Get free bunus 50$ free: thank for click The first hearings for Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders' plan to revamp US health care begin this week on Capitol Hill. It's a vision that has garnered support from some of Mr Sanders' 2020 presidential rivals and attacks from President Trump and his Republican party. So what is it? It's widely known that the US has the most expensive healthcare system in the world, and health outcomes vary according to your means. President Barack Obama tried to overhaul it. But even after his landmark Affordable Care Act, some 27 million Americans remain uninsured. His successor in the White House has tried to dismantle that legislation, making healthcare a central issue in next year's presidential election. Mr Sanders' so-called Medicare for All plan will play a big part in the debate. So what's in it? Firstly, what's Medicare? Medicare is a federally run programme that offers health insurance coverage for Americans aged 65 and older, as well as individuals with certain disabilities or medical conditions. It covers both hospital and medical costs. The programme is broken up into different plans (called Medicare A, B, C and D) that individuals can select depending on their needs. There are additional private plans available to supplement the basic coverage. Most still require patients to pay annual premiums as well as deductibles (what patients pay for treatment before insurers step in) and co-payments (fixed cost of a service or prescription) that are set based on rates negotiated by the government with providers. These rates can change year to year. Many people find they need supplemental insurance coverage even with Medicare, as the programme will only pay for 80% of approved medical costs or for 60 days of hospital care. As it stands, Medicare is not a single-payer system since private insurers can participate. What is Sanders proposing? Medicare for All is a proposal to expand Medicare into a single-payer health system. That means the federal government would be the sole, nationwide insurance provider for all essential and preventative healthcare. It is not a universal health care system where the government would own and operate hospitals - instead, the government would pay private providers an agreed upon rate for their services. Under Senator Bernie Sanders' proposal, first introduced in 2017 and re-introduced in April, Medicare for All would expand Medicare's coverage to include vision, dental, prescription drugs, nursing home care and reproductive health services. The 2019 update to the plan also includes a long-term care coverage for patients with disabilities - amending one of the criticisms of his earlier plan. The change also brings Mr Sanders' plan more in line with the version of Medicare for All proposed in the House of Representatives by congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of Washington state. In four years, Mr Sanders' plan would have the country phase out of private i
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