After Speaker Ryan Pulls GOP 'Slash and Burn' Health Bill, Doctors Group Urges Passage of a Single-Payer Health Plan

Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), a nonprofit research and education organization of 20,000 physicians, medical students and health professionals, responded to House Speaker Paul Ryan's decision to cancel a scheduled vote on the American Health Care Act (AHCA) today. With the AHCA dead on arrival, PNHP urges Congress to instead pass H.R. 676, the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act, which would provide immediate, comprehensive coverage to all Americans.

"The Republicans' slash-and-burn proposal would have pushed millions more Americans off their health insurance, sending the rates of medical bankruptcy and preventable deaths skyrocketing," said Dr. Carol Paris, president of PNHP.

Today's failure to pass the AHCA presents a unique opportunity for Congress to move beyond the ACA toward a permanent, economically sustainable single-payer health program.

"The ACA left 29 million Americans uninsured and channeled billions of taxpayer dollars to a patchwork of wasteful private insurers, each one skimming off its own share of administrative costs and profit that should have been spent on patient care," added Dr. Paris. "Let's clear the drawing board - it's time to adopt a simple, commonsense approach to national health care."

Dr. Paris called on members of both parties to adopt H.R. 676, introduced by Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich. The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act is a streamlined single-payer plan that would expand coverage to all Americans and save millions in health care costs, achieving President Trump's campaign promises of more coverage, better benefits and lower costs.

PNHP and other groups are planning a National Day of Action on Saturday, April 8, the first day of the congressional recess. Health care providers in at least a dozen cities will conduct coordinated actions in support of universal guaranteed health care.