Switch to the mobile version of this page.

News Hits

        
Tweet

Email

Print
Share

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

News Hits

Abdul El-Sayed and thousands of physicians sign open-letter NYT ad endorsing Medicare for All

Posted By Sonia Khaleel on Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 4:35 PM

Abdul El-Sayed, a physician and former health director for the city of Detroit, tweeted Tuesday that he is proud to have signed a letter that was endorsed by more than 2,000 physicians who support Medicare for All.

"Too many in Detroit where I served as health director go without the care they need," El-Sayed said in a statement to Metro Times. "We can solve it. We need Medicare for All today — we needed it yesterday. But we can achieve it in a tomorrow where we stand together and for one another."

The open letter, titled "As Physicians, We Prescribe Medicare for All," was published as a full-page ad in The New York Times.

Proud to have signed this. #MedicareForAll https://t.co/ezshFKpXXT
— Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) January 21, 2020

El-Sayed, a progressive Democrat who ran for governor of Michigan in 2018, endorsed presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, a proponent of Medicare for All, back in November.

“I’m honored to receive the endorsement of Abdul El-Sayed,” Sanders said in a news release at the time. “He knows we need a Medicare for All, single-payer system and a government that represents all the people – not just the insurance companies and drug companies. We will together finish what we started in 2016 and transform our country so it works for all of us.”

A full list of those who signed the letter can be found at pnhp.org/2020. The letter signed by the physicians reads as follows:

We are doctors from across the spectrum of our profession. We serve patients rich and poor, in hospitals and clinics, private offices and public agencies.

We witness daily the inhumanity and irrationality of the current health care system. America funds health care more generously than any other nation, and our hospitals and medical workforce are second to none. Yet despite an abundance of medical resources, care it too often meager.

For the thirty million who remain uninsured and millions more whose insurance is inadequate to their needs, life-saving treatment is often out of reach, deepening health disparities. Oppressive costs and the fear of financial ruin amplify the suffering of illness. Meanwhile, doctors and nurses struggle to provide good care in a bad system, and waste countless hours complying with arcane billing requirements and, along with our patients, imploring insurers to fulfill their promises of coverage.

It is time to transform the way we pay for care — to embrace improved Medicare for All.

Medicare for All would curb soaring drug prices and dismantle the wasteful bureaucracy of private insurance companies, freeing up hundreds of billions of dollars to expand and improve care — while ensuring free choice of doctor and hospital. Vested interests who profit from the current broken system raise false alarms of dislocation and disruption to incite fear and change. They are wrong. Improved Medicare for All would bring welcome relief to patients, lower costs to families and communities, and allow doctors and nurses to focus on what matters most: caring for our patients.

Stay on top of Detroit news and views. Sign up for our weekly issue newsletter delivered each Wednesday.

Tags: Abdul El-Sayed, Medicare for All, NYT, New York Times, physicians for Medicare for All, Image

We welcome readers to submit letters regarding articles and content in Detroit Metro Times. Letters should be a minimum of 150 words, refer to content that has appeared on Detroit Metro Times, and must include the writer's full name, address, and phone number for verification purposes. No attachments will be considered. Writers of letters selected for publication will be notified via email. Letters may be edited and shortened for space.

Email us at letters@metrotimes.com.

Support Local Journalism.
Join the Detroit Metro Times Press Club

Local journalism is information. Information is power. And we believe everyone deserves access to accurate independent coverage of their community and state. Our readers helped us continue this coverage in 2020, and we are so grateful for the support.

Help us keep this coverage going in 2021. Whether it's a one-time acknowledgement of this article or an ongoing membership pledge, your support goes to local-based reporting from our small but mighty team.

Join the Metro Times Press Club for as little as $5 a month.