The American healthcare system has a stranglehold on the American worker. It restricts job mobility, limits career advancement, and suppresses wage growth as costs continue to spiral out of control. The immense financial burden placed on individuals and families generates constant stress, uncertainty, and hardship. There is no meaningful path to improving the lives of American workers without finally confronting our broken healthcare system.

For decades, the United States has recognized this failure. Since the Truman administration in the 1940s, leaders across both parties have acknowledged that our healthcare system is inadequate. There have been important steps forward—most notably the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 under President Johnson, and the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 under President Obama. Yet despite these efforts, the system remains fundamentally flawed. That must change.

The evidence is overwhelming. The United States spends more per capita on healthcare than any other developed nation, yet consistently fails to achieve comparable outcomes. Medical bills remain the leading cause of personal bankruptcy. Nearly one in ten Americans is uninsured—including close to four million children. Forty percent of Americans skip prescribed medications because they cannot afford them, and more than thirty percent forgo routine care for the same reason. Meanwhile, the United States holds the grim distinction of having the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the developed world. That bears repeating: the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the developed world. And still, healthcare and insurance costs continue to climb at an unsustainable rate of ten to twenty percent annually. This is unacceptable. We must do better.

A single-payer system—such as Medicare for All—offers the strongest path forward. By reducing administrative overhead from nearly twenty percent of total healthcare spending to an estimated two to three percent, and by leveraging far greater bargaining power with providers, a single-payer system could substantially lower costs across the board. For these reasons, I believe a single-payer model offers the greatest likelihood of delivering lasting cost control alongside guaranteed coverage for every American.

Accordingly, I will vote for and co-sponsor Medicare for All as a member of the House of Representatives. As part of that legislative effort and process, I will also work to close the existing coverage gaps and high out-of-pocket costs that are often found within the current Medicare system, ensuring that what we build is a truly comprehensive program that meets the needs of all Americans in terms of cost, accessibility, and quality of care.

That said, those who have heard me speak know that I have raised real concerns about whether Medicare for All can be enacted in the near term. Political reality demands honesty: passage will likely require reclaiming control of Congress in this cycle and the executive branch two years later—it is highly unlikely that the Trump administration would sign Medicare for All legislation, nor that we will gain a veto-proof majority in the midterm elections. I will continue to advocate for Medicare for All and a single-payer system in every way possible from day one, but we cannot allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good. As we work toward single-payer comprehensive reform, we cannot leave Americans to struggle without coverage or care in the meantime.

My goal is straightforward: ensure that one hundred percent of Americans have access to affordable, reliable healthcare. With that in mind, alongside my support for Medicare for All, I will introduce interim legislation designed to bridge the gap between our current system and a single-payer future. I call this proposal Medicare Open to All.

Medicare Open to All Act

At its core, this legislation would make Medicare immediately available to every American as we work toward a single-payer model. It would also address current gaps in Medicare coverage and high out-of-pocket costs, and provide comprehensive prescription and dental coverage.

Enrollment would be guaranteed to anyone who seeks it. To ensure true affordability, subsidies would be available to individuals and families earning up to 400% of the federal poverty level.

Americans who prefer private insurance would retain that option. But by opening Medicare to all, we would create an immediate, practical solution—one that guarantees accessible and affordable coverage, enhances job mobility by decoupling healthcare from employment, and relieves employers of the escalating burden of providing coverage. That relief translates directly into higher wages and greater capacity for businesses to invest in growth.

Healthcare is not merely a policy debate. It is a moral and economic imperative—a matter of life and death. No American should be forced to choose between their health and their livelihood, between filling a prescription and paying rent, or between staying in a job they have outgrown and gambling with their family's security. We have the evidence, the tools, and the responsibility to act.

By fighting for Medicare for All—and by opening Medicare to everyone while that fight continues—we can deliver immediate relief, restore dignity to working families, and build a healthcare system that serves people, not profits. The time for incremental hesitation has passed. The time to act is now.