Ed Markey Affordable Care for All - Ed Markey for Senate

Affordable Care for All

Lower Costs, Stronger Care & Patient Protection

Health care in this country is too expensive, too complicated, and too often out of reach. Families are grappling with rising costs, coverage gaps, and a system that consistently puts profits ahead of patients.

Whether it’s high premiums, unaffordable prescription drugs, or limited access to preventive and mental health services, too many people are forced to delay or go without care altogether. At the same time, caregivers are under increasing strain, health care workers face burnout and shortages, and public health systems remain underfunded and stretched thin.

Even in Massachusetts—a national leader in health care and medical research—these challenges persist, with stark disparities in access and outcomes driven by income and ZIP code.

Ed is focused on a comprehensive approach. Fighting to build a health care system that truly works for everyone: bringing down costs, expanding access, investing in public health and research, holding corporations accountable, and defending the right to make your own health care decisions.

Lowering Costs & Expanding Coverage

Health care should be a fundamental right, yet for far too many, it remains out of reach.

Ed is fighting to expand coverage, lower costs, strengthen public health, and remove barriers—moving toward a system that guarantees affordable, high-quality care for everyone.

Expanding pathways to universal healthcare by allowing states to build systems with federal support and advancing a national Medicare for All program so that everyone can access comprehensive, affordable care regardless of income, employment, or zipcode.
Lowering health care costs and protecting coverage so that families can maintain stable, affordable insurance without sudden premium hikes or loss of coverage.
Expanding Medicare to cover essential services by adding dental, vision, and hearing benefits and strengthening access through community health providers so that seniors and people with disabilities can get the full spectrum of care they need.
Protecting workers’ health and economic security by guaranteeing paid sick leave so that no one has to choose between their health, their safety, and their paycheck.

Current Legislation:

- Lead Sponsor: State-Based Universal Health Care Act of 2025 (S.2286)
- Original Co-Sponsor: Medicare for All Act (S.1506)
- Original Co-Sponsor: Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act (S.2556)
- Original Co-Sponsor: Health Equity and Access under the Law for Immigrant Families Act of 2025 (S.2149)
- Original Co-Sponsor: Restoring Essential Healthcare Act (S.2524)
- Original Co-Sponsor: Medicare Dental, Hearing, and Vision Expansion Act of 2025 (S.939)
- Original Co-Sponsor: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026 (S.3990)
- Original Co-Sponsor: Healthy Families Act (S.3869)

Strengthening Care & Supporting Caregivers

Our health care system must go beyond treating illness to sustaining healthy communities. Yet gaps in support leave too many behind, while caregivers and frontline workers face rising strain.

Ed is fighting to strengthen community-based care, support health care workers, rebuild public health infrastructure, and make it easier for families to get the care they need.

Strengthening community mental health and resilience by investing in programs and expanding the public health workforce so communities have the tools, support, and capacity to prevent trauma and improve overall well-being.
Supporting family caregivers by reducing bureaucratic barriers and investing in community-based care programs, peer support, research, and respite care to provide caregivers the resources, support, and recognition they need while improving outcomes for patients.
Supporting nurses and healthcare workers by establishing safe staffing standards, increasing transparency and accountability, and investing in training, recruitment, and retention.
Rebuilding and strengthening community public health systems by fully funding prevention programs and investing in immunizations and evidence-based initiatives to better protect communities, improve health outcomes, and reduce long-term health care costs.

Current Legislation:

Lead Sponsor: Community Mental Wellness and Resilience Act of 2025 (S.2445)
Lead Sponsor: Public Health Nursing Act (S.3604)
Lead Sponsor: Alleviating Barriers for Caregivers Act (S.1227)
Lead Sponsor: Convenient Care for Caregivers Act (S.3234)
Lead Sponsor: Family Caregiver Peer Support Act (S.3230)
Lead Sponsor: Family Caregiving Research and Innovation Act (S.3232)
Lead Sponsor: Respite CARE Act (S.3231)
Lead Sponsor: Disease Intervention through Nutrition Education (DINE) Act (S.3235)
Lead Sponsor: Financial Services Improving Noble and Necessary Caregiving Experience (FINANCE) Act (S.3233)
Lead Sponsor: Transgender Health Care Access Act (S.3206)
Original Co-Sponsor: Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2025 (S.1709)
Original Co-Sponsor: Public Health Funding Restoration Act (S.786)

Protecting Patients & Public Health

As health care evolves, patients face new risks, from corporate greed to attacks on reproductive freedom. Too often, decisions are driven by profit or politics instead of patient care—something we saw firsthand here in Massachusetts with the collapse of Steward Health Care, where corporate mismanagement put patients, workers, and entire communities at risk.

Ed is fighting to put patients over profits, strengthen accountability, defend reproductive freedom, and uphold science-based public health because everyone deserves access to safe, reliable care.

Cracking down on corporate greed in health care by restricting predatory deals, increasing transparency, and imposing penalties for profit-driven practices that harm patients.
Protecting reproductive freedom and access to care by guaranteeing the right to contraception and safeguarding abortion rights nationwide so people can make their own health care decisions.
Protecting patient-centered care in the age of AI by ensuring health care professionals can override automated medical decisions and are protected from retaliation because clinical judgment should always remain in the hands of providers and patients – not algorithms.
Strengthening public health and vaccine confidence by reinforcing science-based decision-making, transparency, and oversight in federal vaccine policy.

Current Legislation: