Students for a National Health Program

Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) advocates for universal, quality, comprehensive single- payer national health insurance. We believe Health Care to be a fundamental human right that should be provided equitably as a public service rather than bought and sold as a commodity. The mission of PNHP is therefore to educate physicians, other health workers, students, and the general public on the need for a comprehensive, high-quality, publicly-funded health care program, equitably- accessible to all residents of the United States. PNHP's goal is the restoration of what it views as the primary mission of physicians, acting as professional advocates for our patients. Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP) operates under the umbrella of PNHP to organize physicians, medical students, other health workers, and the public in support of this program and promotes discussion of health policy in the U.S. through conferences, lectures, articles, and other methods. Single-payer national health insurance, also known as “Medicare for all,” is a system in which a single public or quasi-public agency organizes health care financing, but the delivery of care remains largely in private hands. Under a single-payer system, all residents of the U.S. would be covered for all medically necessary services, including doctor, hospital, preventive, long-term care, mental health, reproductive health care, dental, vision, prescription drug and medical supply costs. The program would be funded by the savings obtained from replacing today’s inefficient, profit-oriented, multiple insurance payers with a single streamlined, nonprofit, public payer, and by modest new taxes based on ability to pay. Premiums would disappear; 95 percent of all households would save money. Patients would no longer face financial barriers to care such as co-pays and deductibles, and would regain free choice of doctor and hospital. Doctors would regain autonomy over patient care.

mvahidi@mednet.ucla.edu

Signatories: Mani Vahidi, Mark Wainwright, and Shiliang Zhang

Advisor: Orlando Luna