Sanders vows to introduce Medicare for All in first week of presidency

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Friday he would introduce his “Medicare for All” bill in the first week of his tenure if he is elected next year. 

Sanders made that promise when accepting an endorsement from National Nurses United, which also backed the Vermont senator’s 2016 presidential run. 

“With National Nurses United at my side, during the first week of our presidency, we are going to introduce that legislation,” he said. 

Sanders’s Medicare for All plan, which he reintroduced in the Senate this spring, would create a national health system financed by the federal government to cover all U.S. residents.

The plan is also supported by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who is also running for president. 

Warren on Friday proposed a transition plan that would move the country toward Medicare for All over the course of three years.

Sanders was asked to comment on that plan Friday and replied: “I will let Sen. Warren speak for herself.” 

But he said his own plan is the “fastest and most effective way to move toward Medicare for All” and he would “engage in that struggle on day one of my administration and not put it off for several years.” 

Warren’s plan would expand ObamaCare coverage and create a public option for low-income families, children and Americans over 50 in her first 100 days in office. 

She would “fight to pass legislation that would complete the transition to full Medicare for all” by no later than her third year in office, her plan reads.

Sanders’s plan also has a transition plan of three years. His plan would reduce Medicare eligibility from 65 to 55 in the first year, while also covering children. The eligibility age would be dropped every year until year four, when every U.S. resident will be covered by Medicare for All.