Primary care as public utility: Imagine that, researchers urge

May 29, 2026 - 08:12

A group of healthcare researchers is urging U.S. states to treat primary care not as a market commodity, but as a public utility. Their proposal calls for state governments to directly fund and manage the delivery of basic medical services, much like they do with water, electricity, or roads. The idea is radical for a country built on private insurance and fee-for-service medicine, but the scholars argue it is the only way to stop the slow collapse of primary care.

The researchers acknowledge that selling this concept to the public will be tough. Americans are used to choosing their own doctor and paying per visit. The team is offering to help states craft the message, framing the shift as a way to guarantee access for everyone, reduce administrative waste, and keep family doctors in business. They point to models in other countries where primary care is a government-funded right, not a profit center.

Under the proposed system, states would set a budget for primary care, pay clinics a fixed amount per patient, and remove the billing headaches that drive many small practices out of business. The goal is to make seeing a doctor as simple and reliable as turning on a tap. The researchers say this is not about socialized medicine in the old sense, but about recognizing that a healthy population is a basic necessity, not a luxury. They are now looking for a state willing to pilot the plan.