In the lead-up to the 2026 midterm elections, social media users spread a rumor about the influence of the healthcare industry on U.S. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.
According to the claim — which circulated on Facebook and Threads — Jeffries allegedly took more than $300,000 in PAC money from healthcare companies during the 2025-26 election cycle before saying he would not support Medicare for All, or a national health insurance program for all Americans.
It’s no surprise Hakeem Jeffries came out against Medicare for All.
Jeffries took over $300,000 in PAC money from healthcare companies this cycle alone — and he wasn’t even facing a primary challenger.
Jeffries did, in fact, say that as of August 2026, he does not support current Medicare for All legislation, despite co-sponsoring similar proposals from
Furthermore, donations to Jeffries from the 2025-2026 midterms cycle did include over $300,000 in PAC money tied to the healthcare industry. However, not all of the healthcare PACs that supported Jeffries are against Medicare for All, as the claim implies. These
Thus, we have rated this claim a mixture of truth and falsehood.
A spokesperson for Jeffries, Justin Chermol, called the idea that Jeffries took money to change his position on Medicare for All a “misguided conspiracy theory” that is “blatantly false.”
“Leader Hakeem Jeffries serves a House Democratic Caucus of 215 members that is racially, ideologically and geographically diverse,” Chermol said in a direct
(As of this writing, 114 of 212 House Democrats, or about 54%, have co-sponsored Medicare for All legislation for the 2025-26 legislative session.)
Chermol’s
Jeffries doesn’t support Medicare for All legislation
Jeffries’ comments about Medicare for All came from a filmed “Meet the Press” interview with NBC journalist Kristen Welker on August 16, 2026. A clip of the full exchange is available on NBC’s YouTube page.
At 1:39, Jeffries states his position:
Reporter: Just to be very clear though, as a Democratic leader in the House, would you vote for or against Medicare for All?
Jeffries: I think as you’ve indicated in your question to me, it’s not legislation that I currently am co-sponsoring or that I support. But we do support the notion that we’ve got to find a path forward to fix our broken healthcare system and make healthcare affordable for every single American.
It is worth noting that “Medicare for All,” as a concept, represents many different proposals for a national health insurance program. Jeffries’ team did not directly respond on the record to an inquiry about whether he might support alternative versions of the Medicare for All proposal that are not currently being discussed in Congress.
OpenSecrets data on PAC donations misrepresented
The rumor about the amount of money Jeffries took from healthcare PACs appeared to originate with Notice News, which bills itself as a progressive independent news outlet. Notice News’ reporting misrepresented data shared on OpenSecrets, a credible source that uses Federal Election Commission data to track campaign finance and lobbying.
We reached out to Notice News to ask for more information about the outlet’s reporting process and will update this story if we hear back.
In a video posted by Notice News that spread the claim, the news outlet points to a screenshot of Jeffries’ OpenSecrets page as its source for the PAC donation information.
It appears that Notice News shared an accurate screenshot of a chart on Jeffries’ OpenSecrets page under “Industries,” which showed that Jeffries received about $321,250 from health-related PACs, which are labeled “Health.” The chart shows PAC contributions by sector and industry:
(OpenSecrets)
However, a closer look of the “Health” data on the “PACs” page indicated that these organizations represent a wide range of interests with varying views on and interest in Medicare for All.
Only $52,500 of the $321,520 came from “HMOs,” or “Health Maintenance Organizations,” which provide a certain kind of private health insurance plan. That category includes companies like UnitedHealth Group, which oversees UnitedHealthcare. (Private health insurance companies represent the obvious opposition to a Medicare for All proposal, given that they would largely be replaced if the United States moved to a national health insurance system.)
(OpenSecrets, illustrated by Snopes)
Meanwhile, the American College of Physicians Services, which contributed $7,500 to Jeffries, is the advocacy arm of the American College of Physicians, which supports Medicare for All. In contrast, the American Hospital Association’s PAC, which contributed $10,000 to Jeffries, opposes Medicare for All.
Several of the PACs represent organizations that support universal healthcare but don’t have specific positions on Medicare for All, such as the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Nurse-Midwives. Other PACs listed under “Health,” like the American Seniors Housing Association, are more focused on other parts of the health industry, like Alzheimer’s research or workforce shortages.
It’s also worth noting the “Health” category that Notice News used to back up its claim does not even include most PACs representing private health insurance. Health insurance companies that are not HMOs are included under the “Insurance” category, instead. Per OpenSecrets’ Insurance category for Jeffries, the House minority leader received $37,000 from non-HMO health and accident insurance companies’ PACs like Blue Cross Blue Shield.
That means that as of this writing, according to OpenSecrets, Jeffries has received $89,000 from private health and accident insurance companies during the 2025-26 midterm cycle. OpenSecrets also categorizes some contributions under “Ideology/Single-Issue,” which includes a section for “Health & welfare policy.” Jeffries received an additional $15,000 in PAC contributions under the Health & welfare policy section. It was unclear, however, whether any of those contributors held a strong position for or against Medicare for All.
The bottom line
There’s no evidence that Jeffries changed his position on Medicare for All in 2026 as a result of funding from the healthcare industry. Jeffries has not co-sponsored or actively supported Medicare for All legislation since House Democrats elected him to lead their caucus.
Furthermore, social media posts stating that Jeffries received over $300,000 from the healthcare industry don’t accurately represent how much money Jeffries has actually taken from PACs related to healthcare, nor do they accurately represent how much money Jeffries has taken from entities that oppose Medicare for All.
