Help support Universal Single Payer Health Care - June 7th Action Week

[sarahlee]

676 --HEALTHCARE-NOW ACTION WEEK -- JUNE 7, 2006

Citizens in Spread the Messsage: "Everybody In, Nobody Out!"

On June 7th, events across the country will celebrate the fact that we have a bill in Congress, H.R. 676 that will deal equitably with the healthcare crisis for all of us. We are encouraging everyone to join us in these events by organizing one or joining one already organized in your city or area.

ORGANIZE AN EVENT --So, on June 7th, we are encouraging all healthcare activists to organize an event: a press conference; a demonstration in front of an insurance company; a screening of our new animated film "Don’t Be a Chicken” explaining the issue in an entertaining way; distribution of information at a local ball game (the people in Seattle plan to leaflet the Mariners' game together with the Raging Grannies); the display of 676 national healthcare banners along highways and bridges ; invitation to speakers and organizing of Learn-ins about the healthcare crisis and how it can be solved; holding a concert, or a Citizen/Congressional Hearing where people can talk to their members of Congress.

WHAT YOU CAN DO ON WEDNESDAY --June 7th is a Wednesday so it is a good day to get your City Council to vote for a resolution in support of John Conyers' (and 68 co-sponsors’) National Health Insurance Act, Medicare for All, H.R. 676 and have a big press statement about it on the steps of City Hall. Healthcare NOW Activists in Delaware, New York Atlanta and other places are planning to do that. June 7th is a good time to visit your Congress Members’ regional offices.

CALL THE PRESS TO GO WITH YOU.. WHATEVER YOU ARE PLANNING!

WHAT YOU CAN DO ON WEEKENDS -- On the weekends before and after June 7th you can distribute literature in your churches and synagogues and ask them to make a statement in support of H.R. 676. Their moral value and scriptural statements on the healthcare crisis are critical. Alfredo: this text is changed: See draft resolution in tools. A petition picnic in the park would be good too.

CANDIDATE FORUMS -- The weekends are also good times for inviting your Members of Congress and their opponents to a candidate forum to talk about the issue and to gauge their support for H.R. 676 We want to elect a NEW, HEALTHIER CONGRESS this fall! Now is the time to find out who they are.

TAKE RESOLUTIONS in support of H.R. 676 to your unions, your national bodies, your national assemblies, conventions and judicatories for action as we move into this critical decision-making time for our country.

MATERIALS ARE AVAILABLE including bumper stickers, city council resolutions, a copy of the bill and the impressive lists of supporters including more than 100 union endorsers and 69 Members of Congress who have signed on. We will also do a national press release. Please call our office, 212-475-8350 to get a packet and to report to us the activities you are planning or to order the new film dvd. Youu can also email your information to [e-mail]. Please include your full mailing address, zip and phone number along with $20 in overnight shipping charges to receive the dvd by June 6th.

WE NEED TO KNOW YOUR PLANS -- We will have a calendar of events in this space next week. Your plans and your contact information should be here. There will be lots of events, and we want to ensure that they will be successful and fruitful in bringing us closer to a national single payer healthcare system by the end of 2009.

We have a constantly updated list of events already being planned and some materials you might use.

The trailer of the new film you can use to promote H.R. 676 at your events on 6/7/6. Click it on to look at it. Then go to the next link below and purchase it for $20 including overnight postage to get it by June 5th. If you want to order a copy for a later date, just send $10.

HERE IS THE LINK: http://finisproductions.com/dbac/trailer_web.html

HERE IS HOW YOU ORDER IT: Just send your donation for the film to Healthcare-NOW.

https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=2264


About Healthcare-NOW!:
339 Lafeyette Street, New York, NY 10012
Website: http://www.healthcare-now.org/
E-mail: info healthcare-now.org
All Rights Reserved (c) Healthcare NOW 2006

HEART, Inc.
Sabrina-Marie Wilson
National Media Contact
email: sabrinamariew aol.com
phone: [phone]

[AuntPatsy]

1. Kick for action.

[sarahlee]

2. Thanks!

"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."
–Martin Luther King, Jr.

[leftstreet]

3. K&R

[sarahlee]

4. Extensive list of links

to Local and National Health Care working groups:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=222x8535

[eridani]

5. See also

www.kucinich.us

[sarahlee]

6. Thanks! n/t

[RedEarth]

7. K&R

[sarahlee]

8. Conyer's blog post on this

posted at DU here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1296094

Congressman Kucinich helped write the bill and has been working to get co-sponsors. A list of the 70 cosponsors, from Thomas.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HR00676:@@@P

Rep Abercrombie, Neil - 5/5/2005
Rep Baldwin, Tammy - 5/10/2005
Rep Becerra, Xavier - 11/17/2005
Rep Brown, Corrine - 11/15/2005
Rep Brown, Sherrod - 2/1/2006
Rep Capuano, Michael E. - 12/13/2005
Rep Carson, Julia - 6/7/2005
Rep Christensen, Donna M. - 2/8/2005
Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy - 5/10/2005
Rep Cummings, Elijah E. - 5/5/2005
Rep Davis, Danny K. - 5/26/2005
Rep Delahunt, William D. - 12/15/2005
Rep Doyle, Michael F. - 5/22/2006
Rep Engel, Eliot L. - 6/7/2005
Rep Evans, Lane - 6/7/2005
Rep Farr, Sam - 5/5/2005
Rep Fattah, Chaka - 5/17/2005
Rep Filner, Bob - 4/5/2005
Rep Frank, Barney - 5/18/2005
Rep Green, Al - 2/16/2006
Rep Grijalva, Raul M. - 5/25/2005
Rep Gutierrez, Luis V. - 5/18/2005
Rep Hastings, Alcee L. - 6/13/2005
Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. - 5/5/2005
Rep Honda, Michael M. - 6/22/2005
Rep Jackson, Jesse L., Jr. - 5/25/2005
Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila - 5/19/2005
Rep Jones, Stephanie Tubbs - 11/14/2005
Rep Kaptur, Marcy - 2/14/2006
Rep Kilpatrick, Carolyn C. - 5/26/2005
Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. - 2/8/2005
Rep Lantos, Tom - 6/7/2005
Rep Lee, Barbara - 5/5/2005
Rep Lewis, John - 5/25/2005
Rep Lynch, Stephen F. - 11/17/2005
Rep Maloney, Carolyn B. - 5/26/2005
Rep McDermott, Jim - 2/8/2005
Rep McGovern, James P. - 5/10/2005
Rep McKinney, Cynthia A. - 6/16/2005
Rep McNulty, Michael R. - 12/6/2005
Rep Meehan, Martin T. - 5/22/2006
Rep Miller, George - 5/10/2005
Rep Nadler, Jerrold - 5/25/2005
Rep Napolitano, Grace F. - 11/14/2005
Rep Olver, John W. - 4/13/2005
Rep Owens, Major R. - 5/10/2005
Rep Pastor, Ed - 5/18/2005
Rep Payne, Donald M. - 5/10/2005
Rep Rangel, Charles B. - 4/5/2005
Rep Reyes, Silvestre - 2/14/2006
Rep Roybal-Allard, Lucille - 2/8/2006
Rep Rush, Bobby L. - 12/15/2005
Rep Sanders, Bernard - 6/7/2005
Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. - 12/13/2005
Rep Scott, Robert C. - 5/25/2005
Rep Serrano, Jose E. - 5/12/2005
Rep Solis, Hilda L. - 7/12/2005
Rep Stark, Fortney Pete - 5/5/2005
Rep Thompson, Bennie G. - 5/19/2005
Rep Tierney, John F. - 6/15/2005
Rep Towns, Edolphus - 5/26/2005
Rep Udall, Tom - 5/26/2005
Rep Velazquez, Nydia M. - 12/15/2005
Rep Waters, Maxine - 12/15/2005
Rep Watson, Diane E. - 5/5/2005
Rep Waxman, Henry A. - 5/19/2005
Rep Weiner, Anthony D. - 5/25/2005
Rep Wexler, Robert - 2/1/2006
Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. - 5/10/2005
Rep Wynn, Albert Russell - 5/5/2005

.

[sarahlee]

9. Debunking Health Care LIes

Last Feb. bonddad at Daily Kos had a great diary on

From that discussion, eridani at DU created this flyer:

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE

Americans don't want government involved in health care because it would be bad.

Not so. According to a nationwide ABC/Washington Post poll in 2003, Americans by a 2-to-1 margin, 62 to 32 percent, prefer a universal health insurance programs "run by the government and financed with taxpayers' over the current healthcare system. The poll showed 4 in 5 Americans said it is more important to provide universal health care, even if it meant raising taxes, than to hold down taxes and leave some citizens with no coverage.


Limiting jury awards will automatically bring down health care prices.

It hasn’t so far. The state of California passed a series of laws in 1975 that capped damages victims of medical malpractice could receive. 13 years later, insurance companies were charging doctors 450% more for malpractice coverage.

In Ohio, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported in 2004 that "more than a year after malpractice cap took effect, doctors were paying more for coverage than ever.

In Texas, the nation's largest malpractice insurance company, GE Medical Protective, actually raised physician's premiums by 19% just six months after Texas enacted a cap on malpractice awards.

Health care is expensive because of the outrageous administrative expenses typical of private insurers.


Government payment for health care means rationing, while private insurance doesn't.

The only reason that private health insurance companies exist at all is to ration health care, limiting the amount of coverage patients get in order to save cash. Even the Supreme Court admits that. In 2000, the justices issued a unanimous opinion noting that the existence of HMOs means "there must be rationing and inducement to ration care."

In order to make money and increase their profits they must deny coverage for certain procedures because the cost of the procedure would have a negative impact on profits.


American can't afford universal health care coverage because it’s too expensive.

If the government is the main source of funds for health care costs, there is automatically far less bureaucracy. Less bureaucracy means more money to spend on patients rather then shuffling papers back and forth. That savings would allow the US to extend coverage to everybody. We are already paying for universal health care—we just aren’t getting it.

http://www.pnhp.org
http://www.everybodyinnobodyout.org
http://www.uhcan.org
http://www.healthcareforall.org
http://www.masscare.org
http://www.healthcareforallwa.org
http://www.healthcareforalloregon.org

Copy and paste this into your word processor and you have a flyer you can print and reprint and hand out or leave in your seat on the bus every morning.... give the next rider something to read and think about.

[sarahlee]

10. One Last Kick for the Monday morning crowd

Hope everyone is enjoying time with family.

Just wanted to give everyone one last chance to consider participating in this action week. Even if you can't do anyting but write a letter to the editor of your paper, I hope everyone will consider doing something.

A lot of people without insurance, small businesses that can't afford to offer health insurance to their employees, families who have had one member suffer with medical problems that have left the family on the brink of bankruptcy - all need us to stand up for Health Care for All.

Even if you think this bill or Universal Single Payer doesn't have a chance - understand that pushing for the best, most comprehensive solution, may get us a compromise that is far better than what most have available now.

Please, take just a little time, a day or an hour, to dedicate to this issue.

[davsand]

11. Kicking it back up!

Let's keep this one in front of people--please!


Laura

[davsand]

12. One last kick for Mon AM.

:kick: