HEALTHCARE-NOW!

Preparing for 2019 The most comprehensive study ever done of a national single payer proposal has arrived - just in time for a big lobbying push next year! A team of economists from the University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) has found that the Medicare for All Act of 2017, introduced to the Senate by Bernie Sanders, could actually reduce health spending by about 9.6% while also providing decent health care coverage for all Americans. READ THE FULL STUDY Here are the highlights: All low and middle income families would see savings in their healthcare costs; only high-income households would pay more (up to 5.6% more) than they pay now. A single payer healthcare system  would save trillions, more than covering the cost of increased utilization by those previously left out of the system. Here are the major areas of savings:  Cutting administrative waste created by for-profit companies (47% of all savings) Cutting exorbitant  pharmaceutical prices (31%) Establishing uniform payment rates  (based on Medicare) for hospitals, physicians, and clinics (15%)

Shifting our regressively-financed healthcare system to a progressively-financed single payer means relieving the bottom 80% and placing more of the burden on the wealthy. In addition to existing sources of financing for public health programs (Medicare and Medicaid taxes, VA, etc.) the following tax scheme would generate a 1% surplus for the system: A premium paid by businesses that would replace existing spending on employee plans, set at 8% less than current costs  Tax on net wealth, exempting the first million dollars of income (this tax would only hit the wealthiest) 3.75% sales tax on non-necessities (food, housing, and utilities would be excluded) Taxing long-term capital gains as ordinary income READ THE STUDY This game-changing study, which has received extensive media coverage and been praised by prestigious economists such as Jeffrey Sachs and William Hsiao, was made possible by the electoral and legislative gains that elevated Medicare for All this year! Those gains were the work of all y'all who did organizing and lobbying in 2018. Stay focused and let's bring this momentum into 2019 - we'll need it to make single payer the official stance of the Democratic party and finally move our bills forward! In solidarity, Ben and Stephanie Healthcare-NOW staff

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Healthcare-NOW is a grassroots organization that fights to end the health insurance crisis by educating and advocating for improved Medicare-for-All legislation, such as H.R. 676.

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