John, did you see the New York Times article on Friday?

It revealed that even the C.E.O.s of health insurance companies know that Americans pay much more for healthcare than any other country in the world.

"Patients and insurance companies in the United States pay higher prices for medications, imaging tests, basic health visits and common operations. Those high prices make health care in the U.S. extremely expensive, and they also finance a robust and politically powerful health care industry, which means lowering prices will always be hard."

This comes straight from a newly released report by the International Federation of Health Plans, a group representing the C.E.O.s of health insurers worldwide. For almost everything on the list, "there is a large divergence between the United States and everyone else."

Currently only two candidates for President, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, have committed full support for passing Medicare for All in their first term. It's time to get all the candidates -- at all levels of office -- to join the fight.

Call on all candidates running for President, Senate and House in 2020 to commit full support for Medicare for All now. No one in America should die or go bankrupt because they can't afford healthcare. Add your name >>>

Look, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren get it.

So do other progressive leaders in Congress like Pramila Jayapal and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but there’s still work to be done to get a majority of the House and Senate to pass Medicare for All.

And if there’s one thing the presidential race has made clear, it’s that way too many Democrats would rather repeat health insurance industry talking points designed to scare people, than fight to make healthcare a human right in America like it is in every other major country in the world.

In the face of Republicans hellbent on destroying Obamacare and Trump directing the Dept. of Justice to use any means necessary to get the courts to overturn it, Democrats can’t fight back by defending the current broken system. Because the bottom-line is millions of Americans still don't have health insurance and millions more are under-insured making healthcare the number one cause of personal bankruptcy in America.

That's why all of our candidates -- for President, for Senate, and for the House -- must do better than fight to protect the status quo.

They must present a vision for America that builds on the successes and lives saved by Obamacare with a system that finally provides healthcare for every single person in America.

Medicare for All means no one in America will die or go bankrupt because they can’t afford the care they need. Call on every candidate for office to commit to passing Medicare for All now.

Don't get me wrong. The pressure is working. We're winning this fight.

That's why the insurance industry and Wall Street are fighting back, spreading lies and misinformation, and contributing to the candidates willing to sell us out with talking point scare tactics rather than fight for what the American people need.

But as the report in the New York Times exposed, this isn't the time to give up or defend the status quo. Americans nationwide are being left behind by a system designed to rip them off and candidates running for office too afraid to fight for what’s right.

We know the best defense is a powerful offense. And when most Americans are hurting, there’s nothing more powerful than a vision for healthcare in America that leaves no one behind no matter who you are, where you live, or how much money you have.

Thank you for demanding all candidates join the fight for Medicare for All, so no one in America dies or goes bankrupt because they can't afford healthcare.

-Charles

Charles Chamberlain, Chair
Democracy for America