D.C. Rally & Lobby Day and National Day of Action on May 13
Take Action!
Activist registered nurses and physicians are calling for a “Florence Nightingale Day Protest” against Sen. Max Baucus and his Senate Finance Committee hearings on healthcare. The hearings include representation from health insurers—but not from the majority of the nation’s RNs and MDs, who support the kind of single-payer healthcare financing proven successful in Europe, Canada, and Asia.
The protest is being held tomorrow, Tuesday, May 12, 10:00 a.m., the 189th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birthday. Activists will gather outside the Dirksen Senate Office Building, 1st St. @ Constitution Ave., Washington, D.C. The event is sponsored by the California Nurses Association, National Nurses Organizing Committee, and Physicians for a National Health Program.
May 12 is Florence Nightingale's Birthday--an opportunity to honor her advocacy of health care by protesting Congressional hearings that have been stacked in favor of the big insurance companies while silencing the voices of nurses and doctors who favor guaranteed healthcare, as in a single payer, expanded Medicare for all system with a single standard of quality care. The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee is asking nurses and doctors in the region to attend these hearings "and support the guaranteed, single-payer health care reforms that our nation desperately needs,” said Deborah Burger, RN, CNA/NNOC co-President.
This Tuesday, May 12, the Senate Finance Subcommittee is holding its final hearing on healthcare reform. The CNA/NNOC has issued a request to include Roseann Demoro, CNA/NNOC Executive Director and longtime leader in the single-payer movement. PNHP has formally submitted the names of two outstanding physicians, Drs. Marcia Angell and Steffie Woolhandler, to testify as expert witnesses. However, no single-payer supporters have been invited.
Please call Sen. Baucus' office in Washington at 202-224-2651, or fax him at (202) 224-9412, and urge him to extend the invitations.
Members of Single-Payer New York met with Senator Schumer, member of the Senate Finance Committee, on Friday evening, May 8. He agreed to ask Chairman Baucus to include a single-payer expert if we can get another Senator on the subcommittee to join him. If you are a constituent of the following Senators, please call and ask them to join with Senator Schumer (NY) of the Senate Finance Committee in asking Senator Baucus to include a single-payer expert in Tuesday's Hearing:
Sen. Stabenow
- Washington DC office 202-224-4822
Sen. Kerry - Washington DC office (202) 224-2742
Sen. Rockefeller - Washington DC office (202) 224-6472
For a full list of Senate Finance Committee members, click here.
While the hearing is taking place inside, a demonstration by physicians, nurses and other supporters of single-payer healthcare will take place outside the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington at 9:30 a.m. The group will gather outside the main entrance of the building at 1st Street and Constitution Avenue NE. If you live in the vicinity, please try to attend. If you're a physician, wear your white coat. Otherwise, participants are encouraged to wear black in remembrance of those who have died because they lacked health insurance.
If you hope for a seat inside the hearing, It is recommended you arrive at the hearing room (106 Dirksen) no later than 7:30 a.m. The hearing begins at 10 a.m.
May 13 National Day of Action for Single-payer Healthcare
On the following day, the California Nurses Association will lead the charge for single-payer healthcare. Five hundred nurses will be joined by PDA and other members of the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care for a rally at Upper Senate Park, near Union Station Metro Stop at 12 noon (see map).
Speakers include Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT); Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (MI-14); Rep. Eric Massa (NY-29); Rose Ann DeMoro, CNA/NNOC executive director; Mike Farrell, actor; Dr. Margaret Flowers, PNHP; and John Sweeney, president AFL-CIO.
From there, the activists will proceed to the Capital for a lobby day with their representatives. Contact Katie Robbins here or at 1-800-453-1305 to make arrangements to meet with your representative.
Interested parties outside of the Washington area should contact Katie for info on travel details--relatively inexpensive bus fare is available from most major cities on the east coast.
Healthcare corporations are becoming more and more vocal in their insistence that they cannot compete against a true public-option. They bellow they can only lower the cost of women's coverage if there is no public option, and they can only cover pre-existing conditions if there is no public option. We can't begin to match their campaign contributions, but we can certainly become more vocal and persistent in our demands for expanded and improved Medicare for all.
Who needs the insurance corporations deliver profits to their shareholders, not healthcare. Mark your calendars to either call your representative, and if possible, attend the rallies on May 12 and 13. And please call or fax Mr. Baucus and demand that single-payer advocates be allowed to testify: (202) 224-2651(Office) (202) 224-9412 (Fax)
http://www.pdamerica.org/articles/news/2009-05-11-12-29-05-news.php
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