PILLAR 2 — AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE

AI just made universal healthcare affordable.

Healthcare is economic policy, and AI is making this the moment — cutting the cost of drugs and drug discovery, and multiplying the productivity of doctors, nurses, and hospitals. A 3-step Healthcare Ladder: drug-price caps now, doctor supply next, universal coverage last — funded by cost reallocation, not new spending.

64%
Say coverage is gov't responsibility
73%
Independents say the same
83%
Support drug negotiation
See the path forward →
2
PILLAR 2 — AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE

We pay 3× more. We live 6 years less.

Healthcare IS economic policy — and AI makes this the moment

$5.3 trillion a year — 18% of GDP — grows at 5.8% annually, faster than the US economy itself. US drug prices run 256% of peer nations. 1 in 6 Americans delayed care in 2024 because of cost. This is not a healthcare policy failure. It is an economic competitiveness failure — and every major US rival (Germany, Japan, Canada, South Korea) has already solved it.

The Healthcare Ladder is the platform's strategic spine. Each step solves the prerequisite for the next. Step 1 — NOW: Medicare Part D for All, drug costs capped immediately. Step 2 — NEAR (3–7 yrs): build doctor supply — 14,000 new residency slots, debt forgiveness, immigrant physician fast-lane, NP expansion, AI diagnostics. Step 3 — LONG (10–15 yrs): Medicare for All, on a system built to handle it.

Funding is not new spending — it is cost reallocation. Three streams: Medicare negotiates drug prices directly ($100B projected 10-year savings); PBM middleman reform ($100B more annually in a $600B market controlled by three firms); and employer premium savings partially redirected to Medicare as a cost swap, not a tax. The net expenditure is designed to grow no faster than CPI.

For the first time in American history, AI is making every input to the system cheaper at the same time: AI-designed drugs are reaching Phase II for $6M instead of $200M, AI scribes recover 55% of physician documentation time, and AI predictive care cuts hospital readmissions up to 70%. The 15-year window is historically unique — the underlying system is getting cheaper while we build the capacity to cover everyone.

MAJORITY POSITION
83% of Americans
support Medicare drug price negotiation — including 75% of Republicans. This is the highest majority-support position on the platform.
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Medicare Part D for All
Drug costs capped immediately for all 330M Americans — 83% majority support, including 75% of Republicans. Funded by three redirected streams, not new spending: Medicare negotiates prices directly ($100B saved over 10 years, per CBO), PBM middleman reform (~$100B more annually in a $600B market controlled by three firms), and employer premium savings partially redirected to Medicare as a cost swap. The same insulin that costs $30 at a VA pharmacy costs $98 under Medicare Part D — same drug, same factory, different rule.
2
Solve the 86,000-Doctor Shortage — Build Supply to Absorb Universal Coverage
The US faces a projected shortfall of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036 — and the bottleneck is residency slots, not medical schools. Five-part fix, 3–7 years: lift the 1997 GME cap (14,000 new Medicare-funded slots), medical-school debt forgiveness for underserved-area service, immigrant physician fast-lane credentialing, nurse-practitioner scope expansion, and AI-assisted diagnostics that extend each physician's reach 3×. You cannot expand universal coverage without the supply to serve it — this builds it first.
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Medicare for All — On a System Built to Handle It
Universal coverage is the destination, not the first step. By the time Step 3 arrives (10–15 years): drug prices are negotiated, PBM middlemen reformed, 14,000 new physicians trained, AI has multiplied capacity 2–3×, and hospital readmissions are 50–70% lower. Medicare for All then runs on a system that is structurally cheaper and operationally capable — avoiding the cost spike that has killed every previous universal-coverage attempt.
SEE THE PLAN →
The Healthcare LadderTimeline
Step 1 — NOW: Medicare Part D for AllImmediate
Step 2 — NEAR: Build doctor supply (residencies, NP scope, AI)3–7 years
Step 3 — LONG: Medicare for All, fully funded10–15 years
Three Funding StreamsSavings
Medicare negotiates drug prices$100B / 10 yrs (CBO)
PBM middleman reform~$100B / yr (USC Schaeffer)
Employer premium redirectCost swap, not tax
Key Data
Annual US healthcare spend$5.3 trillion · 18% of GDP
Annual spend growth rate5.8% — above GDP
US vs. peer-nation drug prices256% higher
Americans who delayed care (2024)1 in 6
Physician shortfall (by 2036)up to 86,000 physicians
PBM market (3 firms, 80% of Rx)$600B in 2024
AI-designed drug to Phase II$6M vs. $200M traditional
AI predictive-care readmissionsup to 70% reduction
The US vs. 10 peer OECD nations
Maternal mortality · per 100,000 live births
United StatesPeer countries
The US maternal mortality rate of 18.6 per 100,000 is several times higher than most peer nations. Norway leads at 1.8.
Source: Commonwealth Fund / WHO 2023 — pregnancy-related maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.
THE PLAN

The Healthcare Ladder — three steps, one direction.

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Step 1 — Universal coverage for Drugs

Medicare Part D for All caps drug costs immediately for all 330M Americans. No new spending — just closing the gap between what the VA already pays and what everyone else is charged.

2
Step 2 — Build the doctor supply

Expand residency slots, forgive debt, fast-lane immigrant physicians, expand nurse practitioners, and deploy AI diagnostics — so the system can absorb what step 3 brings.

3
Step 3 — Universal coverage that works

Medicare for All, fully funded, once the supply is in place. Not a leap — the last rung of a ladder built one step at a time.