Archives for October 2025

One Payer States President’s Update (10/02/25 Quarterly Newsletter):

The United States stands on the cusp of our 250th birthday (1776-2026), in the midst of an ongoing and expanding fascist coup – one hell-bent on destroying our fragile democracy and tearing down entirely our already weakened public health care system. As founders and supporters of One Payer States (OPS) who believe that “out of crisis comes opportunity,” we stand in solidarity with: (1) our nation’s founding democratic vision, (2) Teddy Roosevelt’s 1912 call for national health insurance for all, and (3) the unanimously-embraced 10 December 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including Article 25’s call for comprehensive health and health care for all. (https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights)
These historic turning points and documents are deeply woven into OPS’s vision, mission, values, and purpose. They help drive the future visioning and careful implementation of a comprehensive strategy that borrows from numerous successful campaigns and adapts core principles to our systematic planning process. (See https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu)

That said, our strategic organizing plan sees the enactment of Sen. Ed Markey’s and Rep. Ro Khanna’s “State-Based Universal Health Care Act” (SBUHCA) in 2029, and – with SBUHCA’s boost to one or more states implementing single-payer systems in the same time frame – the passage of Sen. Sanders’ and Rep. Jayapal’s “Medicare for All” bills in 2031. See it, say it, plan it, win it.

Working backward after seeing forward – that is, reverse-engineering tomorrow’s utopia, step by step – from these designed accomplishments and timelines, we celebrate this past summer’s remarkable 15 July 2025 Capitol Hill press conference and House-Senate legislative rollout of SBUHCA (H.R.4406 and S.2286), as well as the extraordinary steps toward adopting state-based single-payer models across the country: CA, CO, ME, MN, NM, NY, OR, WA, and 12 more!

Also notable are the multi-state collaborations, known as “Regional Public Health Coalitions,” on both the West Coast and the East Coast, which address the void in childhood vaccination schedules now being abandoned at the increasingly politicized HHS, CDC, NIH, and related federal health agencies. This is yet another sign of the prescient work we are doing at OPS: bridging state and federal efforts, but going it alone, if necessary, for the time being, at the state and regional levels. (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/nyregion/northeast-public-health-collaborative-trump.html) (Paywall).

Finally, having been a full-time citizen lobbyist on Capitol Hill for the past two years – while doing the organizing, planning, and strategizing work with others, from our 2009 founding to the present – I am deeply grateful to our dedicated board members, super-volunteers, work group leaders, multi-issue activists, policy thinkers, and YOU, without whom this critical work could not be forged and achieved – forged and achieved for the bountiful outcomes we envision in the near future, on the other side of the deep crisis referenced above.

Even in darkness, the light is present.

With eyes wide open, we go forward with resolute vision and purpose, nimble planning, radical hope, and solidarity, always and forever.

Chuck Pennacchio, Ph.D.

President, One Payer States