[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE On health care, Obama & McCain are bad news, McKinney & Green slate offer hope

Thu Oct 9 19:55:09 PDT 2008

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GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Thursday, October 9, 2008

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614,
mclarty at greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene at gp.org

Greens speak out on health care, comparing Obama & McCain's rejection of
Single-Payer/Medicare For All with their endorsement of the $700 billion
bailout for Wall Street

• Only votes for Cynthia McKinney and other Green candidates will bring real
health care reform closer to reality; Greens blast Obama ad for
misrepresenting Single-Payer

WASHINGTON, DC -- Green candidates and leaders, encouraged by an open letter
from Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), called the Green Party
the only hope for guaranteed health care for all Americans.

On October 6, PNHP (http://www.pnhp.org) published "Doctors to Candidates:
Enact Single-Payer Health Reform," announcing that 5,000 physicians have
signed an open letter challenging candidates to endorse the Single-Payer
plan, also called Medicare For All (http://www.pnhp.org/letter).

• Joshua Drake, Arkansas Green candidate for Congress, 4th district
(http://www.drake08.com): "The Green Party's presidential ticket and slate
of candidates for Congress represent America's best and only hope for real
universal health care.  Green nominees Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente
support the Single-Payer/Medicare For All health plan.  Barack Obama and
John McCain don't support it, because they're dedicated to the same Wall
Street interests that led them to endorse the taxpayer-funded $700 billion
bailout for financial corporations.  We're telling voters, if you want real
health care reform, the Green Party offers the only hope for guaranteed
quality health care in America.  Greens will fight for it long after the
2008 election ends, until we get Congress to enact a Single-Payer bill."

• Joyce Robinson Paul, DC Statehood Green Party candidate for US Statehood
Representative (http://www.statehood4dc.com/jrpaul/home): "Barack Obama and
John McCain would leave health care for most Americans under the control of
corporate HMOs and insurance companies, which limit treatment in order to
maximize their own profits.  That's why so many Americans with private
health coverage wind up paying out of pocket anyway.  Whether or not you
have private health insurance, you can still suffer financial ruin because
of a health emergency.  Under Single-Payer, no one will go bankrupt because
of illness or injury."

• Nan Garrett, co-chair of the Green Party National Women's Caucus and a
Georgia Green (http://greens.org/gp-uswomen): "Mr. Obama claims in a
campaign ad that his health care plan avoids government-administered
coverage, which would require higher taxes.  This ad is misleading.  It
leaves out the fact that working people will pay far less for Single-Payer
than for private coverage, because Single-Payer does away with profits for
insurance and HMO middlemen, saving more than $300 billion every year.
That's enough to cover the uninsured and eliminate co-payments and
deductibles for all Americans.  Even more important, no American would be
denied treatment because of inability to pay, employment, age, or a prior
medical condition."

• Bob Kinsey, Green candidate for the US Senate in Colorado
(http://www.kinseyforsenate.org): "It's time to make health care a right for
all Americans.  Unfortunately, Obama and McCain insist on the right of the
powerful insurance industry to make big money off our health.  John McCain
wants to end employer-based health coverage and replace it with private
accounts, and his tax exemptions are in reality government subsidies for
insurance firms and HMOs.  Barack Obama wants heavy regulation of the
insurance industry to expand coverage, but would compensate by establishing
a health insurance 'marketplace' that would sustain the industry.  Mandates,
tax credits and incentives, and indirect subsidies are all based on
appeasement of the private insurance lobbies, which contribute hundreds of
thousands of dollars to both Democrats and Republicans to make sure that
corporate profits prevail over human needs.  Neither Obama nor McCain will
admit that private
  insurance and HMO coverage is expensive, inefficient, inadequate, and
unnecessary.  No other country allows the profit-based insurance industry to
control the health care system as the US does.  Private health insurance is
the core of the problem and must be eliminated, not subsidized, mandated,
and protected as McCain and Obama propose.

• Rodger Jennings, Illinois Green candidate for Congress, 12th District
(http://www.rodgerjennings.org): "Whenever people who favor Single-Payer
throw their support to anti-Single-Payer Democrats like Barack Obama, they
are selling themselves and the health of our nation short.  America will get
true universal health care when a political party dedicated to Single-Payer
-- the Green Party -- achieves major-party status.  If a few Greens were
elected to Congress, it would change the whole political landscape and put
Single-Payer on the table, because Democrats and Republicans would no longer
only be competing with each other.  The real problem facing America isn't
the Republican Party, it's the bipartisan pursuit of campaign dollars
without concern for the health of all Americans."

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
• Green candidate database for 2008 and other campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections

Green Party information page on health care and the Single-Payer plan
http://www.gp.org/organize/sicko.html

Canadian study: ""Eroding Public Medicare: Lessons and Consequences of
For-Profit Health Care Across Canada"
http://www.web.net/~ohc/Eroding%20Public%20Medicare.pdf
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9008725.html
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/story.html?id=8cd6ea8e-d13c-4ad6-b79a-6cc71b92bfad

Cynthia McKinney/Rosa Clemente 'Power to the People' Campaign for the White
House
http://votetruth08.com
http://www.runcynthiarun.org

Cynthia McKinney on video
http://www.youtube.com/user/RunCynthiaRun
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=RunCynthiaRun
• Music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx1NPlQjkqo

Rosa Clemente on video
• Interview: Current TV/Rock the Vote
http://current.com/items/89335393_the_organizer_and_green_party_vp_candidate_talks_about_her_inspirations

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