Progressives Raise Alarm Over Lack of Single Payer Supporters Chosen to Testify at Historic Medicare for All Hearing

After the House Rules Committee released the full list of witnesses who will testify at the first-ever congressional hearing on Medicare for All next week, progressives raised alarm over the lack of single-payer proponents chosen for the panel and worried that what is supposed to be a substantive discussion of Medicare for All could turn out to be a “farce.”

“Medicare for All is one proposal. Medicare for All is the best proposal. Is someone going to make that case?”
Click Here: camisetas de futbol baratas—Dr. Adam Gaffney, Physicians for a National Health Program

As HuffPost reported Thursday, just one of the four witnesses—Dr. Farzon Nahvi, a New York City emergency physician and professor—is “actually an advocate for Medicare for All, the single-payer healthcare system.”

“And even then,” the outlet reported, “sources tell HuffPost that Nahvi’s testimony is supposed to be limited to how patient experience would change. That means that when the Rules Committee convenes this hearing on Tuesday, there may not be any witness testifying who will make the case for Medicare for All over other healthcare plans.”

Dr. Adam Gaffney, president of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), was recommended to Democrats by single-payer proponents as a possible witness, but the Rules Committee “nixed his appearance, along with those of more than a dozen other suggested witnesses,” HuffPost reported.

“There is a heated debate right now about what is this best way forward,” Gaffney told HuffPost. “Medicare for All is one proposal. Medicare for All is the best proposal. Is someone going to make that case?”

As Common Dreams reported on Wednesday, the Rules Committee’s announcement of next week’s Medicare for All hearing was hailed as a historic step on the path toward a truly just healthcare system.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), chair of the Rules Committee and co-sponsor of the House Medicare for All Act of 2019, said single-payer is “a serious proposal that deserves serious consideration on Capitol Hill.”