Save Our Healthcare System Before It’s Too Late

IMC-CAN Team Weekly Action July 15, 2026

Massachusetts has one of the best healthcare systems in the country, but our health and safety are at risk in the coming year due to looming federal Medicaid cuts. The loss of Medicaid dollars and coverage in 2027 endangers hospitals, clinics, and access to care for all of us. If the healthcare system collapses, hospitals close, and doctors shutter their offices, it won’t matter what kind of insurance we have. A single-payer health care system is both economically feasible and popular. The Massachusetts State Legislature can and must act before it is too late!

This action urges Massachusetts voters to call their state representatives and demand movement on the Medicare for All legislation, S.860/H.1405. The House bill has been awaiting a report from the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing since its June 2025 hearing, and the reporting deadline has been extended to July 31, 2026.

Constituents should press their representatives to urge Speaker Mariano and Committee Chair John Lawn to issue a favorable report, oppose another extension or study order, and create a path through Ways and Means to a recorded House vote. Voters whose representatives serve on the committee

The campaign also encourages supporters to build local Mass-Care Hubs, attend the July 18 Mass-Care conference, and organize district-by-district pressure for legislative action.

Mass-Care

Health Care For All Massachusetts

Mass-Care is a coalition of over 110 grassroots organizations, representing hundreds of thousands of diverse Massachusetts residents. There are two ways to get Medicare for All in Massachusetts: a vote of the State Legislature or a Ballot Initiative. Mass-Care is working on both strategies.

Mass-Care is organizing local Hubs to assist with grassroots, neighbor-to-neighbor outreach and a statewide campaign. There are two ways to get Medicare for All in Massachusetts: a vote of the State Legislature or a Ballot Initiative. Mass-Care is working on both strategies. The goal is to have at least one Hub in each State Representative District. A Hub can be a multi-issue group (e.g., an Indivisible group) or a group created just for this purpose. The objective is to mobilize support district by district.

Access this Toolkit and get involved!

Find your MA legislators’ contact information here.

Call your MA Representative, read the script to an aide, or leave a voicemail. Personalize areas in blue.

Call Script:

Hello, my name is [Name], and I’m a constituent from [Town]. I’m calling about H.1405, the Medicare for All bill. The bill received a public hearing more than a year ago, but the Joint Health Care Financing Committee still has not issued a report. The reporting deadline has now been extended to July 31.

Massachusetts families cannot afford another year of rising premiums, deductibles, medical debt, and gaps in care while this bill remains stalled in committee. Next year, Massachusetts faces a fiscal and healthcare crisis with the anticipated loss of Medicaid funding. We cannot wait for change.

I understand that [Representative Name] may not be on the Committee, but I am asking you to use your position as a House member to urge Speaker Mariano and Joint Committee on Health Care Financing Chair John Lawn to favorably report the bill, oppose a study order, and provide a pathway through Ways and Means to a recorded vote. Will the Representative take those actions and report back to constituents?

Thank you for your time and for working to protect Massachusetts communities.

[Your name]

If leaving a message, be sure to leave your full street address, name, and contact information.

Check this list to see if your Representative is on the Joint Committee for Health Care Financing. If they are, add to your script:

Because Representative [NAME] serves on the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, I am asking for a clear commitment to:

• Vote “ought to pass” on H.1405 when the House members of the committee are polled;

• Ask House Chair John Lawn to hold the committee poll and issue a favorable report immediately, rather than waiting until the July 31 deadline;

• Oppose another extension, a study order, or any other action that would prevent the bill from advancing;

• Publicly state how the representative intends to vote and urge the other House members of the committee to support a favorable report; and

• Press Speaker Mariano and House leadership to provide a path through any subsequent committees and to a recorded vote in the House.

Can you tell me now whether Representative [NAME] will vote “ought to pass” on H.1405? If the representative has not yet decided, when will constituents receive a clear answer?

Single-payer health care systems exist worldwide and are widely popular. In Massachusetts, Medicare for All bills have been submitted multiple times over the years, only to languish in committee with no action. Two versions of “Medicare for All” single-payer healthcare reform have been introduced into the Massachusetts Legislature in this legislative session (S.860/H.1405). In the Legislature, 37% of the State Representatives and 48% of the State Senators co-sponsored this legislation.

Click here for a list of the co-sponsors.

The Senate version of the bill was sent to “study,” effectively preventing it from advancing in this legislative session.

The House version had a public hearing on June 18, 2025. The House Health Care Financing Committee, chaired by Representative John Lawn, must release a report on the bill, but it has extended the deadline three times, most recently to 7/31/26, the last day of formal legislative sessions for the year. You can watch a recording of the hearing here.

The next needed step would be a favorable report from this Committee, rather than more extensions or study orders.

Getting your legislators to sign on as co-sponsors, if they have not yet done so, is one way to signal to the Legislature that action is needed. A favorable committee vote, however, is just the next step. After that, the bill would go to the House Ways and Means Committee for further review and analysis.

As of today, the Joint Committee has yet to release a report on its findings and recommendations.

The proposed reform legislation would establish a statewide, publicly administered single-payer health-care system through a Massachusetts Health Care Trust. It would cover all Massachusetts residents regardless of income, employment, immigration status, or preexisting conditions. Coverage would include medical, hospital, prescription drug, behavioral health, dental, vision, hearing, reproductive care, home health care, and long-term care. There would be no premiums, deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, or other patient cost-sharing, while protecting patient choice in providers.

The system would replace private health insurance financing with dedicated taxes on employers, employees, the self-employed, and certain forms of unearned income, while consolidating existing state and federal healthcare funding streams into the Trust. The Trust would negotiate reimbursement rates and prices, establish budgets, and oversee statewide implementation.

Under the proposal, Massachusetts would not be creating an entirely new $99 billion health-care expense. Residents, employers, and government already spend an estimated $128.57 billion annually on premiums, deductibles, copayments, public programs, insurance administration, and medical care. The proposal would redirect much of that existing spending into one publicly administered Massachusetts Health Care Trust.

Economists predict the system would involve massive cost savings that would benefit residents, employers, and municipalities (whose local budgets are being crushed by rising employee healthcare costs). The current, privatized health insurance system is inefficient and wasteful. Savings would come from eliminating billions in unnecessary or excessive spending, negotiating lower prices with hospitals and physicians, lowering drug prices, and increasing overall system efficiency. Even with increased coverage and services, the overall costs of this model are predicted to be lower than those of the existing patchwork quilt of insurers and health plans.

A 2024 analysis found that this system would save municipalities a total of $2.4 billion. Businesses, which now pay billions to provide workers' healthcare, would stand to benefit. A simple tax would replace the escalating costs that employers pay to private health insurers who are only motivated by their own profits. For more information, see this business savings calculator.

See Mass-Care’s 2026 Economic Feasibility Report.

Paying for Medicare for All Video, 2026

In 2024, a non-binding ballot initiative about single-payer healthcare won in all 11 districts with 64% of the vote. The ballot measure directed the state legislature to take action, yet change is still not on the horizon. Why is this?

The answer is not simple, but this institutional caution appears to be due in part to intense lobbying by health insurers, hospital owners, and pharmaceutical companies that might see changes to their bottom lines. At the same time, many Massachusetts physicians support universal coverage and a single-payer system because it would expand patient coverage, save time on authorizations, and simplify billing processes.

In 2027, mandated cuts to the federal Medicaid program begin. Beginning January 1, 2027, unless Congress acts, new work-reporting and eligibility reviews every 6 months will kick in. In September, 2025, BCBS of Massachusetts and the Urban Institute published estimates that 141,000-203,000 MassHealth (Massachusetts Medicaid) members could lose coverage, with 110,000-180,000 becoming uninsured during the following year. As large numbers of people lose MassHealth coverage, hospitals and health centers will lose substantial revenue while treating increasing numbers of uninsured patients.

This is an unsustainable situation that will lead to hospital and clinic closures, staffing cuts and freezes, longer wait times, and increasing pressure to cut services for everyone. The state budget will also be stressed. The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation estimated that federal healthcare cuts in fiscal year 2027 could cost Massachusetts $1.39 billion. Governor Maura Healey’s FY2027 proposal already contemplates freezing many provider rate increases and program expansions, while making targeted MassHealth benefit reductions.

FY2028 will only be worse if we don’t act now.

Federal changes affecting MassHealth members

Over 200,000 people could lose MassHealth under coming federal changes, report says, March 27, 2026

July 16, 2025

Have a good idea for the CAN? You can suggest action items! Each week, the IMC-CAN Team receives suggested actions from a wide range of activists through its CAN Team Action Submission Form.