This Summer, Let’s Win Single-Payer Healthcare!
For the first time ever, single-payer legislation will be debated and voted on by the House of Representatives in September.
This is very good news! At last single-payer health care is being elevated to the top of the healthcare “debate” or “argument.” As you will see, if you read this post, we ordinary people aka grassroots have some representation in Congress. Pay attention in the weeks ahead to Representative Anthony Weiner (NY-9) with HR 676 and Senator Bernie Sanders with S. 703.
Senator Bernie Sanders
I see this as a tact to go around the White House and Rahm Emmanuel-Max Baucus and their obsession with trying to get bipartisan support from the Republicans, which isn’t ever going to happen.
Healthcare is too important for fiddling around forever with politics as usual. It is time for “yes, we can” rather than “no, we can’t.”
Representative Anthony Weiner
Rep. Anthony Weiner (NY-9) introduced an amendment to President Obama’s healthcare reform bill (HR 3200) that would 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.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is expected to bring S 703 to the floor for a vote in the Senate.
And Rep. Dennis Kucinich (OH) wants to enable states to establish single-payer systems.
Let’s make this the summer of Single-Payer Action and demand that our Congresspeople vote YES on Rep. Weiner’s amendment, S 703, and Rep. Kucinich’s state single-payer amendment in September!
What is the Weiner Single Payer Amendment? Here are the amendment’s details. Please contact Healthcare-NOW! for lobbying strategy or advice – 1-800-453-1305 or info@healthcare-now.org.
Tell your Representatives that the Obama health plan is NOT enough and we want them to vote YES on Rep. Weiner’s single-payer amendment and Senate bill S 703. We need real health reform that will cover every American, provide real choice of doctors, and save the majority of Americans money.
Here’s What You Can Do to Help Win Single-Payer
1. Contact your Congressperson and demand they vote YES on Weiner’s Single-Payer Amendment.
- Call them (find their number here) at 866-338-1015 for the Capital Switchboard, email them, meet with them, birddog them at public events, have a one-person protest at their office every day using a rotating team… Download our toolkit on organizing an effective protest.
- Download these lobby materials to give to your Congresspersons
- Find a town hall meeting with a Congressperson near YOU! Use the form on the right side of this page.
- Order Healthcare-NOW! signs for your events – call 1-800-453-1305 or email info@healthcare-now.org.
- Whatever tactics you use, remind them we will remember their vote on this amendment during the mid-term elections. Remember, civility rules. Here are some tips for achieving a constructive town hall meeting.
2. Brush-up on your talking points and educate others using our resources.
- Watch our teach-in on single-payer talking points and comparison with HR 3200 (Obama’s plan).
- Print out comparisons of single-payer and the public option.
- Remember the ills of the private insurance racket. Brave New Films has launched a hard hitting campaign to expose those who are profiting from denying care to the sick.
3. Write to your local media.
- Organize an op-ed/letter to the editor team and send in as many letters as possible.
- Protests against the media’s blackout of single-payer coverage have also been successful. The more calls media outlets get demanding they cover single-payer, the more likely they will cover it because they know there is an audience for single-payer.
- You can find press contacts here – send a media alert about your efforts to influence the health care debate in your area.
4. Download the petition for HR 676, collect signatures in your congressional district, and deliver the signatures to your Representative.
Go here for the petition.
5. Post this image, and link it to this campaign, to your blog, Facebook profile, and all over.
Here are direct links to this image:
http://www.healthcare-now.org/listimages/ptp.gif
http://www.healthcare-now.org/listimages/ptp1.gif
http://www.healthcare-now.org/listimages/ptp2.gif
6. Use Direct Action!
Sometimes we have to be direct to get the attention of the media and our elected officials, but we don’t have to use the scare tactics of the right to do so. Here are some strategies that people across the country have used to push the single-payer message:
- Not Covered Campaign!
- Vigils
- Die-Ins
- Demonstrations at Insurance Companies
- Demonstrations at the office of your Congress Person
- Demonstrations at Media Outlets
Here are the amendment’s details. Please contact Healthcare-NOW! for lobbying strategy or advice – 1-800-453-1305 or info@healthcare-now.org.
Senator Max Baucus
This amendment could not have happened without the unwavering commitment of grassroots, single-payer activists like you. From the mounting pressure of activists who disrupted Senate Finance Committee hearings, to the in–district birddogging of Committee Chairman Max Baucus, to the 13,000 signatures collected and delivered by FAIR to protest ABC’s censorship of single-payer, every little bit has helped push national, single-payer healthcare to the forefront of the debate.
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