What is Single Payer?

Single payer—or Medicare for All—is simply a streamlined financing mechanism where one entity administers the health care funding and payments. It expands the cost-effective and administratively efficient Medicare program to cover everyone in the United States. Health care delivery remains private and patients are guaranteed choice of care from providers. The National HCH Council supports the insurance expansions included in the Affordable Care Act, but while this reform is welcome, it does not address many inequities of the health care system. The National HCH Council supports all efforts to expand comprehensive and affordable health coverage.

Learn more: What Is Single Payer?

Read our Statement: Medicare For All & the HCH Community

*NEW* Comparative Analysis Paper, August 2020, COVID-19 Response in Countries with Single-Payer & Implications for Impoverished Populations

Issue Brief, July 2020: COVID-19 & the HCH Community: Further Illustrating the Benefits of ‘Medicare-for-All’

See a recording of the June 2020 virtual caucus meeting: The Case for Medicare for All: COVID-19 hosted by Rep. Jayapal (D-WA) and Rep. Dingell (D-MI) featuring our own Barbara DiPietro (at minute 41) 

Current National Legislation

• H.R.1976 – To establish an improved Medicare for All national health insurance program

Get Involved

• Visit the Hub of Resources on the Medicare for All Act of 2019
• Join Physicians for a National Health Program
• Look up local single payer chapters
• Sign Up  for action alerts from Health Care-Now

Resources

Publications

• National Academy of Sciences: Universal healthcare as pandemic preparedness: The lives and costs that could have been saved during the COVID-19 pandemic | June 2022
• Congressional Budget Office: Economic Effects of Five Illustrative Single-Payer Health Care Systems: Working Paper 2022-02 | February 2022
• Congressional Budget Office: Key Design Components and Considerations for Establishing a Single-Payer Health Care System | May 2019
• NESRI: Human Rights Assessment of the Medicare for All Act of 2019 | February 2019
• The Commonwealth Fund: Mirror, Mirror 2017: International Comparison Reflects Flaws and Opportunities for Better U.S. Health Care | July 2017
• CDC National Center for Health Statistics: Financial Burden of Medical Care: A Family Perspective | Jan 2014

Videos

• Fix It: Healthcare at the Tipping Point | Released in 2015, this documentary makes the business case for a Single Payer health care system.
• Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare | From 2012, this documentary explores the fee-for-service system, still relevant during a time as the industry shifts towards value-based healthcare under the ACA.
• The Waiting Room | Released in 2012, the Waiting Room tells the story of the day-to-day struggles of a safety net hospital in Oakland, CA. The Waiting Room Storytelling Project continues the story.

National Partners

• Healthcare-NOW
• Physicians for a National Health Program
• National Nurses United
• The Labor Campaign for a Single Payer System
• Healthcare is a Human Right
• Public Citizen
• American Council to Advance Medicare for All

*All National HCH Council advocacy work is funded by dues from Organizational Members of the Council and by private donations. Consider joining the Council or donating to the Council to support this work.