With John Conyers's Resignation, Keith Ellison Will Take Ownership of the
House Single-Payer Bill
By Zaid Jilani and Ryan Grim, The Intercept
09 March 18
After Michigan Democratic Rep. John Conyers, the dean of the House of
Representatives, resigned over allegations of sexual misconduct last year,
the future of his marquee cause - establishing a single-payer universal
health care system - became uncertain.
Conyers was the prime author and sponsor of H.R.676, which would improve and
expand Medicare to every single American, displacing private health
insurance companies. With 121 co-sponsors, it has the backing of the
majority of the House Democratic caucus.
On Wednesday, Rep. Keith Ellison, deputy chair of the Democratic National
Committee, stepped up and asked his colleagues for unanimous consent to
replace Conyers as the lead sponsor of the legislation. They granted him
permission.
Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat, told The Intercept he had spoken ahead of
time to Conyers, who gave him his blessing. The Conyers bill, though, is
largely a shell, and Ellison said he wants to flesh it out for when it's
re-introduced next time. "We're constantly going to try to improve the bill,
to find way to make it more effective, make it work better," he said.
"We're going to listen to the people. We want to drive a lot of discussion.
We want to get the 120 who are on the bill to really listen and have folks
give them input," Ellison said. "We want to talk to experts, but we also
want to talk to people. So we're going to improve it based on that. We're
not going to try to impose ideology, we're going to be pragmatic."
Under a single-payer health care system, the government would be the primary
health insurer of all Americans. Instead of paying premiums, copays, and
deductibles to a private plan through an individual market or employer,
people would instead pay for insurance through their taxes. Advocates for
this system, which is dynamically popular on the left, argue that it would
be much more efficient - doctors and hospitals currently have to manage
paperwork and billing with hundreds of different health insurers, instead of
just one - and would actually save money in the long run. The United States
would save about $350 billion in net health care spending by switching to
single payer, according to some estimates.
Ellison's lead on the single-payer bill comes at a time when there is
growing momentum for a "Medicare for All" health care system in the
Democratic Party. The policy has become a staple of a number of 2018
Democratic campaigns, including both gubernatorial and congressional runs.
Despite increasing support for single payer, proponents of the legislation
are a far way off from getting the majority they need to pass it in either
the House or the Senate.
Last year, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced a Senate companion to the
House single-payer legislation, earning the support of 15 Senate
co-sponsors. In some ways, the Sanders legislation is less ambitious than
the House version; unlike H.R. 676, the Sanders bill would not bring
everyone into a single payer within a year, it would instead phase in the
system over four years.
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