Preparing for the Supreme Court Decision

A lot of energy is being spent conjecturing on the outcome of the upcoming Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA). As pundits are busy speculating on how the decision will affect Obama’s reelection campaign and upcoming Congressional races, three possible scenarios seem most likely:

– The entire law is upheld.
– The individual mandate is struck down (and with it possibly other more popular components of the ACA).
– The entire ACA is declared unconstitutional.

So there is a lot of talk. But what is missing in all this talk is healthcare.

Everyone is talking about politics, but no one in the mainstream media, Congress, or the White House is talking about our broken healthcare system or the 50 million uninsured or tens of thousands of people who die every year in this country because they don’t have adequate access to care.

This is where we come in. Because we know the solution: national single-payer healthcare.

Though there is no definite date set for the announcement of the decision, we’ve heard rumors that it will be made on June 25. As we prepare for the upcoming announcement, we must continue to spread the message that, regardless of the decision, we know Medicare-for-all is constitutional and necessary.

We encourage you to be prepared to take swift action when the decision is announced. Healthcare-NOW! is preparing press releases and talking points for the three most likely outcomes, and will be ready to send the appropriate ones to you immediately once the decision is made public. We urge you to:

1. Send emails to your Congressmembers and the President showing your support for single-payer healthcare;

2. Write letters to the editor explaining why we need a universal publicly-financed healthcare system;

3. Hold public demonstrations outside of private health insurance companies, hospitals, or federal buildings to show support for single-payer.

Start talking with other single-payer supporters in your area now to plan for quick action. HCN National and our members in the DC area – along with PNHP members and other single-payer supporters – are making plans to gather at the Supreme Court as soon as the decision is announced.

Please visit our website for resources on single-payer (including a new simple handout comparing the ACA to a single-payer plan) and local contacts in your area working on single-payer, or contact us at the office at francesca@healthcare-now.org or 800-453-1305 with any questions.