Under Senator Sanders’ previous Medicare for All proposal (a 2021 bill hasn’t yet been re-introduced in the Senate), a primary funding mechanisms was a 4% tax on household income greater than $29,000.

Households with an annual income of $50,000 would pay about $840 a year. Those making $100,000 would pay $2,840.

All medically necessary care would be covered—including long-term care for seniors and the disabled; as well as vision, hearing, and dental care.

No more premiums, deductibles, co-payments, or out-of-pocket expenses.

About 90% of families would pay less for healthcare than they do now. For the middle class, Medicare for All would be the biggest increase in take-home pay in 40 years.

By eliminating out-of-pocket costs, it’s estimated that Medicare for All would increase the income of the poor by about 29%, lifting roughly 8 million people out of poverty. It would be the most effective anti-poverty program in American history.

Despite expanding to cover every U.S. resident, Medicare for All will save trillions of dollars over a ten-year period.

Some of the savings come from eliminating the complexity and vast overhead of the current system. The administrative costs of current Medicare are about 2%, while for for-profit insurers, that number ranges between 14-28%.

Other savings come from the bargaining clout with pharmaceutical companies and medical providers that arise from a single-payer system—and the fact that providers are reimbursed not per procedure, but using annual global budgeting models similar to those used in firefighting.