United Health System is a non-profit, progressive health system research, education, and citizen advocacy organization. "A united health system" is the type of health system we advocate.

Our efforts include producing explanations and analyses of health systems and the elements of the present-day US private and public health systems, including the many “middlemen” involved in the process. We share information, data, and summaries of research reports and reform proposals. We present original UHS research, our proposal for A United Health System, and reviews of legislation and candidates’ position statements regarding health care issues. Resource links are provided, along with original articles, articles from others, working papers, literature to share, and information about UHS legislative work.

To this point, what we’ve done with this site and writing is to focus on influencing single-payer/publicly-financed universal advocates’ thinking and efforts. We haven’t written for a general audience—yet, but will eventually shift our focus in that direction

We also are strongly committed to education efforts by conducting seminars, holding a monthly health forum, appearing at events, public presentations and talks involving groups with one to many participants. We also intend to participate, when possible, in any health system commissions, committees, and focus groups

Read about why we use the name “United Health System”

United Health System is a Minnesota-based non-profit (317a).

Board

Margie Schally (Chair)
Anne Benson (Secretary, Treasurer)
Krista Menzel
John Schwarz (UHS Director)

UHS is a member of the Universal Health Care Action Network of Minnesota (UCHAN-MN) www.uhcan-mn.org. UHCAN-MN is a single-payer/universal health coverage system advocacy network of organizations and individuals dedicated to fundamental health care reform in Minnesota and the United States. UHCAN engages in grass roots activism and organizing, networking, research, educating, writing, speaking engagements, legislative efforts, citizen advocacy, and creating reform proposals. We support UHCAN as participants in some of its activities and as an organization in the network. UHCAN is headed by Joel Albers, lead organizer. His email is: joel@uhcan-mn.org


Contact Us
United Health System
195 5th St. E. Suite 804
St. Paul, MN 55101
(651) 222-3722
john@unitedhealthsystem.org

john@unitedhealthsystem.org

John Schwarz’s experience with health system policy began as an undergraduate with his research and writing of “Employer-Sponsored Health Plans and Guardianship” in 1994 as his Honor’s Thesis at the University of Minnesota. He then enrolled as a PhD student in Cornell’s Department of Government, studying theoretic political economy, with heath systems and policy as the focus of his empirical research. While in graduate school, he worked as a graduate intern at the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). He left Cornell after 4 years, which included passing the PhD qualifying exam in political theory, and was awarded a Master’s in Government. His work experience includes 11 years with Norwest Corporation with a primary emphasis in finance and control.

His health system reform advocacy, activism, public education, and research has continued the past few years with a number of groups, including the Universal Health Care Action Network—Minnesota (UHCAN-MN), working with single-payer issues within the DFL-Progressive Caucus, and as a former member of the Minnesota Universal Health Care Coalition (MUHCC) Steering Committee. He has been a member of and adviser to AMP, Association of MCHA (Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association) Policyholders. His work continues, now, as Director of UHS.

His work has included academic research, public presentations, teaching and tutoring, writing about health topics, drafting press releases, giving press conferences, appearances in the media commenting on health care issues, advising political candidates of all parties and ideologies about health system issues, advising legislators and other public officials, writing and delivering legislative testimony, attending major government health policy related events and participating in the discussions, writing literature for organizations to use to educate others about health system issues, extensive writing about health care issue on a number of listserves, and other activities. John has particular expertise in employment-based health plans and state “high-risk” insurance pools like MCHA.

John’s current projects include trying to break down ideological barriers in health reform discourse, developing strategies for using American political principles as tools of assessing health policies and system design, reforming the progressive health reform community in order to help it adopt better tactics and strategies for understanding and communicating the problems with the current US system and their proposals for change.