Bill expands Medicare for all but lacks details

WASHINGTON » Americans would get health coverage simply by showing a new government-issued card and would no longer owe out-of-pocket expenses like deductibles, according to legislation Sen. Bernie Sanders released Wednesday charting a stem-to-stern reshaping of the country’s health care system.

But the Vermont independent’s description of his measure omitted specifics about how much it would cost and final decisions about how he would pay for it.

Sanders was releasing his bill the same day Republican senators were rolling out details of a lastditch effort to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care law.

In an interview, Sanders said Tuesday his measure would likely be paid for in a “progressive way.” Aides said it would likely be financed by income-

adjusted premiums people would pay the government, ranging from no premiums for the poorest Americans to high levies on the rich and corporations.

The measure has no chance of becoming law with President Donald Trump in the White House and Republicans controlling Congress. But it embodies a push to universal coverage that eluded Obama’s 2010 law and is a tenet of the Democratic Party’s liberal, activist base.

“I think in a democracy, we should be doing what the American people want,” Sanders said, citing polls showing growing support for the concept.

He released his bill hours after the Census Bureau said the proportion of uninsured Americans fell to 8.8 percent last year, the lowest figure on record.

Sanders calls his bill Medicare for All, and it would expand the health insurance program for the elderly to cover all Americans. It would be phased in over four years, and people and businesses would no longer owe premiums to insurers.

The measure would make health care less expensive and less complicated for many people and businesses. It would cover the 28 million Americans remaining uninsured despite Obama’s law.

Yet some Democrats fear Sanders is exposing them to a lose-lose choice.