,
03:33or old, with zero out-of-pocket expense.
03:41It would provide full freedom of choice regarding health care providers.
03:46You go to the doctor, the nurse that you want to.
03:49No more insurance premiums, no more deductibles, no more co-payments, no more filling out endless forms.
04:01No more fighting with the insurance companies to get what you pay for.
04:06And comprehensive means comprehensive.
04:10It means covering dental care, vision, hearing aids, prescription drugs, and home health care.
04:20And you know what else this legislation does?
04:22It says to millions of workers in this country,
04:25you don't have to stay at a job you don't want to be at just because you have health care at that job.
04:36So we have the radical belief that workers at McDonald's deserve the same quality care as executives on Wall Street.
04:45Would a Medicare for all health care system be expensive?
04:52Yes.
04:53But while providing comprehensive health care for all,
04:57it would be significantly less expensive than our current dysfunctional system.
05:06And that is not rhetoric, that is fact.
05:09And it would be less expensive because it would eliminate an enormous amount of the bureaucracy,
05:16profiteering, administrative costs, and misplaced priorities inherent in our current for-profit system.
05:24In fact, the CBO, Congressional Budget Office, has estimated that Medicare for all
05:30would save the American people $650 billion each and every year.
05:36In other words, we have the radical idea that you should put health care dollars into health care,
05:44not into profiteering or bureaucracy.
05:50A simple health care system, which is what we are talking about, substantially reduces
05:55administrative costs, but it would also make life a lot easier, not just for patients, but for nurses.
06:03How about not having to beg the insurance companies for treatment for your patients?
06:13So, brothers and sisters, that is where we are right now.
06:17The American people want fundamental change.
06:21We're taking on big money interest in the health care industry,
06:25who see the function of their life to profit off a human illness.
06:31So, let us stand together, let us do what the American people want,
06:36and let us transform this country.
06:38And when we pass Medicare for all, it's not only improving health care for all of our people.
06:44It's doing something else.
06:45It's telling the American people that, finally, government is listening to them,
06:52and not just the wealthy campaign contributors.
06:54So, thank you all very much.
06:58And now, let me introduce somebody who has been in the forefront
07:01in the fight for Medicare for all, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal.
07:05Thank you so much, Senator Sanders, for your relentless, committed leadership,
07:14for making this an issue that the entire country resonates with.
07:18Also, I want to invite up our other speakers.
07:21We have union leaders and speakers who are going to be here.
07:23Come on up and stand with us.
07:25Thank you so much for being with us.
07:27And I want to thank my co-lead, Representative Debbie Dingell,
07:33and the already over 100 members of the House of Representatives.
07:37I have a feeling that by the time the nurses get done today,
07:40we're going to have even more than that.
07:42Is that right, nurses?
07:47All of us have signed on because we know in the richest country in the world,
07:53health care should be a fundamental right available to all,
07:57not a privilege for the wealthiest few.
08:03Now, right now, Republicans and the billionaires that control the White House
08:08are working overtime to gut health care.
08:11They're working overtime to gut Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security,
08:16all so they can give another $5 trillion tax break to the wealthiest in this country.
08:23Now, Elon Musk has laid it out very clearly.
08:28He has said that Social Security and Medicare are the big ones,
08:32the entitlement programs that we need to get rid of.
08:36But these are not entitlement programs.
08:38These are earned benefits that you all put money into.
08:44So hands off our Medicare, our Social Security, and our Medicaid.
08:49Now, look, here's the thing.
08:53It is criminal, absolutely criminal, that in the richest country in the world,
08:5985 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured.
09:03Absolutely.
09:03In the richest country in the world, 100 million Americans have medical debt
09:10totaling 220 billion, billion with a B, dollars.
09:15And it is criminal that even as more Americans suffer and die
09:20because they can't get the health care they need,
09:23the five largest private insurance companies had 371 billion dollars in net profits
09:31in the last decades,
09:32all by denying, denying the claims that Americans are submitting for health care
09:39that they need and they deserve.
09:40Now, right now, these same private insurance companies, Big Pharma,
09:44they're doing everything they can to privatize traditional Medicare
09:49through programs like Medicare Disadvantage.
09:51That's what I call it, Medicare Disadvantage.
09:54Because if we just crack down on the waste, fraud,
09:57and abuse of those private insurance companies,
09:59we would have more than enough money to provide dental, vision, and hearing care,
10:04expand Medicare to do that,
10:06and to make sure that we cap out-of-pocket costs.
10:10But you don't see Elon Musk's Department of Greed and Ego going after those.
10:15That fraud and abuse, right, Bernie?
10:19Look, here's the thing.
10:20We have never suffered from scarcity in America.
10:23Never.
10:23Never.
10:24We suffer from greed.
10:27And more and more people are losing health care
10:30because of these profiteering corporations.
10:33We know we can do better.
10:35And that's why Bernie, Debbie, and I, and all of our co-sponsors in the House and the Senate
10:40are here to reintroduce Medicare for All,
10:43the only bill that provides comprehensive health care, quality health care,
10:54to every person when you need it, where you need it.
10:58No more co-pays.
11:00No more private insurance premiums.
11:02No more deductibles.
11:03No more losing your health care when you lose your job like 27 million Americans did during COVID.
11:10No more trading health care for wages at the bargaining table.
11:19No more private insurance companies limiting your health care because
11:22their corporate paid doctors refuse to give you the treatment that you need and deserve.
11:29No more GoFundMe accounts.
11:31No more waiting till you're 65 and on Medicare to get the cancer treatment that you deserve.
11:38No more ignoring your teeth, eyes, and ears that are part of your body the last time we checked.
11:44No more profits before patients.
11:50Medicare for All is actually not a radical idea.
11:53People call it radical, but it's not radical.
11:56When Bernie, when any of us go across the country and talk about this,
12:00we talk about the fact that every other developed country in the world has a universal health care system.
12:07This is not radical that the richest country in the world should have that as well.
12:11And despite all the money that the lobby, the corporate lobby, has put into fighting this idea,
12:18Medicare for All is still incredibly popular across the country.
12:23Seventy percent of Americans support Medicare for All.
12:27And thanks to all of you, we have over a hundred state and local governments that have passed resolutions
12:34calling for Medicare for All.
12:37That is thanks. That is thanks to the advocacy, the activism of this coalition of doctors,
12:43of nurses, of students, of leaders across the country, of communities that are saying we deserve this.
12:50Now, nothing worth fighting for has ever come easy.
12:54You can look at that across the history of our country.
12:57And taking on this giant for-profit lobby is going to be a challenge.
13:02But we are here to say we're in this to win this.
13:06And we are not backing down.
13:10We are not backing down because we intend to fight for the health care system that everyone deserves.
13:16Because our collective organizing power is so much more powerful than their greed.
13:25And our vision for a universal health care system is gaining even more power every day
13:31to defeat the billionaires and the profiteering corporate interests.
13:35So today, we are here to introduce Medicare for All so that people across the country
13:42know that we are all fighting for everyone's right to live longer and healthier.
13:48For a world in which breaking a bone doesn't mean breaking the bank.
13:52For Medicare for All, where everyone is in and nobody is out.
14:00Thank you all so much.
14:02And now let me turn it over to my friend, my co-lead in the House, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell.
14:11Thank you, Pramila.
14:13And thank you, Bernie Saunders, who I love being in the fight with on any issue it is.
14:19But I believe that with Bernie and Pramila, we are going to get this done.
14:24I'm telling you.
14:25I want to thank everybody.
14:30I want to thank those, and I want to thank our partnership with the nurses,
14:35who have always been there, and all the advocates for this fight.
14:41We all agree here that it's time for the United States to join with every other industrialized nation
14:49in the world to guarantee health care as a right for all.
14:58A health care system that ties coverage to employment will always leave patients vulnerable.
15:05We saw this during the COVID-19 pandemic, which exposed many of us already saw it.
15:12We knew where the fractures were, but it exposed what serious fractures we have in our system,
15:19as millions of Americans lost their jobs, their health coverage,
15:23and did not know where to go to help or get help or see a doctor or see a nurse.
15:29And that should never happen in the United States of America.
15:33Now, it's an outrage, it's not right, and we're fighting it tooth and nail.
15:43Tens of thousands of federal employees are being fired.
15:50Not laid off, fired.
15:52And there may be mass layoffs in the event of, I'm going to try to behave and stay focused on
16:00Medicare for all. But they don't have health insurance. I had a woman in my district who
16:07worked for the Great Lakes lab, who was in tears with me the next day. She has a medical condition.
16:14She got fired the night before. She had no insurance. Her doctor wouldn't see her.
16:19She didn't know what she was going to do. And that is not what should happen, should ever happen.
16:25And that is why we are here fighting.
16:30Too many people, too many families are being forced to choose between getting critical Medicare
16:37or putting food on the table. Too many are having to choose whether they can afford their medicine
16:44or eat. It's flat out wrong. And Medicare for all will put a stop to it.
16:50As Bernie and Pamela have said, we spend twice as much per person as any other industrialized
16:59nation in the world. Right. And our outcomes, we spend twice as much and our outcomes are worse.
17:08What the hell does that say about the health care system we're living in now?
17:13And by the way, that number increased in the last two years. We've got worse outcomes,
17:21including lower life expectancy. As Bernie said, higher infant mortality rates. The only people,
17:28and I mean the only people benefiting, and the people who don't want us to improve this system,
17:35are the corporations profiting while Americans struggle. And it's wrong.
17:40Now I'm going to say something to you. This is personal to me. My family's been fighting this
17:48since the 40s. My father-in-law was one of the sponsors, one of the writers, authors of Social
17:54Security. And the next thing he did was to introduce universal health care in the 40s. And he never stopped
18:02fighting. And John Dingle, the man I love, introduced this bill every Congress until the day he died. And the
18:09day he died, he said, Deborah, get this over the finish line. And I will not let my husband down.
18:20And you know, people said to me, why are you doing this? They're Republicans. They'll never let it pass.
18:25I'm doing this because we have a lot of voices. And change takes time. But from the 40s to 65,
18:34we got Medicare. Then we got the children's health chips. Then we got the Affordable Care Act, which by
18:42the way, these bastards want to roll back on people. And we will not let that happen. We are not going
18:49to go backwards. We are not going to let that happen. Millions of Americans are frightened about
18:55pre-existing conditions, escalating prescription drug costs. And let me tell you,
19:01you say we don't have a shortage of drugs. We do have a shortage of drugs. I was in, well,
19:07mothers with children with asthma, they can't get the inhalers. They can't afford the inhalers.
19:13Yesterday, I was with a mother whose daughter has cancer. And she's not what doesn't want to eat. And
19:19the medicine they prescribe for her isn't available. This is not okay. It's not America. And people who have
19:27six kids, sick, sick, not six, kids need to be able to get their kids help. I was in an elevator at the
19:34University of Michigan Hospital. And a mother had her child in the wheelchair. And she just started
19:40crying with me. And she said to me, promise me, if they cut our Medicaid, I'll still be able to get my son
19:47help. I said, I promise you, I will not let him not get medical help. And then went to the head of the
19:53hospital and said, I just promised him you'd take care of him no matter what. But we shouldn't have
19:59to do that. Every mother has a right to have her children be able to go to the doctor when they need
20:05to go to the doctor, get the treatment they need and the medicine they need. So we've made progress,
20:13but we're not going to stop. We will not stop until every single American is guaranteed health care.
20:20It's a basic human right. It is a basic. No one person will get this done. I have great teammates,
20:28but you are the partners. It'll happen by all of us joining together in a movement, a movement to
20:35highlight why Medicare for all matters. And we've pushed for that final change in our system. Thank
20:43you for all of your work, for being here. And let's go get it done.
20:53Okay, I think now we have the great honor to introduce Bonnie Castillo, the National Nurses
21:01United President. All right, nurses. I see a lot of power here. A lot of power. A lot of power.
21:19Hello, everyone. I want to begin by thanking Representative Jayapal, Representative Dingell,
21:25and Senator Sanders for fighting to move our Medicare for all bill forward.
21:34We need fighters in Congress. So let's give them a big round of applause.
21:43It's no secret that we're, as we're here in D.C., we are here at a very particular time in our
21:56country's history. It's a moment where, can you hear me? Okay. Okay. Is that better? All right.
22:06As I said, it's no secret that we're here in D.C. at a very particular time in our country's history.
22:17And it's a moment where we all must step up. The current administration and their billionaire
22:26buddies are trying to pile endless cuts and attacks on public services, Medicaid, Medicare,
22:34Social Security. And they've even tried to wipe away, strip away the protected union rights
22:44of federal workers, including 15,000 of our VA nurses.
22:53They hope, they hope that we'll get stuck fighting just to save protections we've already won
23:01and be too demoralized to move forward. Well, guess what? You're looking at it. Registered nurses and our
23:12allies don't step back. We step up. Let me hear you say that. We step up. During pandemics,
23:24during pandemics, what do we do? We step up. During climate emergencies, what do we do? We step up.
23:34And yes, during authoritarian regimes, what do we do? We step up.
23:42We step up. As patient advocates, nurses know it is our duty to fight for a system that prioritizes
23:52people over profits. So even through the deadliest years of COVID, when we didn't have a moment's rest,
24:02nurses have never stopped fighting for Medicare for all, and we never will.
24:08We will pass. Our immoral health care system already leaves patients suffering on the best
24:18of times. So when we're in the worst of times, we fight harder. For too long, our patients have suffered
24:28and died in this profit-driven system while health care corporations have lined their pockets.
24:36In 2025, we are more. We are more than tired of billionaires profiting from the suffering of working
24:46people. When federal workers endure mass firings, they are also losing their health care coverage
24:54for themselves and their families. So again, so again, this moment of crisis, and it is a crisis,
25:04crisis, only underscores the need for deep systemic change with Medicare for all.
25:13We will not give the billionaires the satisfaction of creating division in action in our grassroots
25:27movement. We're stepping up for the good of the many, not the profits of the few.
25:37We're stepping up for Medicare for all. And when we fight, we win. Again, let me hear you. When we
25:49fight, we win. Thank you. Thank you, Bonnie. Our next speaker is Dr. Sanjeev Sriram, who's a pediatrician
26:03and board member of Physicians for a National Health Program.
26:07Dr. Good morning. My name is Sanjeev Sriram. I'm a pediatrician in Maryland and a board member for
26:22Physicians for a National Health Program. When I told my friends and family that I was coming here,
26:31a lot of them asked the question, is Medicare for all realistic? Like I know the health care system
26:37sucks, but is Medicare for all realistic? So let's dig into that. Let's dig into that. All right.
26:45I was born in Bath County, Virginia. All right. My mom gave birth to me at a very tall, very small,
26:52tiny rural community hospital where she could not have been born had she been born in the United States.
26:59What changed between the time my mom was born and the time she had me? The majority of American
27:08hospitals were segregated at the time that Medicare was getting passed. Medicare came
27:13and said we have got to stop segregation in hospitals. But let's be clear, that's not because
27:21a bunch of politicians woke up feeling kind and generous. No, that is because we the people
27:29demanded better. We demanded integrated health care. Everyday people, patients, families, doctors,
27:36nurses got together and said we will not accept the unacceptable. Business as usual is not realistic.
27:44We demanded better. Medicare for all is as realistic as we are willing to demand better.
27:52Now, to do this, we're going to have to overcome some really, really tough divides because right now
28:04we've got the Trump regime. We've got corporate greed machines trying to divide us, manipulate us,
28:10get us into thinking about who is deserving, who is undeserving of health care, who is worthy, who is
28:16unworthy of health care. And the truth of the matter is, health care is a human right regardless of what
28:21you earn, regardless of your employment status. No matter what you look like, health care is your
28:27human right. You live in a blue state. You live in a red state. Health care is your human right.
28:32Now, as we build Medicare for all, we need to make sure all means all. That's going to require us to
28:40understand that women seeking abortions are people, not problems.
28:49My transgender patients seeking gender affirming care are people, not problems.
28:54Immigrants seeking any kind of care at all are people, not problems. All means all. Because after
29:05all, if health care is not a human right for all of us, it is not a health care right for any of us.
29:14All must mean all. At Physicians for a National Health Program, we are eager to fight for our
29:21patients. We will fight the insurance companies. We will fight Big Pharma. We will fight the deceitful
29:27lobbyists. Together, we can overcome our obstacles. We can make health care a human right for every
29:33single person in this country, regardless of what they earn, where they live, who they love,
29:39what they look like. Let's do this.
29:41Thank you, Doctor. Rachel Fox is a medical student and member of Students for National Health Plan. Rachel.
30:03Hi, everyone. My name is Rachel Fox. I'm a medical student and a health equity scholar at the VCU
30:09School of Medicine. I'm also the founder and president of VCU's chapter of Students for a
30:13National Health Program, the student branch of Physicians for a National Health Program.
30:18Before medical school, I worked in health policy on Medicaid expansion and financing,
30:23so I've seen our health care system from a few different angles, which has only reinforced to me
30:28the necessity of a single-payer system like Medicare for All. While the widespread American mythology says
30:34that private insurance is somehow more efficient than public, I've witnessed time and again how
30:39untrue that is. I currently have a patient who is medically cleared for discharge, but has been
30:44sitting in the hospital for two weeks only because their insurance company is refusing to pay for their
30:49medically necessary inpatient rehab program. Shame. Meanwhile, that company spends six times as much
30:58of its budget on overhead costs as Medicare does, which maintains just 2% operating costs. So why are
31:04we wasting time and resources on this nonsense? I don't want to be a doctor to boost shareholder value
31:10for UnitedHealthcare. I don't want my future career to be in a health system where I have to consider
31:18the whims of a profit-seeking insurance company in my clinical decision-making. I don't want our
31:24increasingly corporate and consolidated health system to push even more rural hospitals out of business
31:30and strand rural communities like my hometown an hour away from the nearest hospital. I definitely don't
31:37want to be a patient in our current health system where no one my age has a primary care physician because
31:42it is impossible to find a provider who is nearby, who takes your insurance, and who can see you in a timely manner,
31:49even in the Virginia State Capitol where I live. Our current health system benefits nobody but the
31:55private companies it was designed to benefit. We can't afford to keep paying private insurance
32:00companies to rip us off, and single-payer health care is the only viable long-term solution to our
32:06current health care crisis. Thank you. In the wealthiest, most powerful country in the world,
32:13health care should be for everyone, and Medicare for all is the way to get there. Thank you all so much
32:20for your time and for your hard work fighting for what's right. Our next speaker is Frankie Clark,
32:31who is a Medicaid patient. Frankie?
32:43Good evening, good evening.
32:48I'm here today. I am here from Charlotte, North Carolina, and I'm here on behalf of North Carolina
32:57Action NC. I'm on the Senior Warriors Network, and I'm here because of these guys. Popular democracy,
33:08popular democracy, all the above. I'm here. I am a patient. I'm the one they're talking about.
33:15I am 80 years old. Still here. I'm still here fighting, fighting. And so I'm fighting the good
33:29fight of justice and health care for all. I had mentioned that this country is one of the most
33:38wealthiest countries of all. I mean, we have money. We're powerful. We're wealthy. And yet, unlike our
33:45other countries, industrialized nations, civilized nations, civilized nations who have universal health
33:54care. So America, I ask you, are you civilized? Ah, think about that. And so I have health issues,
34:05even though I'm 80, and I take care of myself. I have glaucoma. It's an eye disease. And so,
34:12as such, I have my insurance covers, thank God, dual complete. And so it covers, through Social
34:20Security, the Medicare covers somewhat. It needs some work. It needs some work. But thank God for it,
34:27because I remember before 1965, when Lyndon Johnson signed that bill into office, that Medicare that was
34:35part of Social Security. Prior to that time, the emergency room was your primary care.
34:42When you were poor, and you had decided, nobody had no money to go to the doctor. But you went.
34:49Thank you, ma'am. I know, my time's about up. But I'm going to say this right here. You men, you men
34:57in the Senate, in the Senate, I beseech you, have compassion and mercy on your fellow servants,
35:07those who are suffering. Think about it could be your time. The tables could be turned.
35:13And someone is watching you.
35:26Thank you, Frankie. Larry Stafford is also a patient. Larry.
35:32Larry Stafford Jr. So as he said, I'm Larry Stafford Jr. I'm the Executive Director of
35:44Progressive Maryland. And also the Vice Chair. Oh, is Maryland in the house, by the way?
35:52I saw a few folks. So yeah, good to see y'all. But I'm also the Vice Chair of the People's Action
35:57Institute. And we are in full support of the movement for Medicare for All.
36:08And I'm here because this is not just an issue that is political for me. This is not something
36:15that our organizations fight for just because it's popular, even though it is. Even though it is.
36:21But because this is something that is near and dear to my life. So I'm here speaking for somebody
36:29who could not be here today. Because they are no longer with us. And I know we have a lot of people
36:38who are no longer with us, who are here today in spirit, fighting along with us. And one of those
36:45people is is my dear aunt, Arlene, who happens to be the twin sister of my mother. And, you know,
36:54growing up seeing them together, it was like having two mothers, right? Because they shared so much in
37:01common, they shared a common spirit, a common kindness, and so much, you know, that they would
37:08share together in an inseparable bond that that makes twins. But as they grew up, you know, coming
37:18out of Portsmouth, Virginia, they grew up, they went in different paths. My mother got a job
37:23and in the military was able to go and serve in our armed forces. And my aunt, she she went a different
37:32path for most of her life. And her career working, she was working contract jobs, working jobs where
37:40she did not have any benefits, working jobs where she certainly did not have health care. And over
37:48time, my mother, she would always talk to her twin sister, you know, you couldn't get them off the phone
37:53with one another when they were talking. And she began to, you know, talk about a pain that she was
38:01feeling in her arm, a pain that grew and turned into a swelling, a pain that like grew throughout her
38:09body, eventually. And in her arm became so swollen, that, you know, my mother urged her to go and get
38:17this checked out. However, she never did because she did not have health insurance. And she actually
38:25feared going to the doctor, because she feared what medical debt and the costs would do to her.
38:31She knew that she could not afford it. And unfortunately, by the time that she was able
38:36to go to a doctor and get checked out, it was too late. She was diagnosed with an advanced form
38:44of cancer, and she soon would pass away. But I'm here to say that my mother, she spoke to her before she
38:52passed, and she was comforted with her life and satisfied with what she was able to live. And she wasn't
39:00afraid. However, as much as I admire that, I admire her faith and her courage. I cannot be as satisfied
39:10as she was. And we cannot be as comfortable going with this current situation that we have with our
39:17health care system. And that's why I'm glad to see you all standing here fighting for those who cannot
39:23fight any longer. Thank you so much. Robert Wiseman is co-president of Public Citizen,
39:35one of the great nonprofits in this country. Robert.
39:38Donald Trump, Robert Kennedy, congressional Republicans, they want to tear away Medicaid
39:52coverage from tens of millions of Americans to pay for tax cuts for rich people.
39:57Tear away coverage from tens of millions of Americans. No one wants this. 80% of Americans say
40:06they want Medicaid protected or expanded. No one wants to roll back drug price negotiations. 92% of
40:11Americans say we should do more drug price negotiation. But that's what they want to do.
40:17We are not going to let them. They are going to be defeated. They're going to be defeated by
40:24the people here and millions of Americans across the country who say absolutely not.
40:30But those millions of Americans who are going to defeat that effort, they do not want to protect
40:35this current system. They do not want to protect a system that leaves one in four people rationing
40:41their care. One in three people skipping medicines. One half of debts due to medical problems that people
40:47can't pay for. People unable to get quality care, even if they've got coverage, have to wait too long.
40:53No one wants to protect this system. Two thirds of Americans agree we have a responsibility to
41:01make sure everybody has access to quality, affordable care. 70% of Americans want Medicare for all.
41:12And there are efforts around the country to make this happen. More than 100 cities and towns and
41:17counties across the country have passed resolutions calling for Medicare for all. It's happened in
41:22Atlanta, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Seattle, San Francisco, Tampa, Tucson, Knoxville, Tennessee,
41:29Denton, Texas, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Gainesville, Florida, Greensboro, North Carolina. Those resolutions
41:36don't just happen. They happen because people care and they organize in their communities and they go to
41:40their city councils and their mayors and their county executives. They say, do this. And those people
41:45listen because they too know that our system is failing. And as we build this movement across the
41:53country, we go from over a hundred to many hundreds. We have lobbyists, not just those people, but now
41:58those elected officials lobbying Congress to finally do what should be done and deliver in this country,
42:06Medicare for every single person, Medicare for all.
42:15There is a protective bubble over this Congress. There's one thing that can pierce through that
42:21protective bubble. That's when all of us organize. That's when all of us call our members, protest here,
42:29protest in there, tell them we're not going to let you listen to the drug companies. We're not going to
42:34let you listen to the insurance companies. We're not going to let you take care of the for-profit
42:37hospitals. You're going to take care of us. You're going to respond to your constituents.
42:41We are going to win Medicare for all. Thank you, brothers and sisters.
42:49Last but not least, one of the great trade union leaders in this country, Mark Dimonstein,
42:54president of the American Postal Workers Union. Mark.
43:05It's great to be here with all of you in this fight for justice. And hats off to our elected
43:11representatives here who understood when they're voted into office by the people, they're here to serve
43:18the people. And it's really great to be here with our unionized nurses family fighting for the, as
43:28health care workers and providers, fighting for the good of the entire working people and people in
43:34this country. Congratulations. Look, postal workers know the value of affordable universal services,
43:43grounded in putting people over profits. That's what we do every day as postal workers. And that's the
43:49kind of health care system that every worker in this country deserves. I represent unionized postal
43:56workers who do have health insurance, but the APW is firmly and enthusiastically and unequivocally
44:04supporters of Medicare for all and single-payer health care.
44:08Our insurance, think about this, our insurance costs way too much. Up to $10,000 a year just in
44:18out-of-pocket premium expenses on the part of the worker. That doesn't count co-pays. It doesn't count
44:25other things. And our care is too often denied by the insurance company. So whether at the bargaining
44:33table or at the kitchen table, the cost of health care weighs on every working person in this country.
44:39And Medicare for all would set working people free from these out-of-control costs, claims denials,
44:46and free from the impossible choices that no worker should have to face. We'll be more free to organize
44:52a union without fear of losing our health care. We'll be more free to bargain for better wages from our
44:58employers, more free to change jobs and careers without losing health coverage, more free to
45:04withhold our labor and strike if needed, knowing our family won't lose their health care as we fight
45:10for a better future. Never, never should any worker have to choose between food and medicine, between
45:16keeping their home and a roof over their head, or paying a hospital bill. Right now, postal workers are in
45:23the fight of our lives to save the public postal service and to save other essential and vital
45:29government services that are being slashed by the likes of the unelected billionaire President Elon Musk.
45:37But it is the same greedy Wall Street investors who want to destroy the People's Postal Service,
45:44who fight to maintain a criminal profit-driven health care insurance system, all in the name of the almighty
45:51dollar. Medicare for all is what's right for workers, union and non-union alike, in the city and small towns,
45:58everyone in, nobody out. A commitment to serving everyone and alleviating the 99 percent of us, the
46:06financial burden of enriching the for-profit and out-of-control health insurance industry. Health care
46:13health care should be and is a human right. It's long overdue for Medicare for all. Let's get it done. Solidarity.
46:30All right brothers and sisters, the struggle that we are engaged in is something that is supported
46:38by people all over this country. They are sick and tired, as we've heard today, of people dying,
46:47of people suffering, because they can't afford to walk in to a doctor's office or a nurse's office.
46:55That is not going to continue. The function of health care is quality care for every man,
47:02woman and child, not huge profits, but drug companies and insurance companies. The people are behind us.
47:10Let's go forward. Let's do it. Thank you all.