Should Massachusetts work toward having its own single-payer healthcare system? The City Council may say yes to that question next week.

Representatives from MassCare—a nonprofit advocacy group lobbying for single-payer healthcare similar to the well-known “Medicare for All” bill filed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT—will present a resolution to the Newton City Council’s Programs & Services Committee calling for the state to make that change.

The Sanders bill went nowhere on Capitol Hill. But as healthcare costs rise at rates far faster than wages year after year, the idea of replacing the private insurance market with a government-funded healthcare system has gained support. In fact, in a poll published last month by KFF (the Kaiser Family Foundation), two-thirds of respondents said they would support such a system.

In Massachusetts, support for single-payer is growing so fast that there’s a bill on Beacon Hill to commission a study of potential paths to implementing it.

MassCare has been pushing for single-payer since the organization was founded in 1995. Its current board chair is David Cohen of Newtonville. And they’ll be presenting a resolution for the City Council to vote on, calling for the state to adopt single-payer.

In this year’s Democratic primary for the 10th Middlesex seat, Newton City Councilor Alison Leary ran against incumbent John Lawn—chair of the Joint Committee on Healthcare Financing—on a platform that included single-payer healthcare. While she lost that race, she’ll have a chance to vote on a resolution calling on Beacon Hill to make it happen.

The resolution coming to the Newton City Council, in its entirety so far, reads as follows:

City Council of Newton Resolution in Support of “An Act Establishing Medicare for All in Massachusetts”

WHEREAS:  The United States is in the midst of a healthcare crisis, both regarding affordability and equitable access to primary care/preventive and specialty care services. Despite spending the most on healthcare as a percentage of GDP, the U.S. has worse outcomes and life expectancy than peer countries with single-payer healthcare systems, which are much more cost-efficient.

WHEREAS:  41% of Massachusetts families struggle to afford health care despite high levels of insurance coverage. In 2025 1 in 8 families carried medical debt, and health care costs are rising faster than inflation affecting employers who need to shift the burden to workers (2024 average annual cost for a family was $32,500 in 2026 is expected to rise an average of 11.5%).

WHEREAS:  In Massachusetts, a recent economic analysis published in January 2026, calculated healthcare expenditures at over $128 billion annually and found that switching to a single-payer system as proposed in the statewide legislation An Act Establishing Medicare for All in Massachusetts, could eliminate over $54 billion in unnecessary spending. This would reduce overall healthcare spending by more than 42 percent.

WHEREAS: By eliminating co-pays, premiums and drug coverage and replacing them with a 2.5 percent income tax and a 7.5 to 8 percent payroll tax for employers, households earning less than $500,000 per year would see substantial savings they would otherwise spend on private health care; over 98 percent of Massachusetts households would spend far less on health care than they do now.

WHEREAS:  These savings would not just benefit households; employers and municipalities would also see significant savings by replacing health insurance costs with a simpler payroll tax. An analysis done by Mass-Care on the potential savings to municipalities found that the City of Newton would save over $33 million annually in healthcare costs. These funds could be much better spent on sustaining our schools, infrastructure, and other public services.

WHEREAS:  The health care crisis in Massachusetts is increasingly impacting Newton and all other municipalities across the state.  The bankruptcy of Steward Health Care and the increasing closures of hospitals, clinics and essential departments are creating health care deserts throughout the state.  The unfair profit-driven practices of insurance corporations, hospital conglomerates and “Pharma” have upped premiums to increasingly make insurance and needed care out of reach for thousands of working people, while the ability of our businesses to hire, grow and promote their employees diminishes. The costs incurred under the current healthcare system are an unnecessary burden to individuals, families, businesses, cities and towns, including Newton. 

WHEREAS:  We believe that the health of people is not for profit. It is rather a human right and a fundamental component of a decent and just society.  Yet the United States is the only outlier spending far more than other developed countries with worse results. Further, in the United States, 31% of healthcare spending is used for administrative costs, executive salaries, and profits. By contrast, Medicare serves 66 million people nationwide and functions with only 3% overhead. We can and must do better.

WHEREAS:  In the November 2024 Massachusetts election, residents of the 10th Middlesex district, including Newton, voted 68.5% in favor of implementing Medicare for All through a Massachusetts Health Care Trust, reflecting substantial support for single-payer universal coverage among the electorate. All ten other districts with the question on the ballot also voted “yes,” including two majority Republican districts, demonstrating bipartisan support of the measure.

WHEREAS:  Thirty-nine percent (37%) of Massachusetts State Representatives and 48% of State Senators have endorsed S.860/H.1405, as has the Boston City Council.

WHEREAS:  Savings to Newton would be significant. In Fiscal Year 2026, the City of Newton spent more than $59 million on health insurance for its employees and retirees.  Under the Massachusetts Health Care Trust, Newton would no longer need to arrange or pay for employee insurance, spending $26 million instead and saving $33.4 million or more annually—funds that could support other community priorities like education. Again, the Trust would be funded by a 2.5% income tax applied to earnings above $20,000, as well as a payroll tax for businesses—7.5% for most (after the first $20,000), and 8% if they employ more than 100 people.

WHEREAS: In addition, the Massachusetts Democratic Convention Platform of 2025 overwhelmingly endorsed Single Payer/expanded Medicare for All as the means of achieving health care as a human right, and members of the MA Congressional delegation, including our two Senators, have championed Medicare for All, and are supporting efforts at the federal level including bills filed mandating support for state-level single-payer plans.

WHEREAS : The Massachusetts Health Care Trust would: cover all necessary preventive care and medical treatment from prenatal care to hospice (including dental, eye, hearing, mental health and long-term care); enable people to see any licensed in-state provider of their choosing and to receive out-of-state emergency care; and ensure health decisions are made between patients and their health care providers, not insurance executives; and expand access in the growing medical deserts in the state and prioritize the recruiting and support of primary care students and physicians to emphasize the prevention side of the health care spectrum  over expensive treatment and procedures.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: That the Newton City Council endorses and supports H. 1405 / S. 860: An Act establishing Medicare for All in Massachusetts, and affirms that  a single-payer healthcare system would improve health outcomes, reduce financial burdens on residents, businesses and City itself, and  the healthcare workforce, and create a more equitable and sustainable healthcare system for all Massachusetts residents. We also support efforts to establish a single payer system on the federal level to benefit all residents, families, businesses, cities, towns and states in the United States under a federal single-payer system. 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution will be sent to the following elected representatives and State Officials: Governor Maura Healey, Secretary of EOHHS Dr. Kiame Mahaniah, State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, Senator Cynthia Creem, Senator William N. Brownsberger, Representative Steve Owens, Representative John Lawn, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing (HCHCF); Senator Cindy Friedman, co-chair of JCHCF; members of JCHCF; Senate President Karen Spilka, Speaker of the House Ronald Mariano, Senator James Eldridge, lead Senate bill sponsor; Representatives Lindsay Sabadosa and Margaret C. Scarsdale, lead House co-sponsors; U.S. Congresswoman Katherine Clark; U.S. Congressman James McGovern, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator Ed Markey, Newton Mayor Marc Laredo.