Get on the bus! July 30, Rally and Lobby in DC:
July 30 marks Medicare's 44th Birthday. Activists from more than a dozen cities are sending busloads to Washington, DC, to celebrate the occasion and to show Congress and President Obama the strong support for an "Expanded and Improved Medicare for All" as the already proven all-American, expand-what we have way to get to universal, comprehensive, affordable health care for all.
People will visit their Congresspersons to urge them to sign on to the single-payer bills HR-676 in the House and S-703 in the Senate, then come together for a rally at 1:00 pm at Upper Senate Park (between Constitution Ave, New Jersey Ave, and Delaware Ave).
Info on buses and transportation to DC is here:
General information on the rally is here.
Confirmed Rally Speakers include:
Jos Williams President, AFL-CIO Metropolitan Washington Labor Council, AFL-CIO.
Dr. David Scheiner President Obama's personal physician of 22 years.
Sidney M. Wolfe, MD - Acting President of Public Citizen.
Terry O'Neill - President, National Organization for Women.
Senator James Ferlo - Pennsylvania State Senator.
Sameer Dossani - Demand Dignity Campaign Director, Amnesty International.
Barbara Ehrenreich - Feminist, sociologist, political activist, and author of Nickled and Dimed.
Congressman John Conyers, Jr. - Chair, House Judiciary Committee, and sponsor of HR-676.
Medea Benjamin - Cofounder of Code Pink and Global Exchange
Tim Carpenter - Progressive Democrats of America, Executive Director
Donna Smith - Community Activist and Legislative Advocate, California Nurses Association, whose story of financial bankruptcy was featured in Michael Moore's film, SiCKO.
Medicare has successfully provided care to seniors and people with disabilities for almost half a century. Its single payer structure with only 3% administrative costs stands in sharp contrast to the 20% and higher wasted by the private insurance companies on administration and profits. As Washington struggles to fund health care reform, an expanded and improved Medicare shows the way to do it!
HR 676 would institute a single payer health care system by expanding a greatly improved Medicare system to everyone residing in the U. S.
HR 676 would cover every person for all necessary medical care including prescription drugs, hospital, surgical, outpatient services, primary and preventive care, emergency services, dental, mental health, home health, physical therapy, rehabilitation (including for substance abuse), vision care, hearing services including hearing aids, chiropractic, durable medical equipment, palliative care, and long term care.
HR 676 ends deductibles and co-payments. HR 676 would save hundreds of billions annually by eliminating the high overhead and profits of the private health insurance industry and HMOs.
Join us in DC on July 30!!
Info on buses and transportation to DC is here:
General information on the rally is here.