The Physicians' Proposal for National Health Insurance establishes the vision and principles of a single-payer health system for the United States. The document was composed by a distinguished group of physician leaders*, and secured the endorsement of 8,000 physicians by the time of its publication in the August 13, 2003 JAMA. The text outlines the general structure of the single-payer plan: eligibility and coverage, physician and outpatient care payment, global budgeting of hospitals, the establishment of a national long-term care program, planned capital investment and single-payer financing. Read the Executive Summary of the Physicians' Proposal An Invitation to Endorse the Physicians' Proposal (pdf) Endorse the Physicians' Proposal View Proposal As Published in JAMA (pdf) *Members of the Physicians' Working Group for Single-Payer National Health Insurance: Marcia Angell, MD Quentin Young, MD Joel Alpert, MD Ron Anderson, MD Peter Beilenson, MD, MPH Olveen Carrasquillo, MD, MPH Christine Cassell, MD Elinor Christiansen, MD Gary Dennis, MD David Himmelstein, MD Rodney Hood, MD Edith Rasell, MD, PhD Helen Rodriguez-Trias, MD (deceased) Sindhu Srinivas, MD Gerald Thomson, MD Walter Tsou, MD, MPH Steffie Woolhandler, MD, MPH
Spokesperson
Past Editor | New England Journal of Medicine
Senior Lecturer in Social Medicine | Harvard Medical School
Convener
National Coordinator | Physicians for a National Health Program
Past President | American Public Health Association
Past President | American Academy of Pediatrics
President and CEO | Parkland Health & Hospital System
Commissioner | Department of Health, Baltimore City
Advisory Committee Member | National Hispanic Medical Association
Past President | American College of Physicians
Past President | American Medical Women's Association
Past President | National Medical Association
Associate Professor of Medicine | Harvard Medical School
President | National Medical Association
Minister for Labor Relations and Community Economic Development | United Church of Christ
Past President | American Public Health Association
National President | American Medical Student Association
Past President | American College of Physicians
Past President | American Public Health Association
Associate Professor of Medicine | The Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School