Resolution to Initiate a Campaign for Medical Debt Relief (within the Medicare-for-All Working Group of Rhode Island DSA)
Whereas:
The Medicare for All Working Group has been leading a prominent campaign within Rhode Island DSA for over two years, fighting for bills in the Rhode Island State House, working with allies, and holding events to show the necessity of a single-payer program in Rhode Island, so that no one is denied healthcare for fear of bankruptcy, loss of housing, or economic insecurity;
Whereas:
In Rhode Island, as elsewhere in the United States, fear of medical debt is a leading reason that working-class people delay or avoid health care;
Whereas:
Medical billing has become a de facto means by which for-profit entities ration healthcare resources to those who are uninsured, cannot afford treatment, or cannot risk the economic insecurity that comes with medical debt;
Whereas:
Socialists, who believe healthcare is a human right, should end the yoke of medical debt that serves only the for-profit system and puts thousands in financial insecurity;
Whereas:
Medical debt, in the form of bills for sudden medical need or of out-of-network billing, is the most direct, and often the most frequent, experience that most ordinary working Rhode Islanders have with their health insurance providers;
Whereas:
The issue of medical debt is a point of common frustration for thousands of Rhode Islanders, especially working people of low- and middle- income, and therefore, makes an excellent candidate to organize people to join the Medicare for All Working Group and more importantly, agitate for a single-payer system in Rhode Island;
Whereas:
The for-profit health insurance industry, with its extreme dysfunction and cruelty, can be used as an example to explain the irrationality of capitalism and the need for socialist economic planning;
Be it resolved:
Rhode Island DSA shall continue its campaign to organize a working-class movement for statewide Medicare for All, and the campaign shall also incorporate the demand for debt relief. The Medicare for All campaign shall be used to draw attention to the need for socialism and recruit working-class people to Rhode Island DSA.
Below are summaries of the function, messaging, planning, and staffing of the campaign, and also, how we will measure success:
Function of the Debt Relief Demand
The demand for debt relief will always be brought forward in combination with the demand for Medicare for All, with the expectation that the government is much more likely to grant debt relief. The Medicare for All working group will plan protests and direct actions, not just testimony to fit a legislative timeline. If debt relief is achieved through organizing, it will increase working people’s confidence in their capacity to win.
Political Messaging
The Medicare for All working group will consistently name the enemies: the profit-making insurance industry and the capitalist-bought politicians of both parties who protect its interests. Further, it will be stressed that only the working class (not legislators) has the power to create change. The Medicare for All working group will avoid promoting any politicians besides those endorsed by Rhode Island DSA.
Medicare for All events will also be used to speak about the capitalist system and the need for a workers’ party, and attendees will be invited to join Rhode Island DSA.
Plan to Win Medicare for All
Legislators from the capitalist parties will only agree to enact single-payer healthcare if they believe the alternative is mass disruption, harm to their donors, or loss of their seats. Rhode Island DSA’s strategy is to organize majority support for Medicare for All along with a large movement of working-class people who are willing to fight for it.
Phase 1 (now and going forward): We will continue to identify allies, opponents, and their sources of support, as well as recruit members through educational events and outreach at the following venues:
Union halls and workplaces;
Working-class community organizations;
Houses of worship, where we have found allies in the past; and
Open-ended recruitment through social media, tabling, and community events.
Educational events will be used to explain the exploitation of the working class by the insurance industry, the need for Medicare for All, and our plan for winning it (with historical examples of success):
At the end of presentations to union members, they will be asked to brainstorm how they could get their union to support Medicare for All. Those who are interested will be invited to meet with the national Labor Campaign for Single Payer to help them organize, and they’ll also be invited to Rhode Island DSA’s workers’ circles.
At presentations to community groups in general, attendees will be asked if they can think of friends or family members who would join the fight for single-payer and debt relief. They will also be invited to attend follow-up events to help plan direct actions, where they’ll learn more about socialism and Rhode Island DSA. These events will help gauge capacity for future protests.
Phase 2 (2023): We will begin by focusing on the Providence City Council, which is a comparatively easy target for extracting concessions. Our activities will include:
Organizing protests to name and to target specific, well-selected insurance companies, healthcare providers, or politicians;
Demanding the Providence City Council endorse statewide single-payer healthcare; and
Demanding medical debt relief for city residents.
Phase 3 (2024 and later): With more experience and increased capacity, we will:
Continue to intensify our pressure, in media and in direct action, naming and agitating against specific targets (again, strategically selected insurance companies, healthcare providers, or politicians); and
Expand protests to the State House, demanding Medicare for All and statewide debt relief, and targeting politicians who keep bills for a single-payer system or debt relief in committee.
Volunteer Requirements
In addition to two co-chairs, the campaign for Medicare for All and debt relief may require certain roles, which will be filled as available and as needed:
Event coordinator (one) and subcommittee
Social media coordinator (one) and subcommittee
Art and graphics leader (one) and subcommittee
Data collection contact person (one) and subcommittee
Measuring success
The campaign will not depend on the success or failure of specific bills in the State House or the City Council. The end in mind will always be in joining ordinary, working people to a coalition that makes them the agents of change against a for-profit system.
Therefore, the success of our campaign depends on the power that we grow within working communities in Rhode Island, and whether we increase the ways in which they are able to fight the capitalist system, both in healthcare and beyond.
This can be measured in a number of ways:
Number of active members who are recruited to the working group and Rhode Island DSA.
Number of people who are willing to share their story with us, for media purposes.
Number of union members who sign up and participate in Medicare for All organizing.
Number of attendees at events and direct actions.