1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

The current health care system is failing both the people it serves and the companies profiting from it. One year after the December 4, 2024 shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson exposed widespread public anger over denied claims and unaffordable care, the crisis has only deepened. I am writing to urge you to champion fundamental reforms that prioritize patient care over corporate profits. The numbers tell a stark story. Nearly half of U.S. adults expect they won't be able to afford necessary health care next year according to a recent Gallup poll. Affordable Care Act subsidies are expiring, causing premiums to skyrocket for 24 million people on exchanges and affecting 154 million with employer-sponsored plans. Jennifer Blazis, a 44-year-old Colorado Springs mother of four, is postponing needed leg surgery despite having what she considers good insurance because she cannot afford the costs. Even the largest health care companies are struggling under this broken model. UnitedHealth Group's stock has plunged 44% from a year earlier. The company is shedding about 1 million Medicare Advantage patients and faces a Department of Justice investigation into its Medicare operations. Katherine Hempstead of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation calls this an inflection point where every segment of the health insurance business is stressed. When a system that consumes a fifth of the U.S. economy satisfies neither patients nor investors, radical change is necessary. I urge you to support reforms that decouple health care access from profit maximization. This could include expanding public options, implementing strict price controls on pharmaceuticals and medical services, or transitioning to models where care delivery is separated from insurance profit motives. The current trajectory is unsustainable. I ask that you prioritize legislation that fundamentally restructures how we finance and deliver health care in this country.