We are pleased to announce a strong leadership team for Medicare for All in the statehouse for the 2019-2020 legislative session. “An Act to Establish Medicare for All in Mass.” will be re-submitted by the January 18th filing deadline with some minor revisions. Sen. Jamie Eldridge will continue as the lead sponsor on the Senate version of the bill; newly-elected Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, a champion for Single Payer from the First Hampshire District, , will be taking over as lead sponsor in the House. We also look forward to working with the newly-formed Single Payer Legislative Caucus. The
Caucus will educate elected officials and the public about the need for Medicare for All in Massachusetts and how a Single Payer system works, and will help build support in the statehouse needed to get legislation out of committee. Sabadosa and Rep. Tami Gouveia will be the House co-chairs of the Caucus; Eldridge and Sen. Jo Comerford – another newly-elected Western Mass. legislator – will be the Senate c0-chairs.
Please ask your legislators to sign on to both the House and Senate versions of the new Medicare for All bill before these bills are filed (the filing deadline is Jan. 18th). Early cosponsorship shows strong support and their names will be printed on the bill itself. After the filing date, legislators can still sign on to the House version until Feb. 1st. (Cosponsors can sign on to the Senate version almost indefinitely – until it is reported out of committee.) And yes, Senators can sign on to the House bill and Reps can sign on to the Senate bill!
Mass-Care will be organizing a Lobby Day at the Statehouse, during the fourth week of January. We’ll keep you posted on the details when a date is set.