CORE BELIEFS of NC MEDICARE FOR ALL COALITION MEMBERS

» Health care is a basic human right for all U.S. residents, irrespective of citizenship, immigration status, race, gender, disability, or any other factor.

» As with so many systemic injustices, the lack of free health care disproportionally affects groups who have been systematically marginalized since the founding of the U.S., namely Black, Indigenous, and people of color. We organize within an anti-oppression framework and honor this approach to organizing among our member organizations.

» Health care and public health systems are not commodities but are a public good. We believe that for-profit healthcare is inhumane, unjust and inefficient and that the health, or illness, of our bodies shouldn't be a source of profit.

» Single-payer health care is a critical step toward addressing the health care disparities and discrimination that lead to higher rates of illness and death for Black, Latinx, Indigenous and other communities of color, as well as LGBTQ+ people and those with low incomes. 

» Expanded and Improved Medicare for All is the most equitable and cost-effective way for the U.S. to achieve a fully funded, single-payer health care system because it builds upon the successes of Medicare, an existing single-payer health care system unique to the U.S.

» Expanded and Improved Medicare for All offers a truly universal system, which would include all of the inpatient and outpatient services currently covered by traditional Medicare, while adding vision, hearing, dental, home health, comprehensive reproductive, long-term, hospice and mental health/behavioral health care, and prescription drugs.

» Expanded and Improved Medicare for All would lift huge financial burdens as people would not be required to pay premiums, deductibles, co-payments, or any out-of-pocket payments under HR 1976, the Medicare for All Act of 2021. The program would be supported exclusively through progressive, income-based individual, corporate and payroll taxes. 

» In a win for people over profits, private, for-profit health insurance companies would be eliminated along with the provider networks that they require. Americans would have genuine freedom of choice of health care providers, across state lines and specialties.

» Under this truly universal health care system, people who currently are denied care will receive comprehensive health care services, including abortion services and other reproductive care, transgender health services, and health care for the undocumented community.

» We support establishing a new public pharmaceutical regulatory agency to eliminate private drug company profiteering, ensure timely and cost-effective development of safe and effective drug therapies, and guarantee that public investment in drug development exclusively benefits the common good. 

» We support full funding for public health at the local, state and national levels to ensure that a trained, professional workforce is available everyday, and during public health emergencies, to protect and promote public health.

ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES

By joining the NC Medicare for All Coalition, a volunteer and unpaid collaborative endeavor, organizations and individuals pledge to work together to:

• Educate and mobilize the public about the medical, financial, and societal benefits of Expanded and Improved Medicare for All.
• Educate legislators and policy makers to understand how Expanded and Improved Health Care for All can universally expand and improve the quality of health care, improve health status, reduce discrimination and increase equity in health care, and lower costs.
• Educate and collaborate with community leaders and organizations to develop strategies for passing Expanded and Improved Medicare for All.
• Support strategic actions in collaboration with like-minded organizations to achieve progress toward a single-payer health system.
• Organize and interact within an anti-oppression framework  - including supporting the missions of our member organizations to the extent that they overlap with that framework - and with a culture that actively works to dismantle the false notion of white supremacy.
• Hold ourselves and each other accountable to our core beliefs and organizing principles.

MEMBER ORGANIZATION EXPECTATIONS

By joining the NC Medicare for All Coalition, organizations pledge to contribute to the coalition in the following ways:

• Inform your organization’s members that your organization has joined the coalition
• Identify an organizational liaison (and an alternate, if necessary) to represent your organization at monthly coalition-wide meetings on the first Wednesday of each month, held at 7 PM on Zoom. If the organizational liaison cannot attend, a designated alternate from the organization is asked to attend in their place. 
• Refer interested members to participate in working groups (Communications, Legislative, Language Justice, Membership/Education/Outreach).
• Consider making a financial contribution of any amount. ($250 recommended for each organization per year but is not required.) New organizations are asked to fill out our finance and resources assessment form here.
• Promote engagement with the coalition among the individual organization’s membership, including donating volunteer time and material resources such as space, printing/copying, mailings, media outreach, technological and social media support, and equipment.
• Distribute messages and announcements from the Coalition to organization members and other individuals by email and social media using “PLEASE SHARE” or something similar in the subject line. 
• Attend and promote coalition events, such as actions, conferences, webinars, meetings with legislators, town halls and other events.
• Be respectful and inclusive in all settings and treat people with dignity.