The House will finally vote on single-payer. Obama needs to step up to the plate to make sure it passes the House and goes to the Senate. Single-payer would return us to a nation of values, support our business, reduce bureaucracies, free up doctors’ time, reduce foreclosures, clear the bankruptcy courts, and improve the health of the country. – IW
August 5, 2009
Dear PNHP Members and Friends,
Breaking News!
Last Friday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi committed to bringing single-payer to a vote before the full House of Representatives when the chamber reconvenes to debate national health care reform in September.
The vote will come in the form of an amendment to the House Leadership’s incremental health legislation. The amendment, offered by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), would effectively remove the entire existing health plan and replace it with the text of H.R. 676, Rep. John Conyers’ single-payer legislation. (
click here to see the text of the amendment).
This vote presents a truly historic opportunity – the first time that single-payer will be voted on in the Congress. (See the
news release below).
PNHP and allied groups are now marshaling our forces to win maximum support for the Weiner single-payer amendment. We’re launching a new national campaign staffed by Ali Thebert and Nicholas Skala to make sure that members of Congress hear from their physician constituents that single payer is the only solution to the U.S. health care crisis.
Here’s what you can do:
1. Use PNHP’s online campaign tool: send a letter to your Representative supporting the Weiner single payer amendment ( click here to send a letter!).
2. Arrange a meeting with your Representative: and use Weiner Single Payer Amendment lobbying materials available on the campaign web site ( click here for the campaign web site). Try to visit your Representatives during the August recess while members are still in their districts. If you need help or strategy advice, email ali@pnhp.org.
3. Speak out to local media and / or publish an op-ed: Please forward the included press release on the Weiner Amendment to your local media and offer to speak to the local press on behalf of the Amendment. Editorial board meetings and op-eds are also helpful at this time. ( Click here for tips on writing op-eds)
In other news, PNHPer Dr. David Scheiner has been appearing in the media nationwide. Dr. Scheiner was Obama’s personal physician for 22 years until Obama became president. He was also the medical partner of PNHP National Coordinator Dr. Quentin Young for 30 years.
Dr. Scheiner has criticized the Obama health plan and called for single payer instead in media outlets ranging from Forbes magazine to Lou Dobbs to FOX News.
Dr. Scheiner will appear on “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday, August 7 at 10:00 Eastern on HBO. Be sure to tune in!
Other PNHP leaders have taken to the airwaves, including Margaret Flowers, Oliver Fein, Garrett Adams, Claudia Fegan and Andy Coates. Please exert every effort to speak out yourself, including through letters to the editor and op-eds.
For those of you who need help understanding the details of the various reform plans coming out of the House and Senate, the Kaiser Family Foundation has a side-by-side comparison tool for all proposals, including the House (HR 676) and Senate (HR 703) single-payer bills. (
Click here for the Kaiser tool).
Finally, registration for the PNHP annual meeting on October 24 in Cambridge, MA is now open at
www.pnhp.org/ meeting. See our invitation letter reprinted
below. We hope to see you there!
Cordially,
![]()
![]()
Quentin Young, M.D.
National Coordinator Ida Hellander, M.D.
Executive Director
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Filed under: Action Alert!, activism, grassroots democracy, health, Healthcare
.
Leave a Reply