Brown should support Medicare for all

I respond to the Sept. 11 Dispatch.com article "Brown will not co-sponsor Sanders’ Medicare-for-all bill." Sen. Sherrod Brown's immediate priority must be to defeat the Republican Graham-Cassidy bill that would leave 21 million people without health coverage and cut Ohio’s health care funding by $9 billion.

But beyond opposing what we don’t want, we must support what we do want. To that end, I urge Brown to join 17 other Senate Democrats in co-sponsoring Medicare for All.

The Pew Research Center found that 60 percent say the federal government is responsible for ensuring health-care coverage for all Americans. The Kaiser Family Foundation found 64 percent have a positive reaction to Medicare for All. The Economist and YouGov found 60 percent favor expanding Medicare to provide health

insurance to every American.

While Medicare for All would slightly raise taxes, it would also end co-pays and deductibles for health care and prescription drugs. Most people would

save much more on medical costs than they would pay in taxes.

Never again would anyone go bankrupt due to medical bills. And since health care would no longer be tied to a job, people would be free to start their own business without worrying about health care.

Every other major country has universal health care because it costs less but provides more care. Americans pay twice as much as people in other countries for health care, yet have lower life expectancies.

Brown supports a bill that would allow people 55 and older to buy into Medicare. That is a good bill, but there is no reason he cannot support both.

Cathy Cowan Becker Grove City