Canadian doc helps Bernie Sanders make biggest US push for universal healthcare
WASHINGTON — There’s a stampede to share a stage with Bernie Sanders. Once again, the socialist senator has introduced a bill to bring Canadian-style, single-payer health care to the United States. Only this time, he’s surrounded by the stars of the Democratic party.
A raucous rally to introduce Sanders’ latest medicare-for-all bill underscored how the idea of universal public health care has swiftly moved from the no-hope fringes of U.S. politics to becoming mainstream within one of the country’s two major parties.
Sanders, whose stronger-than-expected presidential bid helped prod the party to the left, quipped in a letter to supporters before the launch event: “The last time I introduced this bill, it lacked a single co-sponsor.”
Not this time. On Wednesday, there were dozens of television cameras, hundreds of spectators and a lineup outside the event where potential presidential aspirants like Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, and Kirsten Gillibrand declared themselves among the bill’s more than 15 co-sponsors.