A Washington congresswoman is launching a PAC to fund candidates who pledge to support plans for a "Medicare for All" single payer healthcare system.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal Pramila JayapalDHS opens probe into allegations at Georgia ICE facility Progressive Caucus co-chair: Whistleblower complaint raises questions about 'entire detention system' Buttigieg, former officials added to Biden's transition team MORE (D-WA) announced Wednesday that the Medicare for All PAC would support progressive candidates who support the system championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersOutrage erupts over Breonna Taylor grand jury ruling Dimon: Wealth tax 'almost impossible to do' Grand jury charges no officers in Breonna Taylor death MORE (I-VT) during his 2016 run for president, as well as ballot initiatives in support of single-payer healthcare.

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“American families are hurting and public officials need to do better, because no family should be one healthcare crisis away from bankruptcy or a lifetime of paying off medical debt. Insurance companies, drug manufacturers and special interest groups have been standing in the way of real progress for too long - it's time we fought back," Jayapal says in a press release.

"Health care cannot be a luxury that’s only available for the wealthy and well-connected—it is a human right. Now is the time for Medicare For All," she continues.

The freshman congresswoman also released a video message through NowThis News, in which she calls the newly-founded PAC "a grassroots movement committed to supporting candidates and initiatives around the country that are ready to stand with the majority of Americans" and pass single-payer healthcare.

Exclusive: Rep. Pramila Jayapal is launching a new Medicare for all PAC to fund candidates, initiatives and new research pic.twitter.com/w1HIRpTq6D — NowThis (@nowthisnews) September 12, 2018

Just over half of Americans, including a wide majority of Democrats, support a move towards single-payer health care, according to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll released in April.

Sanders's single-payer "Medicare for All" bill has 16 Democratic co-sponsors in the Senate, a list which includes several Democrats considered likely 2020 presidential contenders.

Among Democratic congressional candidates who have supported "Medicare for All" are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York and Ayanna Pressley in Massachusetts.

Updated at 5:30 p.m.