Healthcare-NOW is a left-of-center activist organization that promotes the adoption of single-payer healthcare at the national level in the United States. The group is active in supporting so-called “Medicare for All” government-run health care legislation in Congress and promotes the websites for its state level chapters giving the small organization the appearance of a large grassroots network. The organization is based in Massachusetts and centers much of its work around lobbying members of Congress from that state. ¹

Members of the organization’s advisory board and board of directors’ hail from various center-left to far-left labor groups and activist organizations such as the United Mine Workers, United Steelworkers, The National Organization for Women, and the Democratic Socialists of America. ² The organization also has a charitable arm, the Healthcare-NOW Education Fund. ³

Background

Healthcare-NOW was founded in 2005 to support Democratic-supported legislation in Congress to create a government-run health insurance system, also known as single-payer health care. For the first several years of its existence, the organization was solely focused on supporting the proposed United States National Health Insurance Act, which was introduced by the late Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and cosponsored by 90 Democrats in the U.S. House. The far-left legislation would have created a universal government-funded insurance system that would have required all Americans to receive a national health insurance Identification card and banned private insurers from offering health insurance coverage similar to the government funded program. ⁴

The organization has been closely tied to left-leaning labor unions since its founding and recruited 408 national, state, and local labor unions to support single-payer health care in the early days of its existence, including chapters of the Utility Workers of America, United Auto Workers, the American Federation of Teachers, and several local labor councils of the AFL-CIO. ⁵

In 2008, Healthcare-NOW released a statement concerning the founding of a center-left coalition supporting healthcare legislation called Healthcare for America Now (HCAN), an organization that was credited with playing a significant role in creating the blueprint for the legislation that became Obamacare. ⁶ Healthcare-NOW stated that while the organizations shared similar names, HCAN’s approach to healthcare reform was flawed by not embracing exclusively government-run health care. Healthcare-NOW maintained its support for a single-payer system that prohibited private insurance. ⁷

Activity

Healthcare-NOW’s most prominent current issue campaign is support for Medicare for All, which it describes as “the most comprehensive single-payer bill ever introduced to Congress” ⁸ in that it would extend taxpayer-funded Medicare benefits to every individual residing in the United States. ⁹

Healthcare-NOW is among the most vocal proponents of Medicare for All along with the Labor Campaign for Single Payer, National Nurses United, and Our Revolution. ¹⁰  In Congress, the Medicare for All effort is led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and the bill is cosponsored by 110 of the further-left members of the House Democratic Caucus. ¹¹

Associated Organizations and People

Benjamin Day is the Executive Director of Healthcare-NOW. He previously led the Mass-Care Massachusetts Campaign for Single Payer Health Care. ¹²

The advisory board and board of directors for Healthcare-NOW consists of representatives of many center-left and far-left labor unions and activist groups inclosing Code Pink, the California Nurses Association, United Mine Workers, United Steelworkers, Women’s Economic Agenda Project, Healthy California Now, National Health Care for the Homeless Council, Labor Campaign for Single Payer, Physicians for a National Health Program, People’s Action, Center for Popular Democracy, the National Nurses Organizing Committee Texas, Progressive Democrats of America, and the Democratic Socialists of America. ¹³

1. “Home.” Healthcare Now. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://www.healthcare-now.org/
2. “Our Board.” Healthcare Now. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://www.healthcare-now.org/about/our-board/
3. “Healthcare-NOW Education Fund.” Healthcare Now. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://www.healthcare-now.org/healthcare-now-education-fund/
4. “HR 676.” Healthcare Now. Accessed via Wayback Machine July 2, 2021. https://www.healthcare-now.org/ https://web.archive.org/web/20111114173316mp_/http://old.healthcare-now.org/hr676.html
5. “Labor News.” Healthcare Now. Accessed via Wayback Machine July 2, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20111114052900/http://old.healthcare-now.org/news_labor.html
6. Pollack, Harold. “The group that got health reform passed is declaring victory and going home.” Washington Post. January 5, 2014. Accessed July 1, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/01/05/the-group-that-got-health-reform-passed-is-declaring-victory-and-going-home/?utm_term=.18f6e66a21d7
7. “Regarding HCAN.” Healthcare Now. Accessed via Wayback Machine July 2, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20100107043028/http://www.healthcare-now.org/about/regarding-hcan/
8. “2021 Medicare for All Bill.” Healthcare Now. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://www.healthcare-now.org/2021-medicare-for-all/
9. “2021 Medicare for All Bill.” Healthcare Now. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://www.healthcare-now.org/2021-medicare-for-all/
10. “2021 Medicare for All Bill.” Healthcare Now. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://www.healthcare-now.org/2021-medicare-for-all/
11. Diamond, Dan. “House Democrats bring back Medicare-for-all, seeking to push Biden left.” Washington Post. March 16, 2021. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/03/16/house-democrats-medicare-for-all-biden/
12. “Staff.” Healthcare Now. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://www.healthcare-now.org/about/healthcare-now-staff/
13. “Healthcare NOW! Board.” Healthcare NOW! Accessed July 13, 2021. https://www.healthcare-now.org/about/our-board/.