The United States has a federal form of government, meaning that the power to make policy is shared between the national government in Washington and the 50 state governments located across the country.

Healthcare is an issue that affects every American. Even so, Americans disagree on issues such as whether access to health care is a right and how much the government should intervene in health care markets. One important issue in health policy is the implications of a single-payer system, in which the federal government would play a central role in providing healthcare to all Americans. This brief considers one example of a single-payer system, the so-called Medicare for All.

On January 25, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order stating that birthright citizenship would be denied to children of undocumented immigrants or temporary visitors to the U.S. On June 30, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Trump v. Barbara that the order was unconstitutional. In this brief, we discuss the background and implications of this decision: