Dear John,
Today marks Medicare’s 60th anniversary. For six decades, Medicare has provided critical services and care for elderly Americans and has become one of the most popular government programs in our nation’s history.
Now, thanks to Trump’s GOP, 10 million people are about to lose their healthcare. What stronger proof do we need that the time has come for Medicare for All?
Trump and the Republicans in Congress have just passed the largest healthcare cut in U.S. history, projected to result in this record loss of coverage for the people who are least able to afford it. These cuts punish the sickest patients and the most vulnerable families, creating even more massive inequality in economic and health security between the well-off and the struggling working and middle classes.
This isn’t just reckless – it’s a moral outrage. And it’s final proof that our healthcare system, built around profit and paperwork, has failed. We have an urgent need for a simple, fair, and universal system that guarantees care to everyone – without paperwork hurdles, hidden costs, or fear of going bankrupt. We need a universal solution that works for everyone.
We need Medicare for All.
Right now, more than 85 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured. One in four cannot afford the medications they’re prescribed. And over 500,000 families a year are pushed into bankruptcy just for getting sick. In the richest country in the world, people are dying not because care doesn’t exist – but because they can’t afford it.
Medicare for All would fix this with an easy-to-use system that guarantees comprehensive care to every person, regardless of income, job status, or immigration status. It would cover mental health, long-term care, reproductive health, dental, vision, and hearing – with no premiums, no copays, no surprise bills, and no more choosing between rent and medicine.
Send a direct message to Congress: Co-sponsor and pass the Medicare for All Act now. Because no one should go without needed care, or go bankrupt receiving it.
This isn’t just the moral thing to do – it’s also economically sound. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that Medicare for All would save $650 billion a year. A Yale study projects it would save 68,000 lives annually. That's the bottom line: people would live – and live more comfortably – because care would be based on need, not wealth.
In our current situation, the opposite is true. Private insurance and pharmaceutical corporations prioritize profits over patient care. Since 2001, healthcare companies have funneled 95% of their profits – $2.6 trillion – to CEOs and shareholders, not to patient care or accessibility.
In 2024 alone, 10 major drug companies made $102 billion in profits, while Americans rationed insulin and skipped doctor visits they couldn’t afford.
This is what the current system was built to do: enrich wealthy healthcare executives while sacrificing the health of millions. And now, with 10 million more people facing the loss of care, it’s clearer than ever: we cannot patch up this broken system. We need to replace it.
Tell Congress: It’s time to pass Medicare for All.
Thank you for insisting that healthcare is a human right, not a privilege for the few.
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
