Beyond the Affordable Care Act: A Physicians’ Proposal for Single-Payer Health Care Reform was unveiled May 5, 2016, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. (To access content from the introductory press conference, click here.) The proposal was accompanied by an editorial published in the American Journal of Public Health, June 2016.
Since its unveiling, the Physicians’ Proposal has been featured in numerous news articles, editorials, and broadcast segments. In addition to this coverage, PNHP physician members and SNaHP student members have published opinion pieces and produced testimonial videos in support of the proposal.
Please see below for a sampling of coverage related to the Physicians’ Proposal. We will continue to add to this page as pieces are published, and as our members raise their voices in support of single payer.
Physician Testimonials
Click here to access a playlist of individual testimonials on YouTube. If you would like to submit your own video testimonial, please see our simple instructions.
Television and Radio Interviews
Dr. Adam Gaffney
The Working Group on Single-Payer Program Design
The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann, May 5, 2016
Click here to see the interview with Dr. Gaffney on YouTube.
Dr. Marcia Angell
The Working Group on Single-Payer Program Design
Boston Public Radio with Jim Braude and Margery Eagan, May 25, 2016
Click here to listen to the interview with Dr. Angell on the WGBH website (starting at approx. 1 hr. 47 min.). A WGBH summary of the dialogue with Dr. Angell is available here.
Opinion Pieces by PNHP Members
Obamacare is flawed, but there is a solution
By Jessica Schorr Saxe, M.D.
The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, May 5, 2016
Why, in the age of the Affordable Care Act, would a large, respected group of physicians develop A Physicians’ Proposal for Single-Payer Health Care Reform? On Thursday, this document was released by a panel at the National Press Club and published online in the American Journal of Public Health. Continue reading…
Growing Support for a National Health Program and Health Care as a Human Right
By John Geyman, M.D.
The Huffington Post, May 5, 2016
We can thank Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign for putting single-payer national health insurance (NHI) on the front burner of today’s national political discussion. This is long overdue and especially timely as the two parties debate alternatives for future U. S. health care. It appears that political feasibility for NHI may finally be approaching a time of acceptance, if our democracy can prevail over oligarchy and plutocracy. Continue reading…
Doctors’ single-payer prescription for health care reform
By Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., M.P.H. & David U. Himmelstein, M.D.
The Hill, May 12, 2016
Many months before Bernie Sanders entered the presidential race, we (along with Dr. Adam Gaffney, an energetic younger colleague, and Dr. Marcia Angell, the former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine) convened a nonpartisan group of 39 leading physicians to envision health care reforms that would fix the glaring problems that remain despite the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Continue reading…
How to provide Medicare for all
By Marcia Angell, M.D.
The Boston Globe, May 17, 2016
Obamacare, aka the Affordable Care Act, became law six years ago. The intention was to ensure that nearly all Americans have health insurance, while controlling costs. How did that work out? When the law was enacted, about 16 percent of Americans were uninsured. That has dropped to 10 percent. So instead of 50 million uninsured Americans, there are now about 30 million without insurance. That’s better, but hardly universal. Continue reading…
How to fix health care costs
By Cris M. Currie, R.N.
The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.), May 28, 2016
I am a registered nurse. Virtually everyone I talk to about American health care has a horror story about paying their medical bills. Yet why is it that most of these same people are resigned to the idea that quality care requires insurance companies who supposedly are looking out for our best interests? Continue reading…
National News Articles
Doctor Group Pushes for ‘Single-Payer’ Model
By Kimberly Leonard
U.S. News & World Report, May 5, 2016
As Republicans continue to debate how to “repeal and replace” President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, thousands of doctors are hoping to re-ignite the conversation about moving to a single-payer system as a way to achieve universal coverage. Continue reading…
We need fundamental changes’: US doctors call for universal healthcare
By Olga Oksman
The Guardian, May 5, 2016
A group of more than 2,000 physicians is calling for the establishment of a universal government-run health system in the US, in a paper in the American Journal of Public Health. Continue reading…
2,000 doctors say Bernie Sanders has the right approach to health care
By Carolyn Y. Johnson
The Washington Post, May 5, 2016
More than 2,000 physicians announced their support Thursday for a single-payer national health care system, unveiling a proposal drafted by doctors that appears to resonate with Bernie Sanders’ call for “Medicare for All.” Continue reading…
More than 2,000 doctors join call for single-payer healthcare
By Peter Sullivan
The Hill, May 5, 2016
More than 2,000 doctors on Thursday signed onto a singl
e-payer healthcare plan released by an advocacy group. The proposal was put forward by the group Physicians for a National Health Program, which advocates for a system in which the government provides coverage for everyone. Continue reading…
2000+ Doctors Declare: “It’s Time for Single Payer to be Back on the Table”
By Deirdre Fulton
Common Dreams, May 5, 2016
Despite limited advances provided by the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. healthcare system remains “uniquely wasteful” and profit-driven, leaving tens of millions without any insurance and even more underinsured. Continue reading…
2,000 US doctors endorse Sanders’ single-payer healthcare proposal
By Cory Doctorow
Boing Boing, May 6, 2016
An editorial in The American Journal of Public Health, signed by 2,000 MDs, endorses Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” single-payer healthcare system. The doctors point to the failings in Obamacare – namely, that it is still expensive, especially for low-income Americans, and it allows private insurers to cream off enormous profits. Continue reading…
More than 2,000 physicians have banded together in a call for U.S. universal health care
By Walter Einenkel
Daily Kos, May 6, 2016
The American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) published a proposal from a group of over 2,000 physicians calling for a government-run single-payer system of healthcare in the United States. The plan is similar to Canada’s system and, according to the proposal, is much needed in order to complete the public health plan that the Affordable Care Act started but cannot accomplish alone. Continue reading…
Like Bernie Sanders, 2,000 Doctors Call For Single-Payer Healthcare System
By Reno Berkeley
The Inquisitr, May 6, 2016
On Thursday, more than 2,000 doctors nationwide published an editorial in the American Journal of Public Health calling for a single-payer healthcare system, a system that presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has long called for. The Affordable Care Act, they say, is not the answer and in fact could do more harm than good for those who need medical care the most. Continue reading…
Doctors call for single-payer healthcare to improve on Obamacare
By Stephen Feller
UPI, May 6, 2015
More than 2,000 doctors are calling for the establishment of a single-payer health insurance system, signing on to a plan they say would take healthcare non-profit and allow care to be available for everybody who needs it. Continue reading…
How Obamacare Could Backfire on Hillary Clinton
By Eric Pianin
The Fiscal Times, May 6, 2016
This week more than 2,000 physicians announced their support for a single-payer national health care system similar to Sanders’ call for “Medicare for all” – one that is styled after government health insurance programs in Canada and Europe. Continue reading…
Doctors Agree With Sanders on Universal Health Care; Interview With Dr. Adam Gaffney
By Viji Sundara
New America Media, May 7, 2016
Presidential hopefuls have their own ideas on what to do with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), President Obama’s signature legislation, when they move into the White House. Sen. Bernie Sanders thinks it should be replaced with a single-payer health plan of the kind Europe and Canada have. Continue reading…
Why American doctors are calling for Canadian-style medicare
By Karen Palmer
Toronto Star, May 15, 2016
In a dramatic show of physician support for deep health care reform in the U.S., more than 2,200 physician leaders have signed a “Physician’s Proposal” calling for sweeping change. The proposal, published May 5 2016 in the American Journal of Public Health, calls for the creation of a publicly financed, single-payer, national health program to cover all Americans for all medically necessary care. Continue reading…
A Health Care System That You Might Actually Like Isn’t as Far off as It Seems
By Sarah Lazare
AlterNet, May 19, 2016
More than 2,000 doctors across the United States have endorsed a detailed proposal for transforming America’s broken for-profit health care system into a publicly funded, universal model that would knock down all barriers to treatment. Continue reading…
American doctors call for publicly financed health programme
By Rema Nagarajan
The Times of India, July 8, 2016
As the Indian health system moves towards healthcare coverage through private insurance companies, about 2,500 American doctors have called for the private insurance system in US to be replaced by a publicly financed National Health Program (NHP), which will be a single-payer system to fully cover medical care for all Americans. Continue reading…
Local News Articles
Portland docs endorse national proposal for single-payer system
By Elizabeth Hayes
Portland Business Journal, May 10, 2016
Three doctors from Portland are among the 2,200 physicians from across the U.S. who signed a proposal for a publicly financed, single-payer health system. The proposal, drafted by the nonprofit Physicians for a National Health Program and published in the American Journal of Public Health, calls for replacing the Affordable Care Act. Continue reading…
Why some doctors want the government to handle all health insurance
By Baylee Pulliam
Louisville Business First, May 10, 2016
There are a lot of ways to get health insurance — but not everyone does. Right now, there are multiple payers, including private companies and the federal government. But a new proposal from the Physicians for a National Health Program advocacy group suggests there should be only one. Continue reading…
Ky docs call for single national health p
lan
By Deborah Yetter
The (Louisville) Courier-Journal, May 11, 2016
Arguing that health care in America costs too much and too many people go without it, a group of local physicians, medical students and others on Tuesday called for a single system of health coverage in this country. Continue reading…
Editorial: A single payer system
By The Editorial Board
Indiana Daily Student (Bloomington, Ind.), May 11, 2016
We have all heard criticism of the Affordable Care Act or Obama Care ad nauseam. Most of the criticism comes from people who oppose the Affordable Care Act because they feel the law is too close to universal health care. Continue reading…
Labor Roundup
Community Word (Peoria, Ill.), May 31, 2016
Karen Higgins, RN, one of four [National Nurses United] co-presidents, championed single-payer in remarks at the National Press Club. NNU, the Steelworkers and 19 other unions actively support single-payer, also named Medicare For All, and polls show huge backing for it. Continue reading…
Health Care News Articles
More Than 2,000 Doctors Back National Single-Payer Proposal
By Mary Ellen McIntire
Morning Consult, May 5, 2016
More than 2,200 physicians have backed a proposal for single-payer health reform in the American Journal of Public Health. Such a system would resolve the fact that millions of people still do not have health insurance or are under-insured and remove deductibles and co-pays, the physicians argue. Continue reading…
Physicians’ Group Reignites Call for Single-Payer Healthcare
By Mary Caffrey
American Journal of Managed Care, May 6, 2016
An editorial calling for the United States to move from the Affordable Care Act to a single-payer system, which was President Barack Obama’s first choice in 2008, appearing in the American Journal of Public Health, suggests that at least a segment of the nation’s doctors feel that the ACA did not go far enough. Continue reading…
Doc group throws support behind single-payer healthcare system
By Leslie Small
Fierce Health Payer, May 6, 2016
A single-payer system – currently in the spotlight thanks to presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ support of the issue – is the most effective way to drive true healthcare reform, according to a group known as Physicians for a National Health Program. Continue reading…
2,000 doctors endorse single-payer healthcare reform proposal
By Meg Bryant
Healthcare Dive, May 6, 2016
“A single-payer NHP offers a salutary alternative, one that would at long last take the right to healthcare from the realm of political rhetoric to that of reality,” four physicians wrote in an accompanying editorial. Continue reading…
More than 2,000 doctors call for single-payer health system
By Jeff Lagasse
Healthcare Finance News, May 6, 2016
A group of more than 2,000 physicians is calling for the creation of a publicly financed, single-payer national health program that would cover all Americans for all medically necessary care. The physicians voiced their support in a proposal published Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health. Continue reading…
2,000 doctors call for single-payer
By Jack Craver
Benefits Pro, May 6, 2016
More than 2,000 doctors across the U.S. have signed a declaration in support of establishing a national single-payer health plan. The statement was drafted by Physicians for a National Health Program, an advocacy group that has been pushing single-payer since 1987. Continue reading…
More than 2,000 physicians back single-payer healthcare system that would save taxpayers $500 billion annually
By Jeff Lagasse
Healthcare IT News, May 9, 2016
More than 2,000 doctors backed a single-payer healthcare system in an article published by the American Journal of Public Health. While Presidential candidate Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is running on a Medicare for all platform, the proposal authors called their recommendation strictly non-partisan and described a single-payer system as publicly financed and covering all Americans for medically necessary care. Continue reading…
Doctors Call for Single Payer Health Reform
Single Payer Action, May 9, 2016
A group of activists physicians gathered at the National Press Building last week to call for creation of a publicly financed, single-payer national health program that would cover all Americans for all medically necessary care. Continue reading…
Calls for Single-Payer System Grow Louder
By Rene Letourneau
HealthLeaders Media, May 11, 2016
Senator Bernie Sanders has made it a cornerstone of his campaign. Vermont tried and failed to pass it. In November Colorado voters will put the matter to a vote. Now physicians are chiming in. Continue reading…
Physicians call for universal, single-payer health care system
By Will Offit
Healio Internal Medicine News, May 25, 2016
In an editorial published in the American Journal of Public Health, researchers outlined a proposal to overhaul the nation’s current health care system and replace it with a government-backed, single-payer structure that provides coverage for everyone. Continue reading…
2200 Physicians Endorse Single-Payer System Proposal
First Report Managed Care, May 30, 2016
In an editorial published in American Journal of Public Health, a group of physicians propose a government-funded, single-payer health care system, which so far has received the endorsement of 2200 of their colleagues. Continue reading…