Jayapal Statement on Warren's Medicare for All Transition Plan

[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and lead co-sponsor of the House Medicare for All Act of 2019, issued the following statement on U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s first term plan to transition to Medicare for All:

“I have been fighting for Medicare for All for a long time—and this year, I was proud to introduce the most progressive Medicare for All legislation that includes a two-year transition and covers long-term care for seniors and folks with disabilities.

We’ve built an incredible movement that has never been stronger, with the first three hearings ever held in the House, over half the Democratic Caucus as co-sponsors, as well as a broad coalition of more than 30 labor unions, 250 economists and hundreds of grassroots organizations across the country who all support Medicare for All.

We have two presidential candidates who are staunchly committed to Medicare for All and have made it a defining issue in the 2020 presidential election. I have been honored to work with Senator Bernie Sanders in this fight, and am grateful for his visionary leadership and ironclad commitment to Medicare for All. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren has also been a strong champion of Medicare for All, releasing her own financing plan that shows a detailed way to pay for Medicare for All and still save trillions of dollars for American families. Her transition plan, released today, reaffirms her commitment to the four-year transition plan outlined in the Senate Medicare for All Bill.

Her transition plan lays out how she would use executive and administrative authority to take on for-profit insurers and begin providing relief to the American people on Day One. She cracks down on Big Pharma immediately to reduce drug costs and save lives. She also expands the benefits of existing programs, so they match those defined in Medicare for All, and then expands the pool of Americans automatically eligible for these programs to dramatically increase the total number of Americans with guaranteed comprehensive Medicare for All coverage. Like both the House and Senate Medicare for All bills, Senator Warren’s transition plan makes this coverage immediately available to all Americans to buy into for a nominal fee that goes to zero dollars by the end of the transition period—which would mean even more Americans with comprehensive Medicare for All coverage. In the third year of the transition, she takes on the final piece of covering the remaining people who are still on private insurance, with everyone on Medicare for All by the end of the fourth year.

Senator Warren’s plan is one smart approach to take on Big Pharma and private for-profit insurance companies, and gets us to Medicare for All that covers everyone with comprehensive care in four years.”

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