Why Single-payer?

The movement for Medicare-for-All health care is hitting a milestone with the Sept. 13, 2017, introduction in the U.S. Senate of legislation to create a single-payer system.

A single-payer, Medicare-for-All system would expand health care coverage to every American. The legislation comes after a summer of marches, rallies and other actions.

Americans understand that our deeply fragmented system doesn’t serve their best interests and doesn’t put them first, and that’s why the people power around this issue is growing.

Learn more about single-payer below.

More resources on why single-payer is needed

• Statements from Speakers on Medicare-for-All Press Call, September 2017
• Frequently Asked Questions about Medicare-for-All, August 2017
• Top Six Reasons We Need Medicare-for-All Now, August 2017
• States in the Spotlight as Single-Payer Resurfaces in Mainstream Discourse, May 2012
• Treating Sick Rich Folks, April 2012
• 50 Million Uninsured in the U.S. Equals 50,000+ Avoidable Deaths a Year, January 2012
• Having 50 Million Uninsured Americans Is Bad Enough, But…, October 2011
• Further Arguments for Eliminating the Private U.S. Health Insurance Industry, August 1, 2011
• The Health Insurance Industry, September 1, 2010
• To Mitch McConnell: We’re Already Rationing Care (links to HuffingtonPost.com), July 8, 2010
• Ten Things You Can Do for Healthcare Reform (links to TheNation.com), May 5, 2010
• Health, Life Insurers Hold $1.88 Billion in Fast-Food Stocks (links to PNHP.org), April 15, 2010
• Everybody In, Nobody Out (That Means Immigrants Too!), February 1, 2010
• Harvard Researchers: Health Information Technology Savings Will Only Occur With a Single-Payer Health System, February 1, 2010
• The Price We Pay for Uninsurance, December 1, 2009
• Statement: Harvard Study Finds Nearly 45,000 Excess Deaths Annually Linked to Lack of Health Coverage, December 2009
• The Uninsured in the United States: What the Rise to 46.3 Million Means, October 1, 2009
• Video: Michael Moore’s Message for President Obama, September 29, 2009
• Statement: U.S. Health Care System, Dominated by the Insurance Industry, Must Be Replaced With ‘Medicare-for-All’, September 29, 2009
• Statement: Hearing Highlights Dysfunction of U.S. Health Care System, Points to Need for ‘Medicare for All’, September 16, 2009
• Dr. Sidney Wolfe’s Congressional Testimony in Support of a Single-Payer System, June 24, 2009
• Dr. Steffie Woolhandler’s Congressional Testimony in Support of a Single-Payer System, June 24, 2009
• High Deductibles for Limited Eligibles, April 1, 2009
• More Than a Band-Aid for Health Care Reform, Single-Payer is the Solution (links to HuffingtonPost.com), February 11, 2009
• Statement: From the Front Lines – Single-Payer is the Sole Solution, January 28, 2009
• The Uninsured in the United States: What the Drop to 45.7 Million Means, November 2008
• Facts and Figures on Our Health Care System, August 1, 2007
• Health Care Reform in the U.S.: Arguments for a Single-Payer System, August 1, 2006
• Administrative Waste in the U.S. Health Care System in 2003, August 2003