AMSA Denounces Tax Plan, Endorses #RightToHealth: Improved Medicare for All Week of Action

STERLING, Virginia, Dec. 4 -- The American Medical Student Association issued the following news release:

Today, the American Medical Student Association supports the #RightToHealth: Improved Medicare for All National Student Week of Action by Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP), the medical student arm of Physicians for a National Health Program. This occurs in the wake of the Senate's passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that has significant impacts on health care by repealing the Affordable Care Act individual mandate, which could cause millions of healthy people to leave the individual market, leaving behind a sicker, more expensive insurance pool.

The week aims to endorse Senate Bill 1804, the "Medicare for All Act of 2017," and honors the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights signed on December 10, 1948 that states, "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care and necessary social services."

Vanessa Van Doren, AMSA member, fourth-year medical student at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and National Board Representative of SNaHP says, "I'm joining the #RightToHealth Week of Action because I believe it's fundamentally wrong for some people to live shorter, sicker lives because they can't afford health care. As a medical student in Cleveland, Ohio, I see the impact of lack of access to health care every day."

The Congressional Budget Office estimates 28 million people in the United States still remain uninsured under current law, which is projected to increase to 41 million people under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. "Our senators are supposed to represent all of us, and right now, millions in the US have no health insurance at all," Van Doren continues. "That's why I'm calling on my senator - Sherrod Brown - to join 17 other leaders in the Senate in co-sponsoring S. 1804 the Medicare for All Act of 2017."

AMSA believes that access to comprehensive health services must be recognized and protected as a basic human right, and supports a publicly and progressively financed, privately delivered single-payer system of high quality, affordable health care for all persons. Our colleagues at Students for a National Health Program have compiled a toolkit with action steps and resources for how to engage your elected officials in asking them to support the Medicare for All Act of 2017.