Sanders Crafts Amendment to Close ‘Holes’ in Medicare That ‘Are Harming Seniors’
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders will offer an amendment to the Democrats’ revived reconciliation bill that would affirmatively answer activists’ demands to expand Medicare benefits, the senator’s office told Common Dreams on Friday.
Sanders’ office said the Vermont independent will seek a roll call vote on including the overwhelmingly popular proposal to extend dental, hearing, and vision coverage to all Medicare beneficiaries, provisions that were previously stripped from Democrats’ once-ambitious $3.5 trillion reconciliation package.
Now with key Democrats breathing fresh life into the recently moribund bill they nearly killed—albeit in favor of a dramatically shrunken package—Sanders is again pushing for the Medicare expansion he has long championed.
Healthcare reform advocates have long called for expanding Medicare. Ideally, the popular program would be reformed or reinvented to cover everyone’s needs under a universal, single-payer system. However, with Medicare for All still a distant goal in the United States, progressives have honed in on expanding Medicare to achieve more coverage for more people, especially seniors most in need.
“The holes in Medicare coverage are harming seniors as we speak,” Sanders and Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila (D-Wash.) wrote in a joint June 2021 analysis of a Data for Progress poll showing 83% of likely U.S. voters of all political affiliations back Medicare expansion.
“Combined, the lack of Medicare dental, vision, and hearing coverage put America’s seniors at risk for a host of serious health conditions,” Sanders’ office told Common Dreams. “If Congress cares about our nation’s seniors, we must expand the Medicare program to cover dentures, eyeglasses, and hearing aids.”
Common Dreams also reported this week that Sanders will file additional amendments to the reconciliation bill that would end subsidies for fossil fuel companies and strengthen the proposed legislation’s drug price provisions
Originally published at Commondreams.org.
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