Thanks so much for your ongoing
support.
Let me take this opportunity to
give you an update as to what's been happening in recent weeks.
As you all know, the disastrous
Republican "health care" proposals have, for the moment at least,
been defeated. They were defeated because millions of Americans stood up and
fought back. They made phone calls and sent emails, letting members of Congress
know how they felt. They got their friends involved in the struggle by
utilizing social media. They attended town hall meetings. They went to rallies,
including some that I attended in Michigan, Maine, Nevada, Arizona, West
Virginia, Ohio, Utah, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
And in poll after poll, an
overwhelming majority of the American people were absolutely clear about their
opposition to these destructive plans:
No. We will not be throwing 32
million, 23 million, 22 million or 16 million Americans off of health insurance
in order to give tax breaks to the rich and large corporations, and to further
the right wing extremist ideology of the Koch brothers.
No. We will not be cutting
Medicaid by $800 billion, raising premiums for older workers, defunding Planned
Parenthood and making it almost impossible for people with pre-existing
conditions to get affordable insurance.
Needless to say, while we have
won at least a temporary victory by defeating horrific Republican proposals,
that is not good enough. We need to go on the offensive, not simply remain in a
defensive posture.
The status quo is not
satisfactory. Too many Americans continue to have no health insurance. Too many
are paying premiums, deductibles and co-payments that are much too high. Too
many cannot afford the outrageously high cost of prescription drugs they need.
Too many cannot gain access to high quality primary health care or dental care,
even when they have insurance. Our goal is not complicated, and it is not
radical. It is to have the United States join every other industrialized country
on earth in guaranteeing health care for all. Health care must not be
considered as a privilege or a commodity. It is a human right to which every
man, woman and child is entitled.
Our goal is to create a rational,
cost-effective health care system. Today in the United States, we are spending
almost $10,000 a year per person on health care. This is absurd and
unsustainable. We must not continue a system which is, by far, the most
expensive, wasteful and bureaucratic in the world.
Our goal is to put health care
dollars into disease prevention and the provision of health care, not insurance
company profits, not outrageous salaries for health industry CEOs, not
advertising, not billing, not lobbying or campaign contributions.
Our goal is to move this country
to a Medicare-for-all, single-payer system.
Let me be clear. This will be an
enormously difficult and prolonged struggle, and one which will require the
efforts of tens of millions of Americans in every state in this country. It
will, in fact, require a political revolution in which the American people
participate in the political process in a way that we have not seen in the
recent history of our democracy.
In order to pass a
Medicare-for-all, single payer system we will be taking on the most powerful special
interests in the country: Wall Street, the insurance companies, the drug
companies, the corporate media, the Republican Party and the establishment wing
of the Democratic Party. In opposition to our efforts there will be a
never-ending barrage of TV ads, editorials, political attacks and lies.
If we are going to be successful
in this struggle, we have got to be smart – very smart. Not only do we need
strong legislation (which I will be offering shortly and an outline of which I
will be sending to you), but we need an unprecedented organizing and
educational campaign.
How do we counter the lies and
distortions against Medicare-for-all that is sure to come? How do we make
certain that all of us – men and women, gay and straight, black, white, Latino,
Asian-American, Native American -– are in this struggle together? How do we
bring young and healthy people to stand alongside the elderly, the sick and the
poor?
The battle that we are
undertaking is enormous and unprecedented in the modern history of our country.
Please send us your ideas as to how we can best go forward. Please give us your
vision of what a humane and rational health care system looks like. Please
share your experiences with the current system. Please help us map out an
effective political strategy.
We are in this together. We need
everyone's ideas.
Thanks again for your support and
all that you are doing.
In solidarity,
Bernie
Paid for by Friends of Bernie Sanders
PO BOX 391, Burlington, VT 05402
