Are you a community member who wants to organize for universal healthcare, who works in healthcare, or wants their union to support free healthcare? Join our Political Education event to learn more about Medicare For All and the state of health care in Texas.

The Lone Star State has one of the highest rates of uninsured residents in the nation, including uninsured children. COVID-19 caused over 600,000 Texans to lose access to healthcare during a pandemic with a current uninsured rate double of what it was pre-COVID. The pandemic has severely strained the health care system at a time when Texas was already struggling to keep medical facilities open, especially in rural communities. Texas suffers from some of the worst racial health disparities in the nation, clearly demonstrated by both the high maternal and neonatal mortality rates amongst Black women and babies in the state and the unequal distribution of morbidity and mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Latinos have the highest uninsured rate in Texas – one in three Latinos do not have health insurance.

Living in dense neighborhoods, lack of sick leave, and poor health from chronic stress have made this pandemic brutal for Americans working ‘essential’ jobs, particularly working class people of color. Our presentation will highlight the benefits of a single-payer system replacing for-profit private insurance, while touching on developments in Texas re: abortion rights, gender affirming care for trans youth, long COVID and long term care, and disability rights, among other issues. Houston DSA wants to work to face the public and bring people into the chapter and campaign for Medicare For All.

We are socialists, we are workers, and when we are organized, we are powerful. Right now, even after the pharmaceutical industry and the health insurance lobby poured millions of dollars into opposing it, Medicare for All is still incredibly popular. But the capitalist class will not give us anything without a fight. In order to win, we have to be laser-focused on building enough power to be a serious threat to the status quo. We have to consolidate our base of support for universal healthcare, recruit new organizers into the fight, and build a mass political organization that is ready to seize political opportunities when they arise.