Universal health care: The moral cause

Editor, Gettysburg Times,

In a letter to President Barack Obama in May 2009, the late U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy made a bold prediction. "While I will not be there when it happens," Kennedy wrote, "you will be the President who at long last signs into law the health care reform that is the great unfinished business of our society."

While Kennedy would eventually pass away in August of that year, his unfinished dream and lifelong commitment to a national health insurance plan would continue long after he was gone. On March 23, 2010, Kennedy's decades of work would culminate in the signing of the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" (ACA), providing federal subsidies to help low- and middle-income Americans purchase private health insurance through an online marketplace.

The results of this program were outstanding: 24 million Americans were insured under the ACA in 2025, with significant gains in both quality of care and increased accessibility for our nation's most vulnerable citizens. In 2026, however, we have seen Republican majorities in the US House and Senate block the renewal of the ACA-enhanced premium tax credits, causing health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs to skyrocket for millions of American families. This was a shocking jolt to the American health care system, once again proving that not only is comprehensive reform still needed, but that it remains one of the most pressing moral causes for the next generation of Americans.

That is exactly why the Pennsylvania General Assembly must pass the Medicare for All in PA Act of 2026. This legislation would establish a single-payer, improved "Medicare for all" system in Pennsylvania, providing comprehensive health insurance for every resident of the commonwealth with no copays, no deductibles, no premiums and no out-of-pocket costs. In simple terms, this means that the average Pennsylvanian will never again be forced to choose between necessary medical care and rent, groceries, heat or a monthly car payment.

Tell your members of the state House and Senate to protect access to affordable health care in this commonwealth by supporting the Medicare for All in PA Act of 2026. Find your legislators today at palegis.us/find-my-legislator.

Gavin S. Griffin

President, Healthcare4AllPA

Titusville, Pa.