The single-payer path to genuine health care reform:
The United States National health Care Act, H.R. 676
(A letter from Physicians for a National Health Program, 2017 April 25)
[This is not a political position. It is the best way for all Americans to get affordable and accessible healthcare. -rm]
Brief Summary
The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act, H.R. 676, would establish a single-payer national health insurance program in the United States.
The bill would create a publicly financed, privately delivered healthcare system that builds on the existing Medicare program. It would improve and expand Medicare to cover all U.S. residents.
Patients would go to the doctors and hospitals of their choice.
The legislation would guarantee access to comprehensive, high-quality and affordable healthcare to everyone who needs it, regardless of employment, income or health status.
By replacing our nation’s fragmented patchwork of competing private insurance companies (with their wasteful administrative costs, profits, and high executive salaries) with a nonprofit single-payer program, the nation would
save more than $500 billion per year, enough to guarantee comprehensive health care to all, with no co-pays or deductibles.
The program would be funded through a combination of existing federal and state health care spending, a modest payroll and income tax based on ability to pay, and surtaxes on very high-income groups. Payroll taxes would be fully offset by a reduction in premiums and the virtual elimination of out-of-pocket expenses.
H.R. 676 would help contain rising healthcare costs through streamlined administration, bulk purchasing, and global budgeting. [If your total taxes go up $100 and your healthcare premiums and deductibles go down $1,000, you will be $900 ahead.]
The bill has been introduced by Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan and, as of April 2017, is co-sponsored by over 100 members of Congress
Take Action!
Urge your representative to become a co-sponsor of H.R. 676 by going to www.pnhp.org/hr676petition and using the editable form letter.
We need to send a strong message to congress that we won’t wait for single payer. Join our movement at www.pnhp.org
