On July 30, 2026, Medicare’s 61st birthday, Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care delivered a demand for passage of Improved Medicare for All to Congresspersons in four Kentucky Congressional Districts.
The deliveries took place at the Prestonsburg office of Rep. Hal Rogers of the 5th Congressional District, at the Lexington office of Rep. Andy Barr of the 6th CD, at the LaGrange office of Rep. Thomas Massie of the 4th CD, and at the Louisville office of Rep. Morgan McGarvey of the 3rd CD.
Pikeville’s Mountain Top News covered the event in Prestonsburg and interviewed medical student Justin Garrett who said, “In the U. S., we have more money in health care but worse outcomes–Medicare for All would do a lot for every American.” Garrett is president of the Students for a National Health Program at the medical school in Pikeville. His delegation brought a birthday card signed by dozens of medical students as well as a birthday cake and balloons.
Advocates in all four districts brought a letter supporting Medicare for All which has been signed by over 335 organizations nationwide and urged the Congresspersons to support HR 3069, the single payer legislation that will assure health care to everyone in the United States, remove all economic barriers to care, and save our rural and other hospitals that are under threat of closure.
The letter says, in part:
Now is the Time for Medicare for All
If we do not inspire, energize, and organize the largest grassroots movement in history, including
the multiracial working class, everyday Americans, and everyone else hurt by our broken health care system, by demanding real material changes like Medicare for All, then we risk losing
millions more people to the false promises of authoritarians and their corporate allies.
An Open Letter to those seeking to reform our health care system: Dream Bigger, Be Effective:
Our Democracy is struggling, and the status quo is not working. Too many corporate-backed politicians continue to push for a “business as usual” approach while wages stagnate, public goods and services erode, and billionaires amass grotesque amounts of wealth.
The letter continues:
The reality that far too many live today is one of debt and struggle. Working people feel a deep sense of alienation and powerlessness due to the state of our economy, which is rigged to
benefit corporations and wealthy elites. How can one feel optimism for our future when over 40% of us are carrying around the burden of medical debt? How can we plan for our futures when we can’t afford to go to the doctor or cover rent?
…It’s time to challenge the corrupt CEOs who profit off despair. To show people real solutions that can work. No one can fix our rigged economy overnight. Our structural inequality is decades in the making.
But one piece of the solution is to take on one of the largest industries in our country: health care.
(Below: Paul Hoppe, member of Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care Steering Committe, delivering the Medicare for All message to a worker at Rep. Thomas Massie’s very small office in LaGrange. Melissa Lucas, MD, of Lakeside Park in Massie’s District 4, sent a letter that Paul delivered. Her letter states:
Dear Representative Massie,
I am a constituent from district 4 and it’s time for me to write you about our healthcare crisis. As a recently retired physician, I have grappled with our current dysfunctional system daily and can tell you there is no fixing it. We have the most expensive bad healthcare system in the industrialized world and tinkering around the edges will only make it worse.
In particular, Medicare Advantage siphons off billions directly to private corporations who provide nothing of value to American taxpayers. I personally wasted hours of time trying to get insurance companies to reverse their denial of medical services and provide the medical care they had already been paid for. Medical care delayed is often medical care denied. Insurance companies profit handsomely while bankrupting our Medicare Trust Fund.
The answer to this egregious waste of taxpayer money is a single payer healthcare plan free of profit. Responsible estimators predict we can save 650 billion annually and increase coverage to everyone and improve quality. A majority of the public is now in favor of a single payer system.
I urge you to support House Bill 3069-perhaps even cosponsor it. Do not waste more time trying to tweak our current system. Be a leader in healthcare reform!
Sincerely,
Melissa Lucas, MD)
More of the national letter:
We must dream bigger. In fact, 90% of Democratic voters and 63% of all voters support Medicare for All. Americans believe the government should guarantee health care to everyone, and anything less means tens of millions of people in the U.S. continuing to suffer from the lack of necessary care and the prospect of medical debt if they do seek care.
We can’t give in to half measures; we must fight for exactly what people need and deserve.
Medicare for All is the only way that we can guarantee everyone’s care and finally take the profit-motive and corporate influence out of health care.
…We urge members of Congress to stop listening to the political consultants and start listening to the people. Americans understand we must get corporate greed out of our health care system once and for all. Meet the moment: Join the fight for Medicare for All
We may face a once-in-a-generation opportunity to legislate on health care in 2029. We need to rally behind the boldest possible reform, Medicare for All, that brings together the broadest possible movement, not overly complex incremental measures that prop up the same systems ….
The American people are hungry for bold ideas that reform fundamental institutions that have failed them for too long. And they are looking for leaders who will take on powerful interests and fight for working people.
Now is the time to organize and inspire! Support for Medicare for All grows daily in our communities and in Congress. It’s our best path forward, and it’s rooted in real promise: everybody in, nobody out.
The full letter is here: https://medicare4all.org/wp-content/uploads/Final_2026_M4A_organizational_sign-on_letter_335.pdf
The actions are a part of similar efforts in scores of cities across the country from Seattle to Portland, Maine, and from Grand Rapids to Houston. A map of cities where actions occurred is here: https://act.medicare4all.org/event/doa/