Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker announced Monday that he will support Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare-for-All” legislation.
Booker joins rumored 2020 hopefuls Democratic California Sen. Kamala Harris and Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren in supporting the bill.
“You should not be punished because you are working-class or poor and be denied health care. I think health care should be a right to all,” Sen. Booker told NJTV News. “This is something that’s got to happen. Obamacare was a first step in advancing this country, but I won’t rest until every American has a basic security that comes with having access to affordable health care.”
A June Pew poll found that 52 percent of Democrats and Americans who lean Democrat support federally funded universal healthcare.
NJTV News reported that Sanders’ legislation, which will be unveiled Wednesday, will cost an estimated $1.38 trillion a year. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, based his insurgent 2016 presidential campaign heavily on the promise of universal healthcare.