Business Leaders for Health Care Transformation (BLHCT), formerly the Business Initiative For Health Policy, is a coalition of businesses that campaigns for government-controlled health care. The organization supports Medicare For All, a proposal to make the U.S. government the sole payer for health care services in the United States.

In addition to supporting a federal takeover of the health care system, the organization also endorses a federal takeover of election administration. ¹

Overview

Business Leaders for Health Care Transformation was founded in 2018 as a coalition of business executives, economists, and health policy activists designed to build support for a government-controlled single-payer health care system. ² The organization argues that the current employer-based health insurance system makes American businesses uncompetitive compared to businesses in other countries. It also asserts that single-payer healthcare would increase health care cost predictability, since it would set a payroll tax paid by businesses and employees to fund health care instead of annually fluctuating health insurance premiums. ³

In addition to supporting a federal takeover of the healthcare system, the organization supports a federal takeover of the election system. It is a member of the Declaration for American Democracy, a coalition that advocates for the federal takeover of the election system. ⁴

Notable People

The founder and chairman of the organization is Richard Master. He is the founder and CEO of MCS Industries, which manufactures picture frames and decorative mirrors. Before entering the business world, he worked as a trial lawyer in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice before leaving to work on the 1972 presidential campaign of then-U.S. Sen. George McGovern (D-SD). ⁵

While serving as CEO of MCS Industries, Master outsourced his company’s entire manufacturing operations to Mexico and China, with the final manufacturing jobs leaving the U.S. in 2005, a move he blamed in part on health care costs. ⁶

The president of the organization is Wendell Potter. Potter is a former journalist and public relations executive who once worked for Cigna Corporation. ⁷

1. “A Coalition of 240+ Member Organizations Working Together to Make the Promise of Democracy Real for All of Us.” Declaration for American Democracy. Accessed February 6, 2023. https://dfadcoalition.org/.
2. Galewitz, Phil. “Why Some CEOS Figure ‘Medicare for All’ Is Good for Business.” Kaiser Health News. June 7, 2019. https://khn.org/news/a-large-employer-frames-the-medicare-for-all-debate/.
3. Sandronsky, Seth. “Business Group Believes Medicare for All Healthcare Is Best.” Health Over Profit. June 5, 2019. http://healthoverprofit.org/2019/06/05/business-group-believes-medicare-for-all-healthcare-is-best/.
4. “A Coalition of 240+ Member Organizations Working Together to Make the Promise of Democracy Real for All of Us.” Declaration for American Democracy. Accessed February 6, 2023. https://dfadcoalition.org/.
5. “Boards.” BLHCT. Accessed February 6, 2023. https://www.blhct.org/boards-1.
6. Galewitz, Phil. “Why Some CEOS Figure ‘Medicare for All’ Is Good for Business.” Kaiser Health News. June 7, 2019. https://khn.org/news/a-large-employer-frames-the-medicare-for-all-debate/.
7. “Boards.” BLHCT. Accessed February 6, 2023. https://www.blhct.org/boards-1.