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Medicare for all

From Coast To Coast, People Demand Health Care For All, Not Profits

On Saturday, May 31, people across the United States rallied as part of the first National Day of Action organized by National Single Payer to demand Health, not Profit: Put National Single Payer on the Nation's Agenda. A national single payer healthcare system would cover every person living in the United States and its territories from birth to death and provide comprehensive coverage, including all medically necessary care, medications and therapies, and longterm care. The reality that healthcare in the US is designed to provide profits for the medical-industrial complex rather than protecting people's health has spurred a growing coalition of organizations to take action together.

The United States Could Have The Best Health Care

Ours is the only nation in the industrialized world that has turned health care over to the private sector, subjecting all of us to life expectancy five years below the norm in other wealthy countries. More of our babies die in the first year of life and more of our moms die in childbirth than in any other industrialized country. We spend twice as much per person on health care in the United States as peer countries, yet we have the highest rates of death for conditions that are treatable. On the congressional agenda are cuts to Medicaid of more than $600 billion over 10 years. Hundreds of thousands Kentuckians are among those in the line of fire.

The Case For Single-Payer: Reduce Healthcare Cost With Simplification

Privatization of publicly funded Medicare and Medicaid, managed care, and “value-based payment”1 have failed to reduce cost or improve population health despite over 30 years of trying, and a new paradigm for health policy is needed. Public funding is appropriate for essential public services necessary for everyone—funded by taxes and paid for with budgets based on cost of operations, with no opportunity for profit or loss. Examples include police and fire departments, public schools, the military, roads and bridges, and government services. Health care should be added to this list. Other industrialized countries with far more cost-effective universal systems treat health care as a public good, not a commodity.

National Day Of Action To Demand Health Care, Not Profit

On May 31, a large coalition of labor and community groups is holding a nationwide day of action to demand a national single payer healthcare system. Clearing the FOG speaks with Kay Tillow, an organizer of the action and member of the leading organization, NationalSinglePayer.com. Tillow speaks about the current healthcare crisis in the United States and why it is imperative that people organize now for a solution, such as national improved Medicare for all. Tillow critiques the Medicare for All legislation that was recently introduced in both houses of Congress and what we need to do to move the bills forward.

‘Hands Up’ For The National Day Of Action For Single Payer

Every household with employer health insurance making $80,610 per year or less is underinsured. Employers are faced with increasing insurance premiums for their employees that challenge their ability to stay in business, or in the case of public schools, the ability to keep schools open. Enough is enough! Over 70 local and national organizations have endorsed the National Day of Action. On May 31, join an action or plan an action in your community. Focus the outrage to move the engine of change and put single payer on the nation’s agenda and remove profit from healthcare. On May 31, put your “Hands Up” for National Single Payer—an Improved Medicare for All free from profit with everybody in and nobody out.

Call To Action May 31, 2025: Demand Health Not Profit!

Following the shooting in December of United Health Care CEO, Brian Thompson, the response from Americans was not your typical “sending thoughts and prayers.” The rage, frustration, and disgust directed at the “victim” surprised many. Quickly enough, it became clear why people were responding with anger and not condolences. Many recognized that the victims included people who have been wronged by a cruel, expensive, failed broken health care system. Brian Thompson symbolized an ugly, rapacious industry. It was hard to mourn its death.

Dr. Oz’s Nomination Fuels Fears For Crucial Health Programs

Health workers and patients are mobilizing against the appointment of Dr. Mehmet Oz as head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), one of several controversial health-related nominations submitted by the Trump presidency. Many have expressed concern over what Dr. Oz’s leadership would mean for the largest US healthcare programs and, consequently, access to healthcare across the country. If confirmed, Oz would be in charge of over USD 1 trillion and overall coverage administration. While he is a recognized surgeon, he is better known for promoting dubious nutrition advice through his public platforms.

Corporate Media Coverage Of Healthcare In 2024 Elections

The murder of UnitedHealth Group executive Brian Thompson, and the subsequent arrest of Luigi Mangione, focused media and policymakers’ attention on the savage practices of private US health insurance. In the immediate aftermath, major media outlets scolded social media posters for mocking Thompson with sarcastic posts, such as “I’m sorry, prior authorization is required for thoughts and prayers.” As public fury failed to subside, it began to dawn on at least some media organizations that the response to Thompson’s murder might possibly reflect deep, widespread anger at a healthcare system that collects twice as much money as those in other wealthy countries, makes it difficult for half the adult population to afford healthcare even when they’re supposedly “insured,” and maims, murders and bankrupts millions of people by denying payment when they actually try to use their alleged benefits.

US Health Insurance System Is Failing, Say Doctors

American doctors are accusing US health insurance giants of causing deadly delays to vital medical procedures and care – and putting profits ahead of their patients’ health. Firms including United Healthcare have denied basic scans, and taken months to reconsider, according to physicians who spoke to the Guardian. “There’s good evidence that these kinds of delays literally kill people,” said Dr Ed Weisbart, former chief medical officer for Express Scripts, one of the largest prescription benefits managers in the US. “For some people, this isn’t just an inconvenience and an annoyance and an aggravation.

Improved Medicare For All Can Heal This Sick Country

It’s the beginning of the end for corporate control of health care. The tsunami of outrage against the health insurance industry in the wake of the shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, can propel an urgent, unyielding demand for the removal of profit from healthcare and the enactment of a universal, national single payer system. That is, if the single payer, Medicare for All, national health service movement can summon the vision and audacity to rise to the occasion.

Is Public, Quality Healthcare Possible In The United States?

People in the US pay billions towards the health insurance industry, yet many in the healthcare field believe that this industry does little to ensure quality care to patients. While US healthcare spending is by far the highest of any country in the world, the country has the lowest life expectancy among other nations with a similar GDP. In recent weeks, the rage against the for-profit healthcare industry in the United States has intensified. The reality faced by many in the US, of avoiding seeking medical care in an emergency for fear of costs, or having health insurance claims repeatedly denied despite paying thousands to private insurers, has become too much to bear.

US Healthcare Corporations Reap Profit From Human Misery

The assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4 has sparked a reaction that few may have suspected. The perpetrator has received an outpouring of popular support, and a profound debate on the brutality of the US for-profit healthcare system has been sparked, with many accusing healthcare corporations of reaping their profits directly from human misery. Thompson was shot and killed while heading to an investors meeting in Midtown Manhattan on December 4. Police have arrested 26-year-old Luigi Mangione in connection with the crime, who quickly has become a working class hero in the eyes of many in the US public, especially after his alleged manifesto revealed that he was motivated by outrage towards healthcare corporations.

Fourteen Years After Reform, The US Healthcare System Is Still Failing

Since 2004, the Commonwealth Fund has compared health system performance among wealthy nations. The U.S. consistently ranks dead last. Why is the U.S. such an outlier, when the solution, a national single payer system, free from profit, would save lives and money? Dr. Margaret Flowers, renowned single payer activist and humanist, was one of the 13 single payer activists, doctors, and nurses arrested at the Senate Finance Committee meeting in 2009, when the U.S. attempted to reform the health care system and came up with the Affordable Care Act.

The Cost Of Corporate Profit In US Health Care Reaches $2 Trillion

As has long been the case, the U.S. health care system is by far the world’s most expensive while providing the worst results among the world’s advanced capitalist countries. And that expense continues to get larger and more unaffordable. Just how large is the cost of private profit in health care? Almost two trillion dollars! Unbelievable? It certainly seems so. But that is indeed how much more money the people of the United States spent on health care in 2022 than they would otherwise have spent if the U.S. had a single-payer system.

Progressives Must Put Medicare For All Back On The Agenda

In May 2009, Dr. Margaret Flowers, renowned single payer activist and humanist, was one of 13 single payer activists, doctors, and nurses arrested at one of the Senate Finance Committee meetings, chaired by then-Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.), charged with reforming the U.S. health care system. The committee heard from 28 witnesses over two days representing major health care stakeholders. Missing from the lineup was even one witness in support of the obvious solution, single payer health care. As activists were hauled out of the hearing by police, one of them could be heard saying, “Why aren’t single payer activists at the table?”

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Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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