The United States doesn’t have a comprehensive healthcare “system.” It has a patchwork of coverage options that come with heavy price tags and complicated processes. Consistent GOP attacks have made the entire framework untenable, and the results speak for themselves. Healthcare coverage is deteriorating rapidly under Trump and there’s no going back at this point. This might be the opening we need to finally have a real conversation about Medicare for All. But there’s going to be a lot of pain between now and then.

Resources

KFF: ACA Marketplace Enrollment Is Down By 3 Million After Big Jump in Premium Payments

The New York Times: Uninsured Patients Rise Sharply, Hospitals Report, Citing Obamacare Cuts

Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker: How much and why ACA Marketplace premiums are going up in 2027

Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker: How much and why premiums are going up for small businesses in 2027

American Medical Association: Changes to Medicaid, the ACA and other key provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

Common Dreams: Nearly 2.5 Million Children Have Lost Medicaid and CHIP—So Far—During Trump’s Second Term

STAT: The Trump administration is burying science and health care in paperwork

Book Love

Abdul El-Sayed + Micah Johnson: Medicare for All: A Citizen’s Guide

Steven Brill: America’s Bitter Pill: Money, Politics, Backroom Deals, and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System

Paul Starr: The Social Transformation of American Medicine: The Rise of a Sovereign Profession and the Making of a Vast Industry

UNFTR Resources

Video: Healthcare Is Broken—And It’s Not Getting Better.

Essay: Merchants of Death.

Series: Healthcare.

Episode: Medicare for All.

Episode: Pharmacy Benefit Managers.

5 Non-Negotiables.

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