Advocates make argument for Medicare for All in Mass.

If the large turnout of legislators, advocates, doctors and patients at a hearing in support of bringing Medicare for All are any indication, the Bay State could be the first state to provide free health care for all residents.

“Health care should not be tied to your employer,” said state Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, who filed the Senate bill. “It should be a right. It should be something you have from cradle to grave.”

Eldridge, who estimated that he’s been part of the single- payer health care movement in Massachusetts for at least 20 years, said that the bill was revamped for this session, with a new payment model and a broader scope. At least four previous versions of the bill have died without further action.

This bill, heard in the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing Tuesday, would fund a Medicare for All system through a payroll tax on employers and employees and a tax on unearned income. It would cover every resident of Massachusetts and employees who work here more than 20 hours a week, and has been clarified to include dental and mental health care.

Several people spoke during the hearing who had endured difficult — and expensive — health care challenges. Rebecca Wood of Acton said that, in choosing to treat her daughter’s medical condition instead of her own, she lost all her teeth to infection. She relied on a GoFundMe campaign to pay for her medical treatment.

“The health care system drains my income and robs me of time, opportunity and ability. My life is dictated by the whims of profiteering insurers, pharmaceutical companies and health care organizations,” she said. “I am a prisoner of our failed health care system.”

Others made a more economic- centric argument. State Rep. Tami Gouveia, D-Acton, noted that decoupling health insurance from employment would support small businesses that can’t offer robust health care plans to employees. Gerald Friedman, an economist at University of Massachusetts Amherst, estimated that single- payer health care would save Massachusetts $ 30 billion, and 4,000 lives, annually.

Although the bill appeared widely supported among testifiers and legislators, Eldridge acknowledged that powerful corporate lobbyists have quashed past versions of the bill before.

A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Hospital Association, which has previously spoken out against Medicare for All, said in a statement that “MHA supports these healthy conversations around healthcare in our commonwealth,” and is “proud of the historic actions our state has taken to expand healthcare coverage, which have cemented our status as the most insured state year after year.”