Medicare for All Would Save 114,000 Lives and $1 Trillion a Year: Sanders Declares 'The Time Is Now'

Senator Bernie Sanders renewed his call for Medicare for All after a Yale-led study projected major savings and fewer preventable deaths under a single-payer system. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Gage Skidmore)

A new Yale University study estimates that a nationwide Medicare for All system could save more than 114,000 lives each year while reducing US healthcare spending by more than $1 trillion annually, prompting Senator Bernie Sanders to declare that 'the time is now' to pass universal healthcare legislation.

Responding to the findings on Tuesday, the Vermont independent and ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee said the analysis reinforced his long-standing argument that a single-payer healthcare system would both lower costs and prevent avoidable deaths. The research arrives as millions of Americans face rising health insurance costs and recent changes to federal healthcare coverage.