Bernie Sanders To Cover Campaign Staff's Health Benefits Through October
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign is extending health insurance benefits to staffers through the end of October despite his exit from the race this week.
Faiz Shakir, Sanders’ campaign manager, informed staffers in a call Thursday that the campaign was committed to ensuring all 500 employees had health insurance coverage during the coronavirus pandemic, several staffers confirmed.
The campaign will cover payroll through the end of May for employees who have been on staff for longer than six months. Those who have been employed for less than six months will be paid through one pay period in May, the first half of the month. All employees will be eligible for $1,000 monthly stipends if they opt into COBRA, the federal program that allows individuals to continue group health benefits provided by their employers at personal cost. Staffers will be able to receive the stipend through the end of October, a few days before the general election.
Sanders suspended his presidential campaign on Wednesday, a day after the Wisconsin Democratic primary, saying the path to the nomination was “virtually impossible.” Both Sanders and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden have been confined to their homes, and, in Sanders’ case, the U.S. Senate, for the last month, unable to hold public events during the pandemic.
The Sanders campaign kept field staff and advance teams, which organize travel and the senator’s public events, on payroll for the last month, even though they were unable to do in-person organizing work and campaigning.
Sanders has been a vocal opponent of the current health insurance system in the U.S., which ties health benefits to employment. He has proposed a “Medicare for All” system, where the government provides health insurance for all Americans regardless of job status or income.
His message has become particularly poignant as millions of Americans lose their jobs due to the economic fallout of the pandemic.
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