It’s been a remarkable year.
To take on CVS Health’s efforts to undermine Medicare for All, we’ve collected tens of thousands of signatures, collaborated with hundreds of activists for discussions and actions, and even received a direct response from CVS themselves — and we don’t plan on slowing down for a minute in 2022.
If you’d like to be a part of the next phase of our campaign to hold CVS accountable, sign up here to be the first to know about our next steps in 2022 and how you can get involved.
It all started in April, when investigative journalists at The Intercept broke the news that CVS quietly gave a $5 million donation to the biggest anti-Medicare for All dark money group, the Partnership for America’s Healthcare Future, in 2020 – the largest donation to the Partnership ever.1
So in May, we launched our petition telling CVS that we wouldn’t accept their efforts to undermine Medicare for All — and over 30,000 people signed on. During the CVS Health annual shareholders meeting, we generated 365 calls to their communications executives, demanding that they stop bankrolling the Partnership and blocking health care reform.
Come September, we held a panel discussion titled “CVS Health, The Future of Health Care, and the Fight for Medicare for All.” The panel featured NNU President Jean Ross, RN, journalist Andrew Perez, Fordham professor of law and anti-monopoly expert and activist, Zephyr Teachout, and co-founder of Color of Change and Majority Action leader, James Rucker. Over 2,000 people signed up to attend this panel — and if you missed it, you can check out the recording of the panel on Facebook here.
During our national CVS Day of Action, and all throughout October, we encouraged activists across the country to go to their local CVS store locations and tape a “receipt” (in the style of CVS’s notoriously long receipts!) to the front door calling on CVS to stop undermining Medicare for All. The receipt included the names of thousands of people who signed the petition. 380 actions took place across 32 states, including at the CVS Health corporate headquarters in Rhode Island!
After months of action, CVS responded to our campaign in the Rhode Island based newspaper Go Local Prov. They attempted to distance themselves from the Partnership, saying explicitly, “CVS Health is not currently funding the PAHCF.”
Of course, we don’t have any reason to believe them, and a $5 million donation goes a long way. CVS Health has continued to maintain its relationship with the Partnership. One of their executives even appeared on a panel with The Hill just last week, sponsored by the Partnership.
That’s why in November, we published a recap of our campaign so far, detailing why CVS Health is part of the problem — and not part of the solution — when it comes to health care.
We’ll believe that CVS has cut ties with the Partnership when we see the receipts (pun intended!), and they start putting patients before profits. Until then, we’ll keep campaigning in 2022 to demand that CVS Health stop bankrolling this anti-Medicare for All dark money group. In order to successfully execute the big plans ahead of us, we’re going to need the help of activists like you.
To join us in 2022 for the next phase of our campaign and help us put a stop to CVS’s profit-driven actions once and for all, you can sign up here. We’ll make sure you’re the first to hear about our next steps come January!
Looking forward to taking action with you in the new year!
In solidarity,
Alex Newell Taylor
Organizer
Nurses’ Campaign to Win Medicare for All
1 - The Intercept
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