Later this month, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), ATTN:, NowThis, and The Young Turks will live stream a national town hall to discuss a transition to a single-payer healthcare system in the United States. (Photo: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders/Facebook)
Jan 11, 2018
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced Thursday that he is partnering with three ditigal media outlets "to do what cable channels and network news will not"--host the first-ever national "Medicare for All" town hall to "engage in an in-depth conversation about one of the issues that matter most to Americans, their healthcare."
"The United States is the only major country on earth not to guarantee healthcare to all people, but amazingly there has not been one network town hall to discuss why our system lags so far behind every other industrialized country."
--Sen. Bernie Sanders
"The United States is the only major country on earth not to guarantee healthcare to all people, but amazingly there has not been one network town hall to discuss why our system lags so far behind every other industrialized country," Sanders said. "We are going outside the traditional media to change that, to talk about the real issues affecting the American people."
The event is open to the public and will be streamed live across Sanders' social media channels as well as the three online media outlets, NowThis, ATTN:, and The Young Turks.
Sanders, a long-time advocate of establishing a single-payer national healthcare system, will be joined by other healthcare experts to take questions about what that transition could look like. One proposal comes from Sanders himself; last year, the senator introduced the Medicare for All Act, which would guarantee healthcare to all Americans.
Even though the Medicare for All bill is backed by more than a quarter of Sanders' colleagues in Congress, and poll after poll has shown growing public support for a single-payer system, the senator and his digital partners are frustrated by the national media coverage of proposals to transform the U.S. system so that it can provide healthcare for everyone.
"The mainstream media continues to ignore how income inequality and the lack of a decent healthcare system devastates the middle class," said The Young Turks co-host Ana Kasparian. "I look forward to hearing from Bernie how his Medicare for All plan can address this issue."
Mike Vainisi, head of editorial at ATTN:, acknowledged that "healthcare policy is an extremely complex topic," but emphasized the importance of "giving people context around how it affects their actual, everyday lives."
"People are hungry for a thoughtful and honest conversation about healthcare--an often-misunderstood issue that directly impacts our daily lives," said NowThis managing editor Versha Sharma. "NowThis is proud to work with these other outlets to reach an enormous young audience across social media and provide them with the opportunity to directly address Senator Sanders and ask questions of him and leading healthcare and economic experts."
The town hall will begin at 7pm on Jan. 23 at the Capitol Visitor Center's Congressional Auditorium in Washington, D.C. Updates will be posted on the official Facebook event page.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. The final deadline for our crucial Summer Campaign fundraising drive is just hours away, and we’re falling short of our must-hit goal. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced Thursday that he is partnering with three ditigal media outlets "to do what cable channels and network news will not"--host the first-ever national "Medicare for All" town hall to "engage in an in-depth conversation about one of the issues that matter most to Americans, their healthcare."
"The United States is the only major country on earth not to guarantee healthcare to all people, but amazingly there has not been one network town hall to discuss why our system lags so far behind every other industrialized country."
--Sen. Bernie Sanders
"The United States is the only major country on earth not to guarantee healthcare to all people, but amazingly there has not been one network town hall to discuss why our system lags so far behind every other industrialized country," Sanders said. "We are going outside the traditional media to change that, to talk about the real issues affecting the American people."
The event is open to the public and will be streamed live across Sanders' social media channels as well as the three online media outlets, NowThis, ATTN:, and The Young Turks.
Sanders, a long-time advocate of establishing a single-payer national healthcare system, will be joined by other healthcare experts to take questions about what that transition could look like. One proposal comes from Sanders himself; last year, the senator introduced the Medicare for All Act, which would guarantee healthcare to all Americans.
Even though the Medicare for All bill is backed by more than a quarter of Sanders' colleagues in Congress, and poll after poll has shown growing public support for a single-payer system, the senator and his digital partners are frustrated by the national media coverage of proposals to transform the U.S. system so that it can provide healthcare for everyone.
"The mainstream media continues to ignore how income inequality and the lack of a decent healthcare system devastates the middle class," said The Young Turks co-host Ana Kasparian. "I look forward to hearing from Bernie how his Medicare for All plan can address this issue."
Mike Vainisi, head of editorial at ATTN:, acknowledged that "healthcare policy is an extremely complex topic," but emphasized the importance of "giving people context around how it affects their actual, everyday lives."
"People are hungry for a thoughtful and honest conversation about healthcare--an often-misunderstood issue that directly impacts our daily lives," said NowThis managing editor Versha Sharma. "NowThis is proud to work with these other outlets to reach an enormous young audience across social media and provide them with the opportunity to directly address Senator Sanders and ask questions of him and leading healthcare and economic experts."
The town hall will begin at 7pm on Jan. 23 at the Capitol Visitor Center's Congressional Auditorium in Washington, D.C. Updates will be posted on the official Facebook event page.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced Thursday that he is partnering with three ditigal media outlets "to do what cable channels and network news will not"--host the first-ever national "Medicare for All" town hall to "engage in an in-depth conversation about one of the issues that matter most to Americans, their healthcare."
"The United States is the only major country on earth not to guarantee healthcare to all people, but amazingly there has not been one network town hall to discuss why our system lags so far behind every other industrialized country."
--Sen. Bernie Sanders
"The United States is the only major country on earth not to guarantee healthcare to all people, but amazingly there has not been one network town hall to discuss why our system lags so far behind every other industrialized country," Sanders said. "We are going outside the traditional media to change that, to talk about the real issues affecting the American people."
The event is open to the public and will be streamed live across Sanders' social media channels as well as the three online media outlets, NowThis, ATTN:, and The Young Turks.
Sanders, a long-time advocate of establishing a single-payer national healthcare system, will be joined by other healthcare experts to take questions about what that transition could look like. One proposal comes from Sanders himself; last year, the senator introduced the Medicare for All Act, which would guarantee healthcare to all Americans.
Even though the Medicare for All bill is backed by more than a quarter of Sanders' colleagues in Congress, and poll after poll has shown growing public support for a single-payer system, the senator and his digital partners are frustrated by the national media coverage of proposals to transform the U.S. system so that it can provide healthcare for everyone.
"The mainstream media continues to ignore how income inequality and the lack of a decent healthcare system devastates the middle class," said The Young Turks co-host Ana Kasparian. "I look forward to hearing from Bernie how his Medicare for All plan can address this issue."
Mike Vainisi, head of editorial at ATTN:, acknowledged that "healthcare policy is an extremely complex topic," but emphasized the importance of "giving people context around how it affects their actual, everyday lives."
"People are hungry for a thoughtful and honest conversation about healthcare--an often-misunderstood issue that directly impacts our daily lives," said NowThis managing editor Versha Sharma. "NowThis is proud to work with these other outlets to reach an enormous young audience across social media and provide them with the opportunity to directly address Senator Sanders and ask questions of him and leading healthcare and economic experts."
The town hall will begin at 7pm on Jan. 23 at the Capitol Visitor Center's Congressional Auditorium in Washington, D.C. Updates will be posted on the official Facebook event page.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.