Pelosi supports holding hearings on ‘Medicare for all’
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) supports holding hearings on “Medicare for all,” her spokesman said Thursday, marking a major step forward for supporters of a single-payer health system.
“I’ve always been an advocate for Medicare for all or single-payer, but I just don’t think that the votes would be there for that, so I think our priority has to be stabilizing the Affordable Care Act, preventing the sabotage that the Trump administration has initiated,” Pallone said in November.
Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) told The Hill in November that he was “hopeful” he could support the new version if issues with last year’s bill were worked out.
Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), the chairman of the Budget Committee, said last year that he planned to hold hearings on Medicare for all.
“Chairman Yarmuth plans to hold a hearing this Congress on the various approaches to expanding coverage and making health care more affordable, which would include different Medicare for All options,” spokesman Sam Lau said Thursday.
Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), the Ways and Means chairman, has been more open to the idea, saying in December that Medicare for all deserved “a conversation.”
Democrats, however, face pressure from their left wing on the issue, not only from Jayapal but from a class of new members including incoming Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
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