• Green Party Presidential Nomination Convention, Aug. 15-18 online: https://www.gp.org/gp_2024_pres_nominating_convention

• Media Credentialing Registration: https://www.gp.org/2024_media_credentials 

WASHINGTON, DC — In the wake of President Joe Biden's inexplicable "We beat Medicare" during the CNN debate on Thursday, June 27, the Green Party of the United States reiterated its support for single-payer universal health care in the US.

Greens said that, while Democrats try to excuse a confused blurt by Biden by saying he had a cold, the fact remains that Biden and the Democratic Party oppose universal health care.

Green Party of the United States
www.gp.org

For immediate release
Tuesday, July 2, 2024

Contacts:
Gloria Mattera, Green Party Media Committee Coordinator, 202-804-2758, [email protected]
Scott McLarty, Green Party Media Director, 202-878-2112, [email protected]

"US citizens don't want lower-quality care, personal financial ruin over a health emergency, and a private insurance bureaucrat on the phone denying coverage for a needed medical treatment," said Lily Benavides, Green candidate for the US House in New Jersey (District 11). "While the two major parties remain loyal to the insurance industry, Big Pharma, and other private medical corporations, the Green Party calls for guaranteed health care for everyone in the US."

In March 2020, President Biden asserted that he would veto a bill for Medicare For All if one crossed his desk. Democratic leaders have rejected all such legislation including the Medicare for All Act of 2023 (HR 3421, S 1655).

OpenSecrets, which tracks financial contributions to political parties and candidates, reports millions of dollars from insurance companies and the private health sector for Democrats and Republicans, with Democrats receiving more.

The Green Party and Green candidates accept no contributions from corporations or PACs. Green congressional candidates will work to enact expanded and improved Medicare For All if elected and also repair deficiencies in current proposed legislation such as the role for private insurance companies, which Greens would eliminate.

Greens have welcomed President Biden's reduction of the cost of insulin and 42 other prescription drugs, but called it an inadequate single step towards establishing health care as a human right.

The Green Party also said that Republican threats to Medicare and Social Security, especially under the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, would inflict devastating harm on all middle- and low-income Americans and their families.

While politicians who oppose Medicare For All call it radical and unworkable, every democratic developed country in the world except the US enjoys some form of universal health care. The billions of dollars in US aid for Israel help sustain national health care for Israelis.

In no country with national health care is there a popular movement to convert to a privatized US-style system.

A single-payer universal health-care system that would provide high-quality life-long medical care for everyone, end deductibles and co-pays, abolish networks and out-of-pocket bills, allow full choice of physician and hospital, and lower the cost of health care in the US by eliminating private overhead. The Green Party supports coverage in the system for women's reproductive health including abortion.

While the US has some of the world's best medical technology (largely developed with government funding), high costs and obstacles to treatment have pushed the US's ranking in quality of health care to 38th on the list, below countries with national health care. The US remains No. 1 in health expenditure per capita (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) but No. 44 in life expectancy (UN World Population Prospects, 2022).

• Lily Benavides, Green candidate for Congress in New Jersey (District 11) https://lilybenavides4congress.us/

• Physicians for a National Health Program FAQ page on Medicare For All / Single-Payer: http://www.pnhp.org/facts/single-payer-faq

• OpenSecrets

Insurance company political contributions in 2024: https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus?cycle=2024&ind=F09

Private health sector political contributions in 2024: https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus?cycle=2024&ind=H

• Health care rankings by country: https://www.numbeo.com/health-care/rankings_by_country.jsp

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191

2020 Annual National Meeting and Presidential Nominating Convention
https://www.gp.org/2020_convention

Green New Deal
https://www.gp.org/green_new_deal

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