Decriminalize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Radically reform our healthcare system to provide universal affordable single payer healthcare for all. It is a blot on our nation that we are the only western democratic society to have entered this millennium with an antiquated, grossly inefficient and inhumane for-profit healthcare system still in place. In the last 8 years more Americans have slipped through the health care safety net, so that 45 million Americans have no coverage, compared to 35 million Americans 8 years ago. Provide prescription drugs at affordable rates.
Medical care is a right that every resident is entitled to.
Currently, we are the only industrialized country without a national health care system. The Green Party considers health care a human right, and therefore supports a single-payer national insurance program for the United States. This program would be publicly financed at the national level, administered locally, and privately delivered, i.e., private physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers would remain private and competitive, and consumers given full choice of provider. It would cover all standard medical procedures, treatment, diagnosis, etc. as well as drug treatment, dental care, medication, chronic and terminal illness, and abortion. The program must include equal coverage for treatment of mental illness.