Resolution to Initiate a Campaign for Medical Debt Relief
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;
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;
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;
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;
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;
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; and
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.
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.