Bernie Sanders plans to introduce legislation soon to turn Medicare into a single payer system for all Americans, but has yet to explain how it will be paid for.

The Vermont senator and presidential candidate spoke before a collection of nurses and various unions on Capitol Hill Thursday at an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the passage of Medicare and Medicaid.

The self-proclaimed socialist said the U.S. should end the embarrassment of being the "only major country on earth that does not guarantee healthcare to all people as a right."

A single-payer healthcare system is a common part of Sanders' stump speech, but now the senator hopes to put some legislation behind it. He told the Washington Examiner after the event that the legislation to turn Medicare into single-payer will be introduced in "the very near future," but did not say exactly when.

"We must move towards a healthcare system that is based on providing quality care to all of our people, rather than worry about the profits of the insurance companies," he said during the event.

When and if he does put the bill forward, Sanders will face incredibly long odds to get his bill passed, even if the GOP didn't control Congress.

Sanders told the small crowd that he would provide healthcare through a "cost effective way, and that is a Medicare for all." However, he did not explain how his bill would pay for such a wide expansion of Medicare.

So far Obamacare's coverage provisions, which include an expansion of Medicaid, have resulted in a net cost of $36 billion for 2014, $5 billion less than previous projections for the year, according to a report from the independent Congressional Budget Office.

Sanders took aim at his leading GOP rivals also running for president, specifically targeting former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush who recently said we should "phase out" Medicare because the program is unsustainable. Bush later walked back the comments.

"That ain't going to happen," Sanders said of the idea.

Sanders has gained steam in the polls in recent months, but still trails well behind frontrunner and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.