Medicare for All

WHEREAS, healthcare in the United States remains a national disgrace with the highest costs in the world, ranking 28^th in infant mortality and 24^th in life expectancy with nearly 30 million Americans having no coverage at all despite important gains made since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act; and

WHEREAS the number of underinsured Americans before the COVID-19 pandemic was still more than 40 million Americans, with such meager coverage that a single major illness would lead to financial ruin; and

WHEREAS, medical illness and bills contribute to two-thirds of all bankruptcies; and

WHEREAS, rationing health care according to ability to pay has diminished the overall health of our citizens with as many as 30,000 people in the United States die each year due to inadequate health care; and

WHEREAS the current COVID-19 pandemic has led to record levels of unemployment, loss of employer-sponsored health insurance, a severely strained health care system, widespread illness, and taken a profound toll on our community’s mental health, all of which is placing significant demands on our health care system, and

WHEREAS, even before COVID-19, freelance workers were nearly three times more likely than traditional workers to lack health insurance because many do not have access to employer-sponsored health coverage through their jobs, leaving them particularly vulnerable to sickness, disease and financial ruin; and

WHEREAS, the high costs of our private health insurance system help to sustain a climate of concessionary bargaining, pushing down wages, causing bitter strikes and lockouts, triggering attacks on public sector workers and retirees and shifting more and more of the costs onto the backs of workers; and

WHEREAS, all other industrialized countries provide comprehensive coverage to all citizens as a fundamental human right; and

WHEREAS, under the ACA, profit will continue to drive healthcare policy while posing significant challenges to our unions’ ability to negotiate decent coverage for their members and families by increasing “race to the bottom” pressures through tiered benefits and the so-called “Cadillac” excise tax; and

WHEREAS, establishing healthcare as a public good would foster freelance worker solidarity since they know they will have their health needs met regardless of their employment status or union activity; and

WHEREAS, the Medicare for All Act of 2021 (H.R. 1976) would provide national health insurance for every person in the United States for all necessary medical care including prescription drugs; hospital, surgical and outpatient services; primary and preventive care; emergency services; reproductive care; dental and vision care; and long-term care; and

WHEREAS the quality of life for freelance workers will vastly improve because they would be able to get the ongoing care they need, instead of waiting until they have a medical emergency that could upend their lives; and

WHEREAS, a single-payer, Medicare for All healthcare program would would empower workers to unionize without fear of losing their health insurance and serve as a powerful alternative to the austerity policies being foisted on America’s workers; and

WHEREAS, recent polls show that a majority of Americans—both Democrats and Republicans alike—support Medicare for All; and

WHEREAS, more than 1,000 national regional and local unions, state labor federations and central labor councils have endorsed Medicare for All legislation; and

WHEREAS, the Medicare for All Act of 2021 (H.R. 1976) introduced by Rep. Pramila Jayapal currently has 117 co-sponsors, making up more than half of the Democratic caucus; and

WHEREAS, Bernie Sanders’ Senate Bill 1804—the “Medicare for All Act”—has 16 co-sponsors and would guarantee healthcare to every American;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Freelance Solidarity Project will embark on a systematic program to educate its members about the nature of the healthcare crisis, the  transformative power that a single-payer solution could have for freelance workers and for their families; and

BE IT ALSO RESOLVED, that the Freelance Solidarity Project joins with other workers around the country to advocate, educate and organize for healthcare justice and for a single-payer system that will make healthcare a birthright for everyone in America, through a publicly financed healthcare system that provides comprehensive benefits and a single standard of care in a system where healthcare decisions are made by patients and their caregivers not by corporate and government bureaucrats and where scarce healthcare resources are not squandered by profiteers, marketing and excessive administrative costs; and

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Freelance Solidarity Project urges Congress to enact emergency legislation to provide universal, comprehensive health coverage with zero cost-sharing for patients and enthusiastically supports the Medicare for All Act of 2021 (H.R. 1976) and calls on unions and our federal legislators to work toward its immediate enactment, assuring appropriate and efficient health care for all residents of the United States.