If we do not inspire, energize, and organize the largest grassroots movement in history, including the multiracial working class, everyday Americans, and everyone else hurt by our broken health care system, by demanding real material changes like Medicare for All, then we risk losing millions more people to the false promises of authoritarians and their corporate allies.
An Open Letter to those seeking to reform our health care system:
Dream Bigger, Be Effective:
Our Democracy is struggling, and the status quo is not working. Too many corporate-backed politicians continue to push for a “business as usual” approach while wages stagnate, public goods and services erode, and billionaires amass grotesque amounts of wealth.
The reality that far too many live today is one of debt and struggle. Working people feel a deep sense of alienation and powerlessness due to the state of our economy, which is rigged to benefit corporations and wealthy elites. How can one feel optimism for our future when over 40% of us are carrying around the burden of medical debt? How can we plan for our futures when we can’t afford to go to the doctor or cover rent?
We need an agenda that working-class people and everyday Americans can rally behind. Without one, far-right, fascist politicians are filling that void. This fascist agenda redirects people’s rightful anger at our system’s failures to unjustly place blame on immigrants, low-income people, and people of color. It’s time to acknowledge that failing to provide transformational policies and hope to the working class has allowed fascism to rise and hold on to power. It’s time to challenge the corrupt CEOs who profit off despair. To show people real solutions that can work.
No one can fix our rigged economy overnight. Our structural inequality is decades in the making. But one piece of the solution is to take on one of the largest industries in our country: health care.
We may face a once-in-a-generation opportunity to legislate on health care in 2029. We need to rally behind the boldest possible reform, Medicare for All, that brings together the broadest possible movement, not overly complex incremental measures that prop up the same systems we’re seeing fail under the weight of attacks by Trump and Republicans. The American people are hungry for bold ideas that reform fundamental institutions that have failed them for too long. And they are looking for leaders who will take on powerful interests and fight for working people.
Now is the time to organize and inspire! Support for Medicare for All grows daily in our communities and in Congress. It’s our best path forward, and it’s rooted in real promise: everybody in, nobody out.
A small minority of skeptical health care policy wonks may try to convince us to scale back, that structural change isn’t winnable. The reality is that alternative proposals don’t move us towards Medicare for All and complicate our already broken system. Halfway measures allow corporations to continue profiting off the sick.
We must dream bigger. In fact, 90% of Democratic voters and 63% of all voters support Medicare for All. Americans believe the government should guarantee health care to everyone, and anything less means tens of millions of people in the U.S. continuing to suffer from the lack of necessary care and the prospect of medical debt if they do seek care.
We can’t give in to half measures; we must fight for exactly what people need and deserve. Medicare for All is the only way that we can guarantee everyone’s care and finally take the profit-motive and corporate influence out of health care.
We are seeing record support for the Medicare for All Act in the Senate, and more than half of the House Democratic caucus members have already signed on. Politicians fighting for Medicare for All are reaping the rewards of being on the right side of history. Billionaires and their cronies have already begun their attacks against Medicare for All, and that speaks to the power of this issue and its ability to rally everyday Americans.
Join us in dreaming of an economy that works for all of us. Where workers get paid a living wage and have expanded and enforced rights. A future where people can afford safe, healthy, and affordable housing and utilities. Where schools are robustly funded. A core part of that vision is making health care a human right.
We urge members of Congress to stop listening to the political consultants and start listening to the people. Americans understand we must get corporate greed out of our health care system once and for all.
Meet the moment: Join the fight for Medicare for All
Signed,
4 Positive Choices
Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE)
Action North Carolina
Action Together Florida
Activate Maine
Actors’ Equity Association
AIDS Healthcare Foundation
All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care
Alternatives
American Federation of Teachers Retirees-Washington
American Friends Service Committee
American Humanist Association
American Postal Workers Union (APWU)
Americans for Democratic Action-Southern California
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA)
Baltimore County Progressive Democrats Club
Baltimore Nonviolence Center
Beta Cell Action
Black Coalition for Safe Motherhood
Black Nurses Rock Delaware Chapter
Blue Future
Bulletproof Pride
Butte County Health Care Coalition
California Nurses Association
California OneCare Education Fund
Californians for Disability Rights Inc.
Camano Island Democrats
Campaign for America’s Future
Campaign for New York Health
Cape Cod Coalition for Universal Health Care
Center for Common Ground
Center for Health Progress
Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York (CIDNY)
Charlotte-Metrolina Labor Council
Chicago Women Take Action
Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC)
Colorado Foundation for Universal Health Care
Colorado Health Care Coalition
Committee of Interns and Residents-SEIU Healthcare (CIR-SEIU)
Communications Workers of America Local 3641
Communities United for Action
Community Change Action
Community Voices Heard
Consumers Council of Missouri
Courage California
Cross-union Retirees Organizing Committee (CROC NYC)
Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus
D.C. Nurses Association
Debt Collective
Defend Public Health New York
DemCast USA
Democracy Needs Help LLC
Democratic Disability Caucus of Florida
Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)
DSA-Long Island
DSA-Metro DC
DSA-Metro Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Chapter
DSA-North Olympic
DSA-Santa Barbara
Doctors for America
Down Home North Carolina
Driftless for Democracy
Economic Opportunity Institute
Equity Allies Giving Circle
Fair Immigration Reform Network (FIRM)
Faithful America
Fayetteville Police Accountability Community Taskforce
Food and Water Watch
Freedom Virginia
Freedom Writers Collaborative
Friends of Public Health
Fund Health Care Not Warfare of Massachusetts Peace Action
Georgia Interfaith Public Policy Center
Georgians for a Universal Health Program
Gorham Democrats
Grassroots Alexandria
Hastings Progressives
Havertown Area Community Action Network (H-CAN)
Healthy California NOW
Health Care Advocates for Maine
Health Care for All Colorado
Health Care for All Fremont County CO
Health Care for All Maine
Health Care for All Minnesota
Health Care for All North Carolina
Health Care for All Ohio
Health Care for All Oregon
Health Care for All Pennsylvania
Health Care for All Philadelphia
Health Care for All Sonoma County CA
Health Care for All Texas
Health Care for All Washington
Health Care for All WNC
Health Care Is a Human Right WA
Health Care Justice-North Carolina
Healthcare NOW
Health Students Taking Action Together (H-STAT GA)
Housekeys Action Network Denver
Illinois People’s Action
Illinois Single Payer Coalition
Indivisible
Indivisible Birmingham
Indivisible Brooklyn
Indivisible Chicago Alliance
Indivisible Chicago Northwest
Indivisible Des Plaines
Indivisible DuPage
Indivisible Eastside-WA
Indivisible East Valley
Indivisible Evanston
Indivisible Georgia Chapter
Indivisible Greater Portland
Indivisible Herndon-Reston
Indivisible Illinois
Indivisible Lake Region
Indivisible Lincoln Square
Indivisible Mid Maine
Indivisible Niles, Maine Township
Indivisible North West Bronx
Indivisible NYCD 16/15
Indivisible Orchard City
Indivisible Resistance Action East Bay
Indivisible Ridgewood Queens
Indivisible Route 1 Corridor
Indivisible Tioga
Indivisible Ventura
Indivisible Waldo County
Indivisible Wallingford
Institute for Policy Studies’ Poverty Project
International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE)
International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW)
Iowa Citizen Action Network
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement
Just Solutions
Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care
Labor Campaign for Single Payer
Labor-Community Alliance of South Florida (LCA)
Labor Today International
Longmont Area Democrats
Maine AllCare
Maine Center for Economic Policy
Maine People’s Alliance
Maryland State Education Association
Mass-Care
McIntosh Advocacy and Consulting
Medicare for All Arizona
Medicare for All Bloomington
Medicare for All Florida
Medicare for All North Carolina
Medicare for All South Shore
Medicare for All Western Massachusetts
Mekong NYC
Michigan for Single Payer Health Care
Michigan for Single Payer Health Care SE Chapter
Michigan Nurses Association
Michigan United
Minneapolis Educator Pension Advocates
Minneapolis Regional Retiree Council
Minneapolis Retired Teacher Chapter 59
Minnesota and Dakotas Retirees United Chapter 565
Minnesota Farmers Union
Minnesota Nurses Association
Minnesota State Retiree Council, AFL-CIO
Missouri Jobs With Justice
Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE-UFT)
MoveOn
Move to Amend
NAACP Charlotte-Mecklenburg
National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)
National Nurses United (NNU)
National Organization for Women (NOW)
NOW-Florida
National Single Payer
National Union of Healthcare Workers
National Women’s Law Center Action Fund
Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts
New Disabled South
New Era Colorado Action Fund
New Jersey Universal Health Care Coalition
New North Carolina Project
New York Progressive Action Network (NYPAN)
New York State Academy of Family Physicians
New York State Nurses Association
North Carolina Council of Churches
North Seattle Progressives
Nurses & Friends for Single Payer
OneAmerica
One Fair Wage
One Payer States
ONE People’s Campaign
Organization for Latino Health Advocacy
Organized Power in Numbers
Other98
Our Bodies Ourselves
Our Bronx
Our Revolution
Our Revolution Northern Virginia
Pacific Islander Health Board of Washington
PEER/NYPAN Suffolk County
Pennsylvania Stands Up
People’s Action Institute
People Power United
The People’s Lobby
Philly Neighborhood Networks
Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP)
PNHP-Arizona
PNHP-California
PNHP-Colorado
PNHP-Connecticut
PNHP-Florida
PNHP-Hawaii
PNHP-Humboldt
PNHP-Illinois
PNHP-Infectious Diseases Member Interest Group
PNHP-Iowa
PNHP-Jean and Linda Farley Wisconsin Chapter
PNHP-Los Angeles
PNHP-Maryland, DC
PNHP-Massachusetts
PNHP-Minnesota
PNHP-Missouri
PNHP-Napa/Sonoma
PNHP-New York Metro
PNHP-North Central Florida
PNHP-North Florida
PNHP-Ohio
PNHP-Philadelphia
PNHP-Rhode Island
PNHP-San Francisco Bay
PNHP-Santa Barbara
PNHP-Ventura
PNHP-Vermont
PNHP-Virginia
PNHP-Washington
PNHP-West Virginia
PNHP-Wisconsin
Poor People’s Campaign North Carolina
Popular Democracy in Action
Portland Jobs With Justice
Progressive Democrats of America
Progressive Democrats of America Humboldt
Progressive Democrats of America Maryland
Progressive Democrats of America West Virginia
Progressive Harford County
Progressives for Democracy in America Florida
Progressive Maryland
Protect Minnesota
Public Advocacy for Kids (PAK)
Public Citizen
Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action (PSARA)
Putnam Progressives
Quality Care Infusion Nurses, LLC
Race Forward Action
Red Wine and Blue
Reproductive Justice Social Action Team of First UU Church of Austin
RESIST Central Maine
Right Care Alliance
Rights & Democracy Vermont
R Impact Consulting
Rise and Resist
Rise Up West Virginia
Rogan’s List
RootsAction
Safer Country
Save Secular Healthcare Washington
SEIU Local 1107
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)
Social Security Works
Society for Humanistic Judaism
South Asian Public Health Association (SAPHA)
South Bay Progressive Alliance
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)
Southern Maine Workers’ Center
Students for a National Health Plan (SNaHP)
SNaHP-Albert Einstein School of Medicine
SNaHP-Creighton University
SNaHP-Dartmouth, Geisel School of Medicine
SNaHP-Drexel University College of Medicine
SNaHP-Emory
SNaHP-Florida
SNaHP-Florida State University
SNaHP-Gainesville
SNaHP-Keck School of Medicine
SNaHP-Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine
SNaHP-Medical College of Georgia
SNaHP-Miami
SNaHP-Morehouse School of Medicine
SNaHP-New York University Grossman
SNaHP-Northwestern University
SNaHP-Orlando
SNaHP-Rowan School of Medicine
SNaHP-Spelman College
SNaHP-Thomas Jefferson University
SNaHP-University of California, Davis
SNaHP-University of California, Riverside
SNaHP-University of Florida College of Medicine
SNaHP-University of Florida Undergraduate
SNaHP-University of Illinois School of Medicine, Peoria
SNaHP-University of Iowa
SNaHP-University of Minnesota
SNaHP-University of Vermont
SNaHP-University of Washington
SNaHP-Wayne State
SNaHP-Western University
SNaHP-West Virginia School of Medicine
SNaHP-West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
Sunrise Movement
Sweet Fern MDI
Takoma Park Mobilization
Therapists for Single Payer
Thurston Lewis Mason Central Labor Council
Tioga County Democratic Committee
Together We Will Long Island
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE)
United We Dream Action
Unity Fellowship of Christ Church NYC
Universal Health Care Education Fund
Veterans for Peace Baltimore
Veterinary Surgical Instruction Service
VOCAL-KY
VOCAL-NY
VOCAL-TX
VOCAL-US
Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility
Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment
Wednesday Walkouts for Health
Wellstone Progressive Democrats of Sacramento County
Western Kennebec County Indivisibles (WKCI)
West Virginia Citizen Action
Whole Washington
Women’s Diversity Network
Women’s Equity Center and Action Network (WE CAN)
Women’s March
Women’s March Sussex, Delaware
Working Families of Will County