Former Missouri state secretary Jason Kander is asking the Democratic Party to embrace a single-payer health care system and guarantee it as a right for all people.
"We've recently had an important victory for millions of Americans on health care," he said at the annual progressive conference Netroots Nation, referencing the GOP-led failure to repeal and replace Obamacare and ultimately kick millions off of their insurance. "For years, Democrats were scared to make the argument for Obamacare," Kander noted, pointing out that when it was threatened under President Donald Trump's administration, people took a stand to help make sure it stayed in place.
"We made the argument, and we saw an important victory that will save lives because we made the argument," Kander said. "So we shouldn't stop making that argument. Where we should go from here is take that energy and we should be honest about what we believe. What we believe is that health care should be a right in this country; I happen to believe that means that we should be for single-payer."
Kander stressed the importance of public services that benefit the public good.
"I think that showing up at town halls and demanding questions being answered about health care, I think that's patriotic," he said. "A lot of millennials really want a company that signs their paycheck, or whoever it is that signs their paycheck, to be an entity that reflects to them in a way that is consistent with their personal idea of who they are."
"And so people somehow find that to be entitled or spoiled," he continued. "I think that's patriotic. I think that it's a good thing that you want to be part of making the world a better place including between nine and five."
Kander is also the founder of Let America Vote, an organization dedicated to ending gerrymandering and voter suppression.
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