After The National Day of Action for Single Payer, the Best Defense Is a Good Offense

In January, 2025, following the shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, National Single Payer and single-payer activists across the country responded to the righteous anger of the people rising against the health insurance industry by writing a “Manifesto,” which included these four demands:

• The recognition by our government that healthcare is a human right.
• The elimination of private health insurance and the banning of for-profit delivery of care.
• The enactment of a publicly financed, national single-payer program that would provide comprehensive coverage to everyone.
• The transformation of care delivery from profit-seeking ventures into services organized to serve the people of our country, a system in which all caregivers are freed from corporate control.

We called for people across the country to join us in the street on May 31 to raise the demand and put single payer on the nation’s agenda, a reference to the Congressional Progressive Caucus’ 2025 Proposition Agenda released last year which conspicuously omitted a national single-payer program from its agenda (or support for a cease-fire in Gaza).

Over 140 local, state, and national organizations, from central labor councils to social justice organizations, from political parties to physicians’ groups, endorsed the four demands, and more than 30 cities in 17 states held actions demanding that single payer be put on the nation’s agenda.

Endorsing organizations representing 28 states plus the District of Columbia were predominately social justice organizations, whose primary mission is not healthcare. Down Home North Carolina, an organization that mobilizes rural communities in North Carolina to improve the lives of working families, endorsed. So did EX-Incarcerated People Organizing in Wisconsin, which works to end mass incarceration. As did the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, founded to mobilize people of color and whites to take action against racism in their community. Large organizations such as the California Alliance of Retired Americans, representing 1 million members in California, and small ones such as Pride on the Patio, a community that creates safe and welcoming spaces for LGBTQ+ individuals in Frederick, Maryland, endorsed. The call to put single payer on the nation’s agenda is popular beyond single-payer activists.

Together, let’s build a movement as massive as “No Kings Day,” so formidable that it cannot be denied or ignored.

More than 30 actions were held across the country, including in “Trump country” states such North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Kentucky, West Virginia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Missouri. Whether from red or blue states, people organized to demand that a single-payer healthcare program free from profit be put on the nation’s agenda.

Notably missing from the list of endorsers were faith groups (only two), “big” labor (aside from the Kentucky State AFL-CIO), and “big” national single-payer organizations.

They still need to be convinced that making a demand of the Democratic Party is acceptable and has broad support.

If the demonstrations on “No Kings Day” are any indication, people are furious with the current administration, but they are no less tired of the Democratic playbook. “No Kings Day” rallies, while enthusiastic and well attended, lacked a central bold demand.

In contrast, activists on May 31 made bold demands, refusing to believe the wealthiest country should have a separate healthcare system for the poor, or that we should wait until we are 65 to access a public healthcare system into which we pay all our working lives. On May 31, activists demanded an end to a system where health insurance CEOs, who worry more about “disappointing investors” than patients, control our health. On May 31, we demanded the end of a system where insurance companies get to make trillions of dollars in earnings and spend millions on federal lobbying to influence government officials who write the laws to benefit the owners and not the people who suffer under it.

In times like these, the best defense is a good offense. To eliminate impending Medicaid cuts; to stop imposing work requirements; to end overpayments to Medicare Advantage and the privatization of Medicare; to prohibit narrow networks, prior authorizations, and delays and denials of care; to end deductibles, medical debt, and bankruptcy, and to negotiate at the bargaining table for higher wages: enact a national, single-payer healthcare system free from all profit, including in the provisioning of care.

National Single Payer and other organizations are going on the offensive, working with labor unions to fight for single payer and mobilizing members of Congress, especially those who have endorsed Medicare for All legislation, to make national single payer a publicly visible fight by asking them to commit to:

• Speak out about national single payer free from profit in “Special Order” speeches on the floor of Congress.
• Support the issue on their website.
• Discuss it at Town Halls.
• Write about it in emails and newsletters.
• Talk about it in hearings, media, and at all public opportunities.
• Improve the current Medicare for All legislation by removing all profit from the provisioning of care.

On May 31 activists from local organizations gathered to demand the healthcare system this nation deserves.

Moving forward, let’s demand our elected officials speak out, support, discuss, write, talk, and improve current Medicare for All legislation. Together, let’s build a movement as massive as “No Kings Day,” so formidable that it cannot be denied or ignored, a movement of millions in the street and in the workplace to put single payer on the nation’s agenda and heal this country once and for all.