Democrats are making it clear that they’re serious about moving forward on universal health care. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said last week that she supports holding hearings on Medicare-for-All legislation, and on Tuesday House Budget Committee chair Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) sent a letter to the Congressional Budget Office requesting a comprehensive analysis of how a single-payer health system would work in the U.S. While many countries successfully provide “near-universal coverage through single-payer systems,” he wrote, there are different paths the U.S. could take to build such a system. As they consider various options, lawmakers “will face many important decisions that could have major implications for federal spending, national health care spending, and access to care.” (Michael Rainey, Fiscal Times)
