[Sosfbay-discuss] Fw: NATIONAL SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE CALL-IN DAY 1/15/09

[Drew Johnson]

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: [G-C-F] NATIONAL SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE CALL-IN DAY 1/15/09
From:    "BC Macdonald" <omni at mcn.org>
Date:    Wed, January 14, 2009 15:56
To:      "Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@cagreens.org
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NATIONAL SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE CALL-IN DAY
Thursday, January 15

Call Congress tomorrow to support HR 676 -- Single Payer Healthcare

United For Peace and Justice encourages you to join this nationwide
Congressional call-in day. This is the second such call-in day, organized
by the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Healthcare-National Single
Payer Coalition. The first call-in day on December 22 was a tremendous
success, and thousands of calls were made. In fact, by 11:00 AM that
morning, Senator Kennedy's office reported to have already received over
1,000 phone calls in support of HR 676 which calls for more than the
Massachusetts-style healthcare reform.

Now is the time to expand this effort. Everyone is being asked to make
their calls to the Washington, D.C. offices of the House of
Representatives.

HR 676 has been reintroduced in the 111th Congress -- there are 86
cosponsors in the House from the 110th Congress who have been sworn into
the 111th session. The goal set by the National Single Payer Coalition is
to double those sponsors through this massive call-in on Thursday and
other efforts.

Here's how you can be part of this Call-In Day:

   1. If you do not know who your Representative is or how to reach
her/him, click on to congress.org -- and then enter your zip code on
the upper right corner where it says "Find Your Officials". The
Congressional call-in number is 202-224-3121.
www.congress.org/congressorg/home/
   2. When you make the call, be sure to ask if your Representative is
already a sponsor of HR 676. If they are, thank them and urge them to
do all they can to help it pass.
   3. If your Representative is not yet a sponsor, urge them to become one
now. See below for Talking Points to help you make the case. They can
also attend a briefing on HR 676 that will be held on Wednesday,
January 28 from 3 to 5 pm in the Halls of Congress.
   4. If you can make one more call, please call one or both of your
Senators to support companion legislation to HR 676 in the Senate.

UFPJ participation in actions like this is crucial to our building our
"Beyond War, A New Economy is Possible: Yes We Can Campaign", linking the
ending of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars to changing our government's focus
from warfare and militarism to healthcare and other social programs and
community needs. Check the UFPJ website for more information on this
campaign.
www.unitedforpeace.org

Finally, we hope you will take a moment to make a financial contribution
to UFPJ. Your donations make it possible for us to keep doing this
important work -- we hope we can count on you!
https://secure.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/ufpj/content.jsp?content_KEY=1553
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Talking Points

1) Former Sen. Tom Daschle, President-Elect Obama's nominee for Secretary
of Health and Human Services, called for "a government-run insurance
program modeled after Medicare" in testimony before the Senate Committee
on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions as part of the solution to our
healthcare crisis. His plan also includes health insurance corporations.
We already have a public-private system which doesn't work.

2) In August of 2005, The National Coalition on Health Care found in a
fiscal analysis of health care reform that "the single payer model would
reduce costs by over $1.1 trillion over the next decade while providing
comprehensive benefits to all Americans." Single-payer is the only reform
proposal that can claim cost savings and comprehensive health care for
all.

3) I understand that only HR 676 would implement a sustainable, fair, and
cost-efficient solution to the healthcare crisis. Reject for-profit health
corporation-friendly bills, which put private profits over public health
and will not and cannot solve our healthcare crisis.

4) Some argue that HR 676 is "not politically feasible," but that's a
facile truism, not an acceptable position. We elect our Congress to serve
the public interest, and the public overwhelmingly supports a national
health plan.

5) HR 676 would help control costs by emphasizing prevention and universal
access to basic care instead of reliance on emergency room care--the most
costly and least efficient method of healthcare delivery. We can't afford
not to adopt HR 676.

6) HR 676 would improve healthcare outcomes and eliminate racial,
geographic and other disparities which currently plague our nation.

7) All the other advanced democracies adopted national healthcare, none
have seriously considered eliminating these systems, and all enjoy better
healthcare results than we do including: longer life expectancy, lower
infant mortality rates, fewer work-days lost to illness, and many other
measures of health and wellness.

8) It's time to stop funding the wars and occupations in Iraq and
Afghanistan and start making sure the health care needs of our families
are met!_______________________________________________
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