On September 29th in New York City, the Mobilization for Health Care for All is launching a national campaign of "Patients Not Profit" sit-ins at insurance company offices to demand an end to a system that profits by denying people care. We want the real "public option": Medicare for All, a single payer plan that cuts out the profit and puts patients first.
Insurance companies are the real death panels in America. They make billions in profit and millions for their CEOs while millions of Americans have no health insurance and over 45,000 die every year because they can't get the care they need. That's more than 120 people every day. These insurance companies deny care to their members and the American people for profit.
America deserves better, and that's why we voted for change. But the insurance companies are spending millions to confuse and scare the public to keep us from ending their grip on our health and our money. With teabagger town hall protestors and the right-wing noise machine on their side, they're winning. We can't let that happen. It's time to take the fight to the real villain in the health care debate.
When the civil rights movement faced a similar challenge in the struggle to end segregation, nonviolent civil disobedience moved the nation and made reform possible. Just like the lunch counter sit-ins did for the civil rights movement, we have to make it impossible for the media and our country to ignore how outrageous the status quo of private insurance is for the American people.
It only takes a small group of people to do a sit-in in your community, but our actions can inspire every American who has been abused by the insurance companies and believes it's time for real reform to fight for it. This campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience will continue until the insurance companies no longer stand between the American people and the health care that is our right.
Already, doctors, nurses, patients, and people just like you are signing up to be one of the 100 ordinary but courageous people who will launch this nonviolent battle to end private insurance abuse and win health care for all. Join us! We can't wait any longer - every day more people die because of the insurance company death panels. Sign Up!
Join us in Washington D.C. September 24th, 4:30 pm for the 3rd Annual Health Care Justice Vigil
In solidarity with American Patients United's 3nd Annual Health Care Justice Vigil in Washington DC, single-payer/Medicare For All healthcare activists are organizing solidarity vigils from New York City to the state of Washington. Also, the G20 Summit will take place in Pittsburgh on September 24-25, and provides another opportunity for single payer activism.
The events uphold a deeply important time for those who have lost someone to the broken U.S. healthcare system, or who are still fighting the denials of the for-profit health insurance companies.
Healthcare justice activists will join together reaching across the country to support each other and remember those who have been lost. We will post vigil details from around the country as they come in.
For the first time ever, single-payer legislation will be debated and voted on by Congress in September.
The day after thousands of grassroots activists rallied in Washinton, DC for national healthcare on Medicare's 44th birthday, Rep. Anthony Weiner (NY-9) introduced an amendment to President Obama's healthcare reform bill (HR 3200) to replace it with HR 676, the single-payer bill, and Speaker Pelosi pledged to bring it to a debate and vote on the full House floor in September.
Tell your Representatives that the Obama health plan is NOT enough and we want them to vote YES on single-payer. We need real health reform that will cover every American, provide real choice of doctors, and save the majority of Americans money.
Here's a full list of other ways you can help win single-payer healthcare this September.
Marilyn Clement, founder and National Coordinator of Healthcare-NOW!, passed away on Monday, August 3 surrounded by her children, Scott and Pam, her daughter-in-law Liz, and the caring thoughts of all of us who knew her, worked with her, and had come to love her.
Marilyn and I exchange a good number of emails and a couple of phone calls over the years in our fight for Single-Payer health care. Marilyn, we will all miss you and I promise to continue the work. You are loved and I hold your family in my prayers. Peace and Blessings.
Putting Bill Maher’s recent words into action, “Health insurance is like a hospital gown, chances are your ass isn’t covered,” bare-bottom protesters wore hospital gowns and dressed as Insurance Executives. The protesters jumped through hoops held by the insurance executives symbolizing the proverbial hoops that doctors, nurses, and patients have to go through in the current corporatized health insurance system.
PHIMG, Healthcare-NOW!, Progressive Democrats of America, and Act Up! marched in lock step on Saturday, April 4th with United for Peace and Justice and Bail Out the People through Wall St. to support strengthening the workforce by urging Congress to pass HR676, expanding Medicare into a single-payer system, to provide true universal health care to all.
On the following Monday, PHIMG brought the Not Covered Campaign to Congressman Charles Rangel’s office, whose 2008 campaign received three times the amount of campaign contributions from health insurance and pharmaceutical companies as his last run in ‘04, while conveniently not cosponsoring HR 676 for single-payer health care, as he has in the past.
The group also had a list of demands including meeting with him, cosponsoring the bill, using his power as the Chair of the Ways and Means Committee to hold single-payer health care hearings, and including single-payer advocates - not just the health insurance corporations in the national health care dialog Obama’s administration is so open to having. Barack Obama also supported single-payer health care before his run for President made his campaign the top recipient of contributions from the health insurance and pharmaceutical industry.
The group received confirmation that Rangel does support HR 676, and just hasn't signed on yet. Advocates and constituents look forward to a long sought meeting with Rangel's staff next week.
The Not Covered Campaign will be in full swing all summer long calling out the Congresspersons that let campaign contributions stand in the way of providing all citizens with single-payer health care - one by one. It’s critical that citizens act now and push Congress to pass HR 676 before inadequate reform maintaining corporate interests over patients passes. Join the fight for single-payer health care now!
When: Wednesday, May 13 at 12:00pm - 2:00pm Where: Upper Senate Park, Washington DC (near Union Station Metro Stop) Map:Here
Wednesday, May 13th, is the National Lobby Day and Rally for Single-Payer in Washington DC. Leading the charge is the California Nurses Association 500 nurses strong to lobby and rally for single-payer in the nation’s capital. Joined by the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care, we want to use this opportunity to make the single-payer message loud and strong for our legislators to hear.
So mark your calendars and if at all possible, please join us! The rally is at noon, but if you would like to join a delegation to meet with your representative, please contact Katie Robbins asap - info@healthcare-now.org or 1-800-453-1305.
If you cannot make it to be with us in D.C. then mark your calendar and start calling your representative and senators at noon on the 13th.
On September 29th in New York City, the Mobilization for Health Care for All is launching a national campaign of "Patients Not Profit" sit-ins at insurance company offices to demand an end to a system that profits by denying people care. We want the real "public option": Medicare for All, a single payer plan that cuts out the profit and puts patients first.
