Letter to Members of Congress Regarding the Launch of the Coalition Against Socialized Medicine (CASM)

On behalf of the free market community, as well as patients and taxpayers across America, we write to announce the formation of the Coalition Against Socialized Medicine (CASM). Established by founding member organizations including the American Conservative Union, American Commitment, Citizens Against Government Waste, Club for Growth, Committee to Unleash Prosperity, FreedomWorks, Heritage Action for America, and National Taxpayers Union. CASM is comprised of leading free market organizations as well as nationally-recognized healthcare policy experts. CASM exists to combat the increasing, misguided public policy proposals being promoted by the left that would destroy America’s current market-based healthcare system and cause tremendous harm to patients, innovation, and the economy.

Unthinkable even just a few years ago, your progressive colleagues and the Democratic presidential candidates are now openly championing disastrous public policy proposals like Medicare for All that would outlaw private insurance, creative massive government healthcare bureaucracies, and subject all American patients to the types of ineffective socialized medicine systems that have plagued European and socialist countries for decades. Further, proposals such as Medicare for All would impose tremendous costs – $32 trillion, by some estimates – on America’s taxpayers, which even doubling existing tax rates could not pay for.

Other legislative and regulatory policy proposals are more targeted but would similarly have adverse impacts on patients, families and taxpayers. From importing foreign price controls to restricting seniors’ access to certain drugs, many of these individual regulatory and legislative proposals would set dangerous precedents that later administrations or majorities in Congress could use as the foundation to build a massive government-run, single-payer system that would be forced upon all Americans. We cannot allow this to happen.

CASM will work tirelessly to educate the public and serve as a bulwark against all efforts akin to socialized medicine. Our goal is not only to advocate against misguided policies, but also to promote free market initiatives to spur even greater innovation and competition. Ultimately, we hope to preserve and enhance what is great about American healthcare, helping to save and improve lives.

It is critical to America’s patients, taxpayers, and economy that Members of Congress stand up. We urge you to join us in publicly and forcefully opposing misguided efforts by the left such as Medicare for All that would take our nation down the road to socialized medicine.

We encourage you and members of your staff to follow us on Twitter at @SayNo2SocialMed and to sign up for CASM updates at https:// nosocializedmedicine.org/

We look forward to working with you to defeat these dangerous proposals so that America’s market-based healthcare system remains the most effective and innovative in the world.

Best regards,

American Conservative Union
American Commitment
Citizens Against Government Waste
Club for Growth
Committee to Unleash Prosperity
FreedomWorks
Heritage Action for America
National Taxpayers Union