Watch–Pramila Jayapal: Only a Matter of Time Before America Has Medicare for All

Rep. Pramila Jayayal (D-WA) said Wednesday that “it’s not a question of if; it’s a question of when” America has single-payer health care.

During a House Committee hearing Wednesday on implementing a single-payer health care system, Rep. Jayapal, who wrote one of the most popular variants of Medicare for All, said that it remains only a matter of time before America has socialized medicine.

“It’s not a question of if; it’s a question of when this country has single-payer health care,” Jayapal said.

The Washington progressive said during a town hall at American University in May that one million private insurance workers could get “displaced” under Medicare for All.

Unlike Jayapal, not all Democrats want a single-payer healthcare system. Rep. Donna Shalala (D-FL) said recently that her constituents want “to keep their private health insurance,” not Medicare for All.

Former Vice President Joe Biden said last week that he does not support Medicare for All because the “vast majority of people are satisfied with their own healthcare system today.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has dismissed the idea of Medicare for All, contending in March that the path to universal health coverage remains through Obamacare.

Pelosi said, “All I want is the goal of every American having access to health care … You don’t get there by dismantling the Affordable Care Act.” Pelosi even asked rhetorically to Rolling Stone: “And by the way, how’s it gonna be paid for?”

The healthcare industry has also raised concerns about implementing a single-payer system. Scott Flanders, the chief executive of eHealth, said recently that Medicare for All would “collapse” Medicare and the overall healthcare system.

“You’re already saying that it’s a challenge to fund what we’ve already committed to our seniors,” Flanders said. “So, to layer on another 180 million people outside of the employer market into Medicare would just collapse the system.”

“We think it’s highly unlikely that that’s a realistic prospect, but there will still always be a private insurance market for the treatments that aren’t covered by a government plan,” the healthcare executive said.