Harris Announces She Will Co-Sponsor Bernie Sanders’ ‘Medicare-For-All’ Bill

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) on Wednesday became the first senator to declare her intention to co-sponsor Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) forthcoming “Medicare-for-All” proposal.

“I intend to co-sponsor the Medicaid-for-All bill,” she told a town hall in Oakland, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

“It’s so much better people have meaningful access to affordable health care at every stage from birth on because the alternative [is] we as taxpayers otherwise are paying huge amounts for money for them to get their health care in an emergency room,” she added, according to ThinkProgress. “It’s not only about what’s morally and ethically right, it also just makes sense from a fiscal standpoint or a return on investment for taxpayers.”

Harris told reporters afterward, according to video captured by The Sacramento Bee: “All people should have access to affordable health care.”

As I said tonight in Oakland, I intend to cosponsor the Medicare for All bill. Health care is a right, not a privilege.

— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) August 30, 2017

Sanders, who campaigned on a Medicare-for-all proposal during the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries, thanked Harris on Twitter:

Thank you @KamalaHarris for your support. Let's make health care a right, not a privilege. https://t.co/hYbxTq8BVH

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) August 30, 2017

Sanders first said he would introduce a single-payer health care bill in “within a couple of weeks” in March, though he has championed similar bills before, Vermont Public Radio noted at the time. The outlet reported Tuesday that Sanders said he would introduce a bill lowering Medicare’s eligibility age to 55, from 65, “shortly.” “That is one way to phase it in,” he said of the incremental step.

Vox noted Wednesday that a number of prominent Democratic senators have expressed their support for single-payer legislation without explicitly endorsing Sanders’ forthcoming proposal. A record number of House Democrats, the publication added, support Rep. John Conyers’ (D-MI) single-payer bill. He has introduced the legislation in Congress every year since 2003.

“Single-payer” refers to a health care payment structure in which the government pays private health care providers for all essential services. Medicare currently operates as a single-payer program