HEALTHCARE FOR ALL

Problem

America spends more on healthcare than any wealthy nation—and Americans pay the price with poorer health.

The reality

• 17–18% of U.S. GDP goes to healthcare

• That’s nearly double what our peer nations spend—and results are getting worse.

• Life expectancy lags behind that of nearly every other wealthy country. The gap is growing.

• 100 million people carry medical debt

• Medical bills are the #1 cause of personal bankruptcy

• 1 in 10 is uninsured; millions are underinsured

• People delay essential care out of fear—costs force dangerous choices daily.

Who suffers most

• Black, Indigenous, and Latino communities

• Immigrants

• Low-wage workers

• Rural families losing hospitals

• Children and elders

Where the money goes

• Insurance companies

• Private hospital monopolies

• Pharmaceutical giants

• Billing bureaucracies and denial systems

• CEOs, administrators, and investors

We pay top dollar for a system engineered for profit—not for our health. Every day, this costs lives.

Solutions

1. Cover everyone — automatically

• Lower Medicare eligibility to zero, expanding enrollment year by year

• Add missing benefits:

  • Mental health

  • Addiction treatment

  • Dental, vision, and hearing.

  • Long-term and home care

• Phase out premiums, deductibles, copays, and networks

• Ensure care is free at the point of service for all.

Impact: No more coverage gaps. No more bankruptcies. No one is left behind by the delay.

2. Take profit out of essential care

• Ban profit-seeking corporate insurance in essential care.

• Cap hospital prices in monopoly markets

• Enforce charity care requirements.

• End medical debt lawsuits against low-income patients.

• Penalize predatory drug and equipment pricing.

• Break up mergers that shrink access.

Impact: Decisions must follow patient needs—not Wall Street’s timetable or bottom line.

3. Reduce costs by simplifying the system

• Consolidate billing and reimbursement into a single public system.

• Decrease the size of billing departments and reduce authorization and denial bureaucracy.

• Require transparent pricing for hospitals, insurers, and drugmakers.

• Use administrative savings to fund universal coverage.

Impact: Act now—save hundreds of billions without higher spending. Relief is possible immediately.

4. Lower drug prices with federal power

• Allow Medicare to negotiate prices for all prescription drugs.

• Cap insulin and lifesaving medications

• Block price hikes above inflation

• Break up pharma patent games.

• Support generics and public drug manufacturing

Impact: Make critical medicines affordable and accessible—every delay denies care.

5. Build and support a strong healthcare workforce

• Raise wages for frontline workers:

  • Nurses

  • Home care workers

  • Paramedics

  • Mental health providers

• Tuition-free pathways in nursing and behavioral health

• Debt forgiveness for clinicians serving high-need communities

• Safe staffing ratios

• Protect unions in healthcare settings.

Impact: Patients get high-quality care. Workers stay—if we make these changes now.

Bottom Line

Every wealthy democracy except the United States provides universal healthcare — with better outcomes and lower costs.

The U.S. can do the same by:

• Covering everyone automatically

• Eliminating profit from care

• Simplifying the bloated insurance system

• Using public leverage to lower drug prices

• Investing in the people who actually deliver care

Universal healthcare is the norm globally—what’s stopping us? We must act now.

We’re already paying for it.

We’re paying the wrong people—Americans can’t wait any longer for real change.