Physicians and other medical professionals across the U.S. are expressing support through their state medical societies for a universal health care system that is simplified, publicly funded, and limits corporate influence.
Four state medical societies have passed resolutions to date: New Hampshire (2022), Washington state (2021), Vermont (2020), and Hawaii (2009). At least 20 others are working on resolutions in some form, including Maine, according to Physicians for a National Health Program, which works with physicians to organize within medical societies at the state and national level in its Medical Society Resolutions campaign.
See a map of resolution efforts across the country, with links to more information, on the campaign website. Resolutions passed to date are also included below.
Resolution text:
Whereas, every resident of Hawaii deserves access to affordable quality health care; and Whereas, the cost of health insurance is now rising at an unsustainable rate; and
Whereas, competition among private health insurance plans has not made health care more affordable or more accessible to Hawaii residents; and
Whereas, pressure to hold down health care costs has led to strong financial incentives for private health plans to use underwriting strategies to avoid or limit covering the sick; and Whereas, competition among private health insurance plans in Hawaii has resulted in reduced fees, increased managed care paperwork and bureaucratic requirements, increased administrative costs, and increased obstacles to payment of claims for physicians; and
Whereas, the private practice of medicine is now being threatened by the increasing power of health plans to set fees and force physicians to accept onerous and unfunded managed care policies; and
Whereas, economic analysis, such as the one done by the Lewin Group for the State of Hawaii, has repeatedly shown that the total cost for a single-payer health care financing system with universal coverage of all residents would be less than any proposal involving competing private health insurance plans; and
Whereas, if all Hawaii residents were covered by a single-payer health plan, then removal of health care costs from litigation would result in large savings on medical malpractice, worker’s compensation, and automobile insurance costs; and
Whereas, Hawaii is in a better position than any other State to implement a single-payer health care financing system due to its geographic separation from the Mainland and its tradition of commitment for health insurance for as much of the population as possible under the Prepaid Health Care Act; therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the Hawaii Medical Association express its support for single-payer financing of the private and independent delivery of health care, and call upon the Hawaii State Legislature to work towards enactment of legislation to establish a single-payer health care financing system for Hawaii; and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Hawaii Medical Association urge the Hawaii State Legislature to create a State Health Board, accountable to the public good and insulated from special interest influences, with expertise in health economics, representation from physicians, hospitals, and other providers of care, and representation from the public and recipients of health care. This State Health Board would be granted authority over establishment of a provider fee structure, allocating government funding for health care education and training, scope of practice issues, and quality improvement programs. It would also have influence on the public financing of the single-payer health care system, including health care taxes, to ensure that the funding of the system continues to reflect the realistic costs of providing quality health care, to ensure that public health care funds are spent in a cost-effective manner, and to ensure maintenance of quality health care for the residents of Hawaii in perpetuity.
Resolution text:
WHEREAS, 27.5 million Americans lacked health insurance in 2018, and
WHEREAS, compared to ten other high-income countries, the U.S. ranks last in health care affordability, and has the highest rate of infant mortality and mortality amenable to health care, and
WHEREAS, employer-sponsored health plans are increasingly unaffordable for workers since 85% of these plans include an annual deductible and the average deductible was $1,573 for single coverage in 2018, and
WHEREAS, in 2018 the U.S. spent $3.6 trillion on health care, or 17.7% of GDP twice as much per capita on health care as the average of wealthy nations that provide universal coverage, and WHEREAS, illness and medical bills contribute to 66.5% of all bankruptcies, a figure that is virtually unchanged since before the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and 530,000 families suffer bankruptcies each year that are linked to illness or medical bills, and
WHEREAS, overhead consumes 12.2% of private insurance premiums, while the overhead of fee-for-service Medicare is 2%, and
WHEREAS, providers are forced to spend tens of billions more dealing with insurers’ billing and documentation requirements, bringing total administrative costs to 34.2% of U.S. health spending, compared to 16.7% in Canada, and
WHEREAS, the U.S. could save over $600 billion annually on administrative costs with a single-payer system, and
WHEREAS, billing-driven documentation that contributes to physician burnout would be greatly reduced under a single-payer reform, and
WHEREAS, the savings from slashing bureaucracy would be enough to cover all of the uninsured and eliminate cost sharing for everyone else, and
WHEREAS, a single-payer system could control costs through proven-effective mechanisms such as global budgets for hospitals and negotiated drug prices, thereby making health care financing sustainable, and
WHEREAS, a single-payer reform will reduce malpractice lawsuits and insurance costs because injured patients won’t have to sue for coverage of future medical expenses, and
WHEREAS, a single-payer system would facilitate health planning, directing capital funds to build and expand health facilities where they are needed, rather than being driven by the dictates of the market, and
WHEREAS, a single-payer reform will dramatically reduce, although not eliminate, health disparities. The passage of Medicare in 1965 led to the rapid desegregation of 99.6% of U.S. hospitals, and
WHEREAS, a single-payer system will allow patients to freely choose their doctors, gives physicians a choice of practice setting, and protect the doctor patient relationship, and WHEREAS, there is single-payer legislation in both houses of Congress, H.R. 1384 and S. 1129, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED that the Vermont Medical Society express its support for universal access to comprehensive, affordable, high-quality health care through a single-payer national health program; and be it further
RESOLVED that the Vermont Medical Society will support a national health program provided it meets these core criteria and principles:
- a) Promotes universal, equitable coverage for all US residents (regardless of immigration status); b) Provides comprehensive and high quality coverage for all medically necessary or appropriate services, including inpatient and outpatient hospital care, primary and preventive care, long-term care, mental health and substance use disorder treatment, dental, vision, audiology, prescription drug and medical devices, comprehensive reproductive care (including maternity and newborn care, and abortion),
- c) Prioritizes affordability for all, including: no cost sharing (no premiums, copays or deductibles), a ban on investor-owned health care facilities, and prescription drug prices to be negotiated directly with manufacturers;
- d) Reimburses physicians and health care practitioners in amounts that are sufficient, fair, predictable, transparent and sustainable, while incentivizing primary care;
- e) Allows for collective participation by physicians and other practitioners in negotiating rates and program policies;
- f) Promotes global operating budgets for hospitals, nursing homes and other providers. Continues to move away from fee-for-service reimbursement models to more flexible payment models that incentivize better outcomes and more coordinated care;
- g) Allocates capital funds for hospitals separately from operating budgets;
- h) Eliminates the role of private health insurance companies, thereby greatly reducing administrative costs and burdens on clinicians;
- i) Allocates funding for graduate medical education that assures adequate supply of generalists and specialists [;]
- j) Reforms medical school costs to reduce the amount of debt recent graduates face;
- k) Protects the rights of healthcare and insurance workers with guaranteed retraining and job placement;
- l) Provides high quality software (EMRs) developed in public sector and provided free to all practitioners;
- m) Creates a legal environment that fosters high quality patient care and relieves clinicians from practicing defensive medicine; and
- n) Is funded through a publicly financed system, based on combining administrative savings and the current sources of public funding, with modest new taxes based on individual’s ability to pay.
Washington State Medical Association
Resolution text:
Universal Access to Health Care (ADOPTED AS AMENDED) RESOLVED, that WSMA express[es] its support for universal access to comprehensive, affordable, high-quality health care through a variety of mechanisms including a publicly-funded national healthcare program, including similar legislation at the state level. (New [House of Delegates] HOD Policy)
New Hampshire Medical Society Resolution
Resolution text (below).
View a slide set on “New Hampshire Medical Society Member Attitudes about Medicare for All Support and Advocacy” that also includes the text of the resolution.
