Welcome to PNHP.org!

Physicians for a National Health Program is a non-profit research and education organization of 17,000 physicians, medical students and health professionals who support single-payer national health insurance.

Click here to learn more!


NAVIGATION
PNHP RESOURCES

» PNHP Press Room

Click here for PNHP's statement on the 2009 uninsured figures.

PNHP is at the forefront of research and action for a single-payer national health program. Click to view press releases.

Our Mission: Single-Payer National Health Insurance


Greg Silver, MD

The U.S. spends twice as much as other industrialized nations on health care, $8,160 per capita. Yet our system performs poorly in comparison and still leaves 50.7 million without health coverage and millions more inadequately covered.

This is because private insurance bureaucracy and paperwork consume one-third (31 percent) of every health care dollar. Streamlining payment through a single nonprofit payer would save more than $400 billion per year, enough to provide comprehensive, high-quality coverage for all Americans.

Click here to learn more about single-payer national health insurance

What You Can Do

Find out ways you can help the movement for single-payer national health insurance.

The Physicians' Proposal


Marcia Angell, MD
Past Editor
New England
Journal of Medicine

We endorse a fundamental change in America's health care - the creation of a comprehensive National Health Insurance (NHI) Program. Such a program - which in essence would be an expanded and improved version of Medicare - would cover every American for all necessary medical care.

Click here to read the entire proposal (pdf)
Join the list of endorsers


'Hijacked' by Dr. John Geyman

Is health care "reform" 2010 better than nothing? Dr. Geyman warns of soaring costs, no price controls, and more Americans going without necessary health care. This is our future in the aftermath of Health Care "Reform" 2010, guided by a failing industry bailed out by new government subsidies. This well-documented book charts a path to that end. Hijacked: The Road to Single Payer in the Aftermath of Stolen Health Care Reform is essential reading for anyone who wants to better understand how our health care system got this way and what we can do about it.

Click here to purchase.


Amy Goodman

PNHP's 2010 Annual Meeting will be held Nov 6 at the Sheraton Downtown in Denver, CO, preceded by our popular Leadership Training course on Nov 5. Amy Goodman, author and host of Democracy Now!, will be joining us during lunch on Saturday, Nov 6.

» Click here to register for the Annual Meeting

» Click here to learn more about the Leadership Training


Latest PNHP News

» Dr. McCanne's Quote of the day: Thu, Sep 16, 2010
» Article of interest: Fri, Sep 17, 2010
» Article of interest: Fri, Sep 17, 2010
PNHP Members in the News
PNHP statement on passage of health bill

Health bill leaves 23 million uninsured

As much as we would like to join the celebration of the passage of the health bill, in good conscience we cannot. We take no comfort in seeing aspirin dispensed for the treatment of cancer.

Instead of eliminating the root of the problem - the profit-driven, private health insurance industry - this costly new legislation will enrich and further entrench these firms. The bill would require millions of Americans to buy private insurers' defective products, and turn over to them vast amounts of public money.

The hype surrounding the new health bill is belied by the facts:

  • About 23 million people will remain uninsured nine years out. That figure translates into an estimated 23,000 unnecessary deaths annually and an incalculable toll of suffering.
  • Millions of middle-income people will be pressured to buy commercial health insurance policies costing up to 9.5 percent of their income but covering an average of only 70 percent of their medical expenses, potentially leaving them vulnerable to financial ruin if they become seriously ill. Many will find such policies too expensive to afford or, if they do buy them, too expensive to use because of the high co-pays and deductibles.

» Continue reading PNHP's statement