Efforts to pre-empt the growing mass movement for an expanded and improved Medicare for All by substituting instead a patchwork Medicare for some will only exacerbate the ongoing health care crisis for tens of millions of Americans.

No one should be deceived as to the source of this campaign, the multi-trillion-dollar healthcare industry, led by giant insurance and pharmaceutical corporations, as the Washington Post reiterated January 22.

In recent days alone, we have been reminded that one third of all GoFundMe campaigns are for medical expenses – a shocking 250,000 campaigns annually – the cost of live-saving insulin for diabetic patients has doubled in just the past four years, and racial and ethnic disparities in cervical cancer rates for women remain appallingly high.

Limited reforms, as with the Affordable Care Act, do provide some important relief. But they leave far too many behind.

Read full statement at medicare4all.org.