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Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed on Thursday posted images of a mock gold "TrumpCare" card bearing President Donald Trump's signature, sharpening his pitch to get the president behind Medicare for All.
"This is a message for @realDonaldTrump," El-Sayed wrote on X. "Donald, this is on the table. Guarantee healthcare for every American, from cradle to grave."
The back of the card reads: "Show this card at any doctor, hospital clinic, or pharmacy in the United States." Its gold design looks a lot like the Trump Gold Card, the administration's visa program for wealthy foreigners that costs at least $1 million.
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The post comes as U.S. health costs stay far above those of other wealthy countries. Americans spent an average of $14,775 per person on health in 2024, almost $5,000 more than in Switzerland, the next-highest peer, according to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker. Comparable nations spend roughly half that.
People in the U.S. owe at least $220 billion in medical debt, by KFF's count, and about 14 million adults owe more than $1,000.
El-Sayed, a physician and the son of Egyptian immigrants, ran Detroit's health department before going into politics. He says one public insurance program would fix the mess, and the gold card is his newest way of asking Trump to sign on.
Newsweek reached out to the White House and El-Sayed's office for comment by email on Thursday.
Where Does Michigan Senator-Elect Abdul El-Sayed Stand on Medicare for All?
Universal health care has anchored El-Sayed's politics since 2018, when he lost Michigan's Democratic primary for governor by double digits. Eight years later, having never held elected office, he beat Republican former Representative Mike Rogers on November 3.
He ran on single-payer coverage, limiting outside money in elections and criticism of Israel. In January, he will replace retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters and become the first Muslim in the U.S. Senate.
The TrumpCare idea first surfaced on November 6, when El-Sayed told Zeteo editor-in-chief Mehdi Hasan he was fine with the president attaching his name to the program. "If he wants to pass Trumpcare-for-All, I'm ok with it. He seems to like to put his name on things," he said.
He doubled down on Tuesday on CNN. Kaitlan Collins asked whether he was being serious.
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"I'm absolutely serious," El-Sayed told Collins. "I don't care what it's called. I want people to have healthcare in this country."
He said he wants cradle-to-grave coverage with no copays, premiums or deductibles and no risk of medical debt.
His plan has shifted over time. In a book co-written with Micah Johnson, El-Sayed described Medicare for All as an enhanced version of traditional Medicare that would insure every American for life, and he has floated a wealth tax and a governing board modeled on the Federal Reserve. During the primary, he said workers should be able to keep supplemental private coverage from unions or employers.
El-Sayed's offer followed comments by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent, who told MS NOW host Chris Hayes he was "not absolutely certain" Trump would refuse to sign a bill lowering the Medicare age. Sanders has since urged Democrats to drop Medicare eligibility from 65 to 55 as a first step, saying it could pass the Senate with 51 votes through budget reconciliation.
Neither the Medicare for All Act nor its House companion, sponsored by Washington Representative Pramila Jayapal and Michigan Representative Debbie Dingell, has received a floor vote. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer have not sponsored it. A separate measure from Connecticut Representative Rosa DeLauro would let Americans keep private insurance while opening an expanded Medicare program to everyone.
What Has Trump Said About Medicare for All in the Past?
Trump has landed on both sides of single-payer. In his 2000 book The America We Deserve, written while he weighed a Reform Party presidential run, he called himself "a conservative on most issues but a liberal on this one" and said the country needed to "reexamine the single-payer plan." Days before his first inauguration, he told The Washington Post he wanted insurance for everybody, though he said he did not want single-payer.
By 2018, he had turned hard against it. In an October op-ed for USA Today, Trump called the Democratic proposal "Medicare for None" and warned it would end the program for seniors.
Last November, his tone toward the industry changed. Trump attacked "BIG, FAT, RICH INSURANCE COMPANIES" on Truth Social and said he would not sign a fix that sent them money. El-Sayed, then a candidate, replied: "Just wait until we tell you about Medicare for All." Around the same time, Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that a new health plan would be "so exciting" and that he would "call it 'Trumpcare."
Trump has also vowed to become "Mr. Veto" if Democrats won Congress, though he has signaled he is open to deals.
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How the Trump Administration Has Changed Health Care in the U.S.
The largest change came through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed in July 2025. Its health provisions cut federal spending by about $1.1 trillion over 10 years, mostly from Medicaid, according to the Congressional Research Service. The Congressional Budget Office projects they will leave 10 million more people uninsured in 2034. The law also created work requirements for some Medicaid recipients.
Enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025. El-Sayed's campaign said the lapse led about 130,000 Michiganders to lose or drop their coverage.
In January, Trump rolled out the Great Healthcare Plan, which would send subsidy money directly to Americans to buy their own insurance and codify the administration's "most-favored-nation" drug pricing deals. The administration launched TrumpRx.gov, a discount prescription drug site, in February.
Traditional Medicare patients in six states are now also under WISeR, a pilot that lets private contractors use artificial intelligence to review prior authorization requests. Democrats have pledged to restore the ACA subsidies and reverse the Medicaid cuts once they take over Congress.
All the Things Trump Has Added His Name or Image To
Trump built his business brand by stamping his name on towers, steaks and vodka, and he has kept doing it in office. His administration and its allies have put the Trump name on the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center and a planned class of Navy battleships.
Add to that Trump Accounts, the tax-advantaged savings accounts for children created by the 2025 tax law, plus TrumpRx, the Trump Gold Card and the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, a transit corridor in a deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
His image is on more things now, too. The Commission of Fine Arts signed off on a 24-karat gold commemorative coin with his likeness, and the State Department drew up limited-edition passports with an illustration of the president.
Presidential historian Jeffrey Engel of Southern Methodist University told the Associated Press that the country had never before consistently named things after a sitting president. Sanders has introduced legislation that would ban naming federal buildings or land after one.
What Are El-Sayed's Top Issues?
Affordability, corporate money in politics, Medicare for All and ending funding for foreign wars were the core of his campaign, according to Al Jazeera. In his Detroit victory speech, he pointed to Republican attacks on his religion and tied them back to costs, saying his name and faith "are not why you can't afford your gas."
He also promised to take on "the corporations and the billionaires."
"Winning a single U.S. Senate seat was never the goal," he told supporters early on November 4. "The goal is to use that seat to transform our politics."
During the campaign, El-Sayed told Newsweek he was focused on the cost of groceries and housing, health care access, public schools and spending on foreign conflicts.
His agenda has drawn pushback, some of it from fellow Democrats. During the primary, Michigan state Senator Mallory McMorrow, a Democrat who also ran for the seat, accused him of shifting his position on private insurance and told him to be "honest about what you're fighting for."
Some members of Michigan's Jewish community criticized his rhetoric on Israel. After an attack on a Michigan synagogue earlier this year, El-Sayed said "hurt people hurt people," a remark he later apologized for. His campaign appearances with streamer Hasan Piker also drew criticism.
Two days before the election, Michigan Representative Haley Stevens, a Democrat El-Sayed beat in the August primary, endorsed Rogers. She said El-Sayed had not done enough to address the concerns of some communities.
What Happens Next
Democrats take control of both chambers on January 3. Most bills still need 60 votes to get past a Senate filibuster, and anything that reaches Trump's desk faces a possible veto. Newsweek has reported that narrower measures, like restoring ACA subsidies or limiting prior authorization in Medicare Advantage, have a better shot at becoming law.
The Republican-led House Budget Committee has estimated Medicare for All would add about $47.4 trillion to federal deficits from 2027 to 2036.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Samantha Beech and Gray R. Thomas
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