Petition to the Montgomery County Council

Healthcare is a human right. Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin (D) said in 2019, “In the richest country in the history of our species at its richest moment, not to advance forward to adopt a Medicare for all system is to deny, I think, the common humanity of our fellow citizens.”  

The social contract of the United States accepts that the government has a responsibility to provide essential public goods and services such as schools, roads and food, to its citizens. If we can all agree that no one should die from starvation in a country as wealthy as ours, why is it that in our current system people can die from a lack of healthcare? 

In Montgomery County more than 80,000 of our residents were uninsured even before the pandemic began. An additional 100,000 residents are underinsured despite important gains brought by the Affordable Care Act. The unprecedented loss of jobs and business closures during the pandemic illustrates all the shortcomings of our patchwork employer-based system.  The next step we need to guarantee everyone can get care is to enact an expanded and improved Medicare system to cover all Americans.

People of color have experienced great harm during this public health crisis due in part to the country's lack of a universal health care system. The effects of the Coronavirus pandemic have been felt disproportionately by our county's BIPOC residents.  Montgomery County has enacted a Racial Equity and Social Justice Policy which obligates the county to implement measures that address racial inequities. In the spirit of that initiative, the Council should call upon our U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives to pass Medicare For All, which will advance health justice by providing health coverage for ALL Americans.

Public support for an approach like Medicare for All is growing. According to a 2020 Pew Research Poll “63% U.S. adults say the government has the responsibility to provide health care coverage for all.”  Medicare for All legislation, which would provide health coverage for all,  will be introduced in the 117th Congress in February. The Montgomery County Council should lend its support to this landmark legislation and pass a supporting resolution. 

Nearly fifty city and county councils across the nation have passed resolutions in support of Medicare for All. We appreciate all that the Council along with Montgomery County's employees have done to meet the many healthcare, housing, education and financial needs people have faced during the Coronavirus pandemic. If we had a Medicare for All system in place during this time the County's public servants, agencies and non-profits would have had  more resources and capacity at their disposal to marshall an even stronger public health response and save more lives. 

For all of the above reasons, we the undersigned Montgomery County residents urge the Montgomery County Council to pass a resolution calling on our U.S. Senators and Representatives to co-sponsor and lead the effort in Congress to pass Medicare for All. Help us realize the goal of making healthcare a human right and pass this resolution.  

Signed by: