Single-payer healthcare means the public pays for care through one plan, the way Medicare already does for people over 65, and everyone is in it. Hospitals and doctors stay independent; the public plan pays the bills. You pick your doctor. You don't lose your coverage when you lose your job, switch jobs or turn 26. Nobody sends you a bill after the fact because the anesthesiologist was "out of network."
The system we have now leaves people out and still costs more than anyone else's. In 2025, 26.7 million people in the U.S. had no health insurance for the entire year.[1] In 2022, about four in ten adults said they were carrying debt from medical or dental bills.[2] And we pay more for all of it. In 2024 the U.S. spent $14,775 per person on health care. Other wealthy countries averaged $7,860.[3]
Part of that gap is paperwork. In 2021 the U.S. spent about $925 per person just on running health programs and insurance company overhead, compared with $245 in similar countries.[4] That's money spent running insurance plans and programs, not on care.
Think about what changes for you. You could quit a bad job, start a business or retire early without losing your coverage. A cancer diagnosis wouldn't come with a fight over what's covered. Your kid's doctor would be in network, because there would be no networks.
Two-thirds of the public (66%) say they favor a national health plan, in KFF's September 2026 poll.[5]
The objection: "It'll raise your taxes"
Yes, taxes would go up, and premiums, deductibles and copays would go away. The honest comparison isn't taxes against nothing. It's what you pay in total. Right now that includes the premium taken out of your paycheck, the deductible you hit before coverage starts, and the bills that show up anyway. KFF found that support for a national plan falls to about a third when people hear it could raise taxes, and rises to as much as three-quarters when they hear it would eliminate premiums and cut out-of-pocket costs.[5] Both of those things are true at once. Similar wealthy countries spend a little over half as much per person, so the money is already in the system.[3]
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, "Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2025," September 15, 2026. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026/income-poverty-health-insurance-coverage.html
- KFF, "Health Care Debt In The U.S.: The Broad Consequences Of Medical And Dental Bills," June 16, 2022. https://www.kff.org/health-costs/kff-health-care-debt-survey/
- Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, "How does health spending in the U.S. compare to other countries?" March 11, 2026. https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries/
- Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, "What drives health spending in the U.S. compared to other countries?" August 2, 2024. https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/what-drives-health-spending-in-the-u-s-compared-to-other-countries/
- KFF, "Public Opinion on Medicare-for-All and Other National Health Plan Proposals," October 6, 2026. https://www.kff.org/public-opinion/current-and-historical-public-opinion-on-medicare-for-all-and-other-national-health-plan-proposals/