Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has stated that “Medicare for All,” a system that would provide government-run health care for all U.S. citizens, was not going to be possible within the next two years with a divided Congress. Sanders is also the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
During an NPR interview, Sanders stated that it was up to Congress members to work together in order to provide better health care to all Americans. However, he added that there was no support for Medicare for All in the GOP and that only half of congressional Democrats supported the initiative.
He went on to say that it was up to Congress members from both parties to decide to expand primary health care and community health centers across the United States. He further noted that 30 million Americans had visited community health centers in order to gain access to affordable health care, dental care, counseling, and prescription medication.
Sanders, whose new book “It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism” was released on that same day, claimed that Republicans were aware of how hard it is to access health care in some red states.
In the first half of his term, President Biden has managed to achieve a number of bipartisan victories including the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief law, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. With the recent Inflation Reduction Act, which has been signed into law, he also made it possible for certain prescription medications to become more affordable, while also allowing Medicare to negotiate the prices of medication for its recipients.
