FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact
Kevin Zeese, Press Secretary
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Hawkins/Walker Call On Sanders Delegates: Reject Biden To Get Medicare For All
(Syracuse, NY, July 27, 2020) Today, Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for president told Sanders supporters that to get improved Medicare for All, they should reject Joe Biden unless he promises to support this essential public health policy.
Politico reported that “More than 360 delegates, most of whom back Sanders, have signed onto a pledge to vote against the Democratic Party’s platform if it does not include support for ‘Medicare for All.’”
“These delegates are right, single-payer health care is an urgent priority amid a worldwide pandemic and the biggest unemployment crisis since the Great Depression, but adding it to the Democratic platform is not enough. Joe Biden needs to change his position and support Medicare for All. We cannot rely on the for-profit private health insurance system to provide urgently needed healthcare,” said Hawkins.
The Hawkins/Walker campaign has called for Medicare For All As A Community-Controlled National Health Service. The campaign points to the crisis in US healthcare that leaves more than 30 million people without insurance. With the pandemic and 35 million people losing their jobs, tens of millions more no longer have insurance.
Hawkins/Walker point to the for-profit health system as the culprit, writing “The fundamental problem with the healthcare system in the United States is that it is designed to create profits for a few rather than guarantee healthcare to everyone. Corporations are taking over all aspects of the system, giving them a tremendous amount of control over prices and what health care people can or cannot have. Major health insurance companies currently receive most of their revenues from the government by providing ‘public insurance,’ such as Medicaid managed-care organizations and Medicare Advantage plans. The government has become a cash cow for the health insurers, a guaranteed payer that will line their executives’ and investors’ pockets.”
“Those who support Medicare for All are throwing their vote away by voting for Joe Biden. He is indebted to Wall Street, the insurance and pharmaceutical industries and will oppose us unless massive public pressure forces him to put people’s lives first. A vote for Hawkins/Walker is a vote for Medicare for All. A vote for Biden means Medicare for All will get lost in the sauce,” concluded Hawkins.
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