Health Not Profit – National Day of Action: Put Single Payer on the nation’s agenda

by Barry Hermanson

Communities will be coming together across the country to join in a National Day of Action on Saturday, May 31, 2025, to put National Single Payer Healthcare on the nation’s agenda.

Our health care system is broken beyond repair. Insurance companies and for-profit middlemen create barriers to care and massive administrative waste. These result in unnecessary suffering and deaths. For over 60 years, piecemeal reforms have resulted in higher costs and the worst health outcomes among comparable nations.

Organizers are making the following demands:

• We demand the recognition by our government that health care is a human right.
• We demand the elimination of private health insurance and the banning of for-profit delivery of care.
• We demand the enactment of a publicly financed, national single payer program that would provide comprehensive coverage to everyone.
• We demand that health care delivery be transformed from profit-seeking ventures into services organized to serve the people of our country, a system in which all caregivers are freed from corporate control.

The rally in San Francisco will be on Saturday, May 31, 2025, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Harry Bridges Plaza, The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94111. We will march to BlackRock, 400 Howard St., San Francisco, CA 94105.

There will be a march from Harry Bridges Plaza to BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. BlackRock is the second largest owner of United HealthCare shares. United HealthCare is the biggest insurance company. They deny the most claims and scam Medicare every year.

The end of May is when Republicans in Washington will release their budget proposals to slash federal spending and provide massive tax breaks to wealthy Americans. Medicaid/Medi-Cal might lose billions. Nationally, one in five people rely on Medicaid. Almost 40% of Californians, more than 15 million individuals, rely on Medi-Cal. Public programs for housing and rental assistance, food assistance, and behavioral health will all be on the chopping block. 

Large demonstrations are taking place all across the country every week to protest the budget cuts and the dismantling of our government services. The rallies on May 31 are not just to protest the cuts; they are to demand that Health Care is a Human Right. We deserve what people in other developed countries enjoy. 

Ban for-profit care and get rid of private health insurance. Pass public national single payer that covers everyone from cradle to grave. Change health care to serve the people of our country, a system where caregivers are free from corporate control.

The National Day of Action will bring people together locally and nationally from neighborhoods, unions, faith groups, businesses, and all types of civic organizations to join the demand to remove profit from health care. We must focus our collective anger towards corporate health insurers to bring real reform: Put National Single Payer on the nation’s agenda!

For more information and to see a list of organizations who have endorsed the National Days of Action, go to https://nationalsinglepayer.com/national-day-of-action/. At the bottom of that web page is a link for organizations who wish to add their endorsement. 

Barry Hermanson is a member of the San Francisco Green Party and a former small business owner. Contact him at Barry@Hermansons.com or 415-255-9494.

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Source: https://sfbayview.com/2025/05/health-not-profit-national-day-of-action-put-single-payer-on-the-nations-agenda/