Kamala Harris Supports Bernie Sanders’ Single-payer Healthcare Bill

By Little India Desk | August 31, 2017

US attorney and politician Kamala Harris would co-sponsor Senator Bernie Sanders’s ‘Medicare for All’ bill, she said during town hall on August 30. The bill would institute a single-payer health insurance system.

“I intend to co-sponsor the ‘Medicare for All’ bill because it’s just the right thing to do,” the India-origin Senator from California announced in Oakland, The Hill reported.

“It’s not just about what is morally and ethically right, it also makes sense just from a fiscal standpoint,” she added.

Supporting the bill is also Harris’ first instance of publicly supporting the single-payer system, in which the healthcare is paid by a single public authority.

Right, not Privilege

“This is part of our ongoing fight to make very clear this shouldn’t be a partisan issue,” Harris said. “Babies are not born with something that says they’re a Democrat or a Republican… this is about understanding health care should be a right, and not a privilege.”

Earlier this week, Sanders had said that was he was building support for his ‘Medicare for All’ bill.

“You’re seeing more and more movement toward ‘Medicare for All’,” Sanders said. “When the people are saying we need healthcare for everyone, as more and more Americans come on board, it will become politically possible.”

Open Support from Harris

In July, Harris had said that she supported single payer health care “as a concept.”

“As a concept, I’m completely in support of single pay,” she said and added that “we’ve got to work out the details, and the details matter on that.”

Sanders on August 30 tweeted thanking Harris for her announcement.”Thank you Kamala Harris for your support. Let’s make healthcare a right, not a privilege,” he tweeted.

Rumours about Harris running for the presidency in 2020 have been going around for quite some time now. Her campaign has rented office space in Washington.