Welcome to Students for a National Health Program, the student arm of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP). PNHP is a single-issue organization advocating a universal, comprehensive single-payer national health program with more than 25,000 members. We believe that a single, publicly funded, privately delivered universal health care system is necessary for us to provide high-quality care to all our patients.
Despite spending more than twice as much as the rest of the industrialized nations, the United States performs poorly in comparison on major health indicators such as life expectancy, infant mortality, and immunization. Moreover, the U.S. leaves 26 million people completely uninsured and millions more inadequately covered. Single-payer financing would save, on paper, more than $600 billion per year – enough to provide comprehensive coverage to everyone without paying any more than we already do.
While the Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid in many states and provided subsidized marketplace coverage to millions of Americans, it still left tens of millions of people uninsured or under-insured. It also has no concrete way to curb skyrocketing health care and administrative costs associated with a for-profit private health insurance industry.
We can see a single-payer system in our lifetime and the time to act is now. If you are interested in learning more, you can find more articles and resources on the PNHP website. The current federal legislation, known as the Medicare for All Act, is also available to read here.