Health, Safety, and Social Security Reforms

In spite of years of intensive public demands for change, healthcare is still a luxury rather than a right for US citizens, violent individuals can easily access weapons of war and commit mass shootings, police violence against citizens continues, and issues related to the solvency of our Social Security system persist.

The Preamble of the U.S. Constitution charges the United States Government with the duty to “insure domestic Tranquility" and "promote the general Welfare” of its People. Because there is no more basic form of welfare than the preservation of life itself, including protection from sickness, injury, disease, violent crime, and poverty in old age, guaranteed Universal Health Coverage (UHC), effective gun control, protections from police violence against citizens, and a fully funded Social Security program must both be considered Constitutional Rights for every American Citizen. The following must therefore be implemented:

American Universal Health Coverage, to provide top quality, effective healthcare for all American citizens, protecting them from the possibility of financial ruin due to illness or injury, and paid for by the following:

1. Employers contribute 6.2% premium based on employee salary up to $100,000, with progressive increases as employee salary increases;

2. Individuals and households above the poverty level contribute 2.2% of income up to $150,000, with progressive increase as salary increases (for full plan visit www.berniesanders.com/issues/medicare-for-all/Medicare-for-All);

3. Additional unfunded expenses for UHC to be paid for by a new Domestic General Fund, created by Military spending reductions from current level of 55% of budget to a maximum 15% of budget.

The United States of America- the richest country in the world- is also the only developed nation that doesn’t offer universal health coverage to its citizens. Every European country, along with Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Estonia, Singapore, South Korea, and many more, provide medical coverage as a benefit of citizenship, while the United States does not. There is no moral argument to justify the current for-profit health insurance system that costs Americans more money and provides poorer results in terms of life expectancy and the prevalence of chronic conditions, than nearly any other country today. The US Public deserves a health deliver model designed to save lives and ease suffering, not to enrich private insurance and medical companies.

A comprehensive Gun Safety Program, based on common sense measures and successful models and policies adopted by other countries, to reduce ongoing gun violence in this country and address Americans' demands for action, to include:

1. Outright ban of the possession of any Semi-automatic/assault weapons or high-capacity magazines;

2. Minimum age of 21 years old for the purchase and ownership of a permitted handgun;

3. Required registration and licensing for purchase and ownership of permitted handguns similar to vehicle registration/licensing requirements, to include gun safety training and registration and license renewal;

4. Prohibition of gun ownership for convicted felons, stalkers, and individuals with certain medical and/or mental health diagnoses.

The 4th Amendment to the US Constitution, which reads "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed," has been misconstrued primarily by gun manufacturers, gun industry lobby groups, and NRA-funded politicians who ignore the original intent of the Amendment. The true purpose of the 4th Amendment was to circumvent the need for a Federal Government-controlled military by authorizing trained and armed citizen militias which could be mobilized in the event of foreign attack. Considering the US is now protected by a military more than capable of defending our nation's sovereignty, the 4th Amendment must be evaluated in an era of too easily accessible automatic assault weapons and an epidemic of widespread gun violence which has shamefully lead to our country having the highest rate of murder or manslaughter by firearm in the developed world.

An expanded and solvent Social Security Program, the most successful anti-poverty program for retired and disabled Americans, can easily be achieved by implementing the following change:

1. Increase the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security payroll tax from $128,400 to $500,000.

Improved effectiveness and integrity of police forces by strengthening the Federal Justice Department Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) in the following ways:

1. Restore audits of problem police departments by COPS and require changes to be implemented by any departments receiving federal assistance through taxpayer-funded grants;

2. Require the use of body cameras and dashboard cameras which cannot be arbitrarily turned off by patrol officers;

3. Establish a permanent Special Prosecutor's Office at the State level to review and prosecute cases of police violence;

4. Require independent review of use of deadly force cases and eliminate grand jury trial process with transparent jury trials;

5. Require police departments to follow strategies similar to those enacted by Connecticut House Bill No. 7103 ("Act Concerning Excessive Use of Force" including developing and publicly report a strategy/timeline to achieve a proportionality of police officers who are women and people of color;

6. Require tactical training for police officers regarding the use of physical force, cultural sensitivity and bias-free policing;

7. Prohibit police officers from interfering with citizens recording them, aside from specified exempt situations such as to preserve the integrity of a crime scene or for reasons of public safety.