Access to quality health care is a mainstay of a middle-class standard of living, yet 47 million Americans lack health insurance, millions of others get by with inadequate coverage, and employers and citizens alike are squeezed by the high cost of insurance premiums, deductibles, and co-pays. This legislation would achieve universal health care by expanding America’s most successful health care program – Medicare – to every U.S. resident. The transition to this single-payer system would occur over 15 years. The estimated $2.5 billion needed to finance the system would be raised through a combination of payroll taxes, income taxes on highest earners, and the closure of corporate tax loopholes, with the typical middle-class family paying significantly less to support the free system than they currently pay for health care.