Join the DSA Medicare for All Campaign!

As socialists, we know that the only way to win concessions from the capitalist class is by exerting the full power of an organized working class. Winning Medicare for All -- which will involve an enormous transfer of wealth and power from the capitalist class to working people – is no exception to this rule. Without the militant force of our organized, diverse class behind us, we will always fall short. And make no mistake: falling short is not an option. This is a fight to save lives. These lessons were made abundantly clear in 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic has offered a grim daily reminder of the failings of the U.S. healthcare “system.” A study found that one-third of COVID-19 deaths and about 40% of infections were linked to being uninsured. Another found that for every 10% increase in a county’s uninsured rate, there is a 70% increase in COVID-19 infections and almost a 50% increase in deaths from it. Conditions like living in dense neighborhoods, lack of sick leave, and poor health from chronic stress have made this pandemic brutal for Americans working ‘essential’ jobs, particularly working class people of color. Instead of global cooperation to end the pandemic, the Western response has been dysfunctional travel bans, unethical vaccine patents, and treating frontline workers as disposable.

What lessons can we learn from this and how can we apply them to the universal healthcare movement in 2022?

Our tasks are to 1) transform the political landscape in which the legislative and electoral paths unfold and 2) prepare our class to seize political opportunities in the moments of rupture where transformational material change becomes possible. To move this fight forward, we must be militant, disciplined organizers who never stop pushing forward and demanding more. Each month, the DSA M4A campaign will host a national organizing call, make an organizing ask on universal healthcare to chapters, and release new resources to help you join the 2022 DSA M4A campaign. We hope that you will commit to joining the 2022 fight for universal healthcare by signing up for the campaign!

We seek nothing less than the total transformation of society. Medicare for All is the most powerful policy tool we have to weaken the power of the capitalist class, to unite the reserve and active armies of labor against our shared enemy in the employing class, to confront and eradicate health disparities, and to show our class we want both immediate benefits and to collectively bargain for more.