On May 25, 2020, Minneapolis police officers detained George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black male, when he was suspected of using a counterfeit $20 bill at a neighborhood convenience store. Mr. Floyd was pinned to the ground by Derek Chauvin, a white male police officer with a known history of excessive force. Chauvin kept his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for over seven minutes resulting in Mr. Floyd losing consciousness and ultimately succumbing to his death. Mr. Floyd screamed “I can’t breathe!” while being physically pinned down in a chokehold. This rallying cry has been the catalyst for a locally-inspired but globally-impactful social movement, as witnessed through worldwide demonstrations, to address the racial and social injustices prevalent in our society from the root causes of individual racist attitudes to the role of institutional and systematic racism.

The current calls for reform have focused primarily on reviewing police tactics, exploring implicit racism in the criminal justice system, addressing the intricacies of racism found in the prison industrial complex, and protecting individual liberties of disadvantaged citizens. While these reformative actions are a step in the right direction, healthcare reform is at the core of guaranteeing an equitable right to life. The “I Can’t Breathe!” chant encompasses a call to action for a greater problem that requires our society’s immediate attention: the right of each person to access healthcare. The right to access healthcare is paramount to the right to life itself which required aspiring towards a standard quality of living for all citizens regardless of their race or socioeconomic status. This article focuses on addressing some of the current challenges affecting our nation’s healthcare system. Strategies are then proposed for building a framework for sustaining long-term reforms addressing health and racial disparities, particularly those of Black citizens.