9 Freedoms of Health Justice
We, the People of the United States, demand comprehensive healthcare as a right, including (but not limited to) the following freedoms:
1. FREEDOM to obtain medically necessary care regardless of personal financial means.
2. FREEDOM to get comprehensive care regardless of employment.
3. FREEDOM to obtain primary and preventive care, medical, dental, mental healthcare, prescription drugs, addiction treatment, hearing and eye care, women’s healthcare and pediatrics, hospitalization, surgery, rehabilitation, long term care, and other medically necessary services and products.
4. FREEDOM to choose doctors, hospitals and other providers regardless of “networks” or other fabricated obstacles restricting access to care.
5. FREEDOM to obtain needed care free of charge at point of service with no bills, medical debt or fear of resulting financial burden.
6. FREEDOM from the need to self-ration necessary care and prescription drugs.
7. FREEDOM to obtain care without excessive paperwork. This can mean simply show a card, get treated, go home.
8. FREEDOM from health insecurity — such as fear and stress stemming from uncertainty about qualifying for needed care or paying for it.
9. FREEDOM for patients and providers to thrive in a true “free market.”
To enable these freedoms we call on Congress to enact universal healthcare as embodied in HR 1384, the Medicare for All Act of 2019, or equivalent, and do it swiftly in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Further, we affirm that economic studies show universal healthcare will produce significant net job growth while removing a drag on wages.
To ensure sustainability, we support the single-payer concept endorsed by more than 200 economists in their May 21, 2019 open letter to Congress and 2,000+ physicians in their January 21, 2020 letter in the New York Times.
We note that economic analyses across the political spectrum show single-payer can save us taxpayers and families hundreds of billions of dollars a year through administrative efficiencies and other cost savings — freeing up potentially trillions of dollars per decade for productive use — thus stimulating the economy while benefiting those of us who own businesses or are self-employed.
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We declare our right to these freedoms. We demand that foot-dragging members of Congress stop depriving us of them. People are sick and dying. No more excuses: the time to act is now.