Dem El-Sayed on Medicare for All: We Need to Ban Some of the Middlemen in Our Health Care System, Like Pharmacy Benefit Managers

RUSH EXCERPT:
EL-SAYED: "We can walk and chew gum at the same time, and we need relief. There‘s a lot that‘s about to hit. It hasn‘t even hit yet when it comes to cutting aca subsidies. When it comes to cutting Medicaid for people who desperately need health care, I think we need to start with making those whole. I also think we need to ban some of the middlemen in our health care system, like pharmacy benefit managers and organizations, or a set of organizations that most people haven‘t heard of, but they‘re a big reason why you pay more for prescription drugs. I also think we can start enforcing antitrust policy when it comes to big health care. Partnering with with my friend, senator Elizabeth Warren on on taking on the consolidation in the health care system. But Medicare for all is where we need to go. And my hope is both coming out of the 2026 midterms and then out of 2028, that we‘re going to be on our way to a Senate majority to be able to get this done. I‘ve also been clear, I think the filibuster is anti-democratic on its own terMs. And so I do hope that the Senate is willing to actually deal with the fact that we cannot allow the entire Senate to hide behind the filibuster of one senator, and we need to actually have democracy in the U.S. Senate again. So, yes, Medicare for all is where we need to go in the interim. We‘re going to do everything we can to start lowering prescription drug prices and health insurance premiums and prices. But we need to get to Medicare for all to guarantee every single person the health care that they need and deserve."