Twitter Link: Thank you @KamalaHarris for your support.

[Donkees]

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[GaryCnf]

1. 3, 2, 1 . . .

[Donkees]

2. Bernie Sanders thanks Kamala Harris for endorsing single-payer

Excerpt:

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

Harris' announcement ended weeks of speculation over whether she would sign onto Sanders' proposal. The single-payer system has increasingly gained support among Democrats but Harris' decision is a public break House Minority Leader and fellow California lawmaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D), who said that the time isn't right for such a bill.

“The comfort level with a broader base of the American people is not there yet,” Pelosi said at a press conference in May. “It doesn't mean it couldn't be. States are a good place to start.”

“I was carrying around single-payer signs probably before you were born, so I, you know, I understand that aspiration,” she added.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/348654-bernie-sanders-thanks-kamala-harris-for-endorsing-single-payer

[Me.]

3. Isn't This John Conyers Bill?

The one he wrote?

[Warren DeMontague]

8. Wouldn't Conyers' legislation be a House bill, and not a Senate one?

I mean, I slept through some of Schoolhouse rock, but I still remember a few parts.

[Me.]

13. No Need For Snark

I refer you to post #11.

[Warren DeMontague]

24. Yeah, we wouldnt want to bring unnecessary nastiness into an issue where we all want the same result

.....right?

[Me.]

26. Indeed We Wouldn't

[lapucelle]

11. It is Democrat Conyers' bill. There has never been a Senate version.

The bill that Sanders has introduced in the past was a Senate version of Democrat Jim McDermott's HR 1200. Whatever the Senate proposal is or will be in the second session of the 115th Congress has not been made public yet.

Democrat Jim McDermott has been proposing his version of "medicare for all" since the mid 1990's; Democrat Conyers has introduced his medicare for all bill in every session of Congress since 2003.

It's bewildering that media political punditry is not aware of exactly how long Democrats in Congress have been working on this; it is especially troubling that those who we trust to report the facts insist on framing this as a recent shift. They need to get their facts straight. Conyers' bill had 93 co-sponsors in 2007.

Similarly, it borders on journalistic malpractice to ignore the fact that universal coverage has been a core value of the Democratic party since Mrs. Clinton worked on healthcare in 1993. These are not new ideas for Democrats.

Here's a fact sheet with a comparison of Conyers HR 676 and the McDermott/Sanders version that has been proposed in the past. Hopefully BS will be abandoning his previous bill and has been tasked by Senators Klobuchar (Steering Committee Chair) and Schumer with coming up with the Senate version of HR 676.

http://www.md.pnhp.org/docs/Comparison-HR676-and-S703.pdf

There's lots of information on Democratic Congressman John Conyers' long fight for medicare for all and what you can do to help at this website:

http://www.medicareforall.org/pages/Home

[Me.]

14. Thank You

"Similarly, it borders on journalistic malpractice to ignore the fact that universal coverage has been a core value of the Democratic party since Mrs. Clinton worked on healthcare in 1993. These are not new ideas for Democrats"

Seems inconvenient, at best, to mention the years spent on this issue by others and just hand over congrats as if it has just sprung up as an original idea.

[Donkees]

4. Kamala Harris to co-sponsor Bernie Sanders' single-payer health care bill

Excerpt:

Kamala Harris to co-sponsor Bernie Sanders' single-payer health care bill
Eric Bradner
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 9:31 PM ET, Wed August 30, 2017

Washington (CNN)Sen. Kamala Harris is the first Democrat to announce she'll co-sponsor Sen. Bernie Sanders' single-payer health care bill when it's introduced in September.

"Here, I'll break some news: I intend to co-sponsor the Medicare-for-all bill, because it's just the right thing to do," Harris said. She announced her support for Sanders' single-payer plan at the end of her town hall and joked that "somebody should tell my staff."
Her co-sponsorship is another sign that the Democratic Party is increasingly embracing a shift away from the private health insurance market and toward a government-run program. The issue is poised to become a major litmus test for its presidential candidates in 2020.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/30/politics/kamala-harris-bernie-sanders-single-payer-medicare/index.html

[Me.]

5. Conyers Reintroduces National Single-Payer Health Care Bill

“Today, Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) reintroduced H.R. 676, “The Expanded And Improved Medicare For All Act.” This bill would establish a privately-delivered, publicly-financed universal health care system, where physicians and non-profit health care providers would be in charge of medical decisions — not insurance companies.

“I am pleased to announce the reintroduction of H.R. 676, ‘The Expanded And Improved Medicare For All Act,’ in the 113th Congress. I have introduced the bill in each Congress since 2003 and I will continue to do so until the bill is passed,” said Conyers.”

https://www.healthcare-now.org/blog/conyers-reintroduces-national-single-payer-health-care-bill/

[murielm99]

6. Thank you, Conyers.

He is a great DEMOCRAT.

[Warren DeMontague]

9. Excellent. So thanks to Senators Harris and Sanders, and Rep. Conyers, the conversation is happening

In both chambers of congress!

[Warren DeMontague]

7. Leadership!

Well done, Senator Harris --and Senator Sanders!

[lapucelle]

19. CNN needs to do better research.

"Her co-sponsorship is another sign that the Democratic Party is increasingly embracing a shift away from the private health insurance market and toward a government-run program."

Democrats have been introducing medicare for all bills since the middle of the 1990's. John Conyers has introduced his medicare for all bill in every session of Congress since 2003 and it's always had dozens of Democratic co-sponsors.

It's reprehensible that CNN has ignored (and continues to ignore) the efforts of a prominent member of the Congressional Black Caucus for the past 14 years. It's almost as if CNN is employing a "white savior" narrative.

[Warren DeMontague]

27. They may just think the Senate carries more weight than the House.

[Donkees]

10. Sanders will ignite Medicare-for-all movement this fall

Excerpt:

It will be good for America, good for Democrats and good for the future of healthcare when the Sanders plan is formally introduced in September. When the Sanders bill is introduced and its supporters take to the airwaves, the next great debate will escalate with a jarring contrast between the latest version of TrumpCare and the powerful vision of Medicare-for-all offered by Sanders.

Liberals, progressives, reformers and Democrats who support Medicare-for-all will win this debate by a landslide. Voters will prefer the Sanders plan that will guarantee affordable healthcare as a right for all Americans over Republican plans that would lead to tens of millions of Americans losing their health insurance and enduring great hardship under ill-fated and poorly conceived GOP plans.

Even Trump recently told the prime minister of Australia that his nation has a better healthcare system than America. The same could be said about Canada, Britain, France, Germany and the long list of democratic nations around the world that enjoy single-payer healthcare today.

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/healthcare/347929-sanders-will-ignite-medicare-for-all-movement-this-fall

[lapucelle]

12. It's already been ignited.

This organization has been working on the issue for the past 10 years. They have strongly supported HR 676, Rep. Conyers' version of medicare for all, for at least a decade.

http://www.medicareforall.org/pages/About

[Me.]

16. Right

How about credit where credit is due

[lapucelle]

18. It's amazing how many people are clueless

about what the Democratic party has been doing for the last 25 years.

[flamingdem]

15. It's about time!

Go Kamala!

[lapucelle]

17. "It's about time" ???

Kamala Harris has been a senator for 7 months and there was no senate version of a medicare for all bill for anyone to support in the first session of the 115th Congress.

[flamingdem]

23. If it wasn't for Joe Lieberman we'd have Medicare for all

The idea is what I'm referring to not the person

[Warren DeMontague]

25. We'd have a public option, at least.

Agreed.

[Donkees]

20. 2009 Bernie Sanders: "Medicare For All Single payer will eventually prevail"

https://www.c-span.org/video/?290733-4/senator-sanders-amendment-withdrawal

[jalan48]

21. Thanks Kamala for helping move the Party in a progressive direction.

I think we can win on issues like this.

[BannonsLiver]

22. Great job by a great progressive: KAMALA HARRIS!!!