[GPCA Updates] GREEN ACTION --> Send a letter to the editor in support of SINGLE-PAYER!

[Green Party of California Updates]

Action Alert: Write a letter to the editor in support of
SINGLE-PAYER health care!

Let's get the word out about Single-Payer national health care
(Medicare For All)!

(PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY TO ALL GREENS & FRIENDS)

Congress, the White House, and the mainstream media are trying to
keep Single-Payer out of the discussion about health care reform.
That's because the HMO, health insurance, pharmaceutical, and other
corporate lobbies contribute big checks to political campaigns and
run ads on TV and in newspapers.  They don't want Americans to
compare free-market and other corporate-based health plans with
Single-Payer.

Please take a few minutes to write a letter to the editor of a
newspaper, a news web site, a blog, or an e-mail discussion list in
support of Single-Payer.  Or, if you can, create a video clip and
post it to YouTube or another video site -- be creative and present
your comments in a memorable context.

A letter doesn't have to be long.  Five or six sentences is a good
length for a letter to a newspaper.  If you'd prefer to write a
longer essay, you can submit it as an op-ed column for publication.


And please let us know if you get published!


==> Let's send FORTY GREEN LETTERS out by Monday, June 1!

Below is a list of talking points about Single-Payer health care
that you can use in a letter.  Choose a few points you want to
emphasize, and put them into your own words.  Even better, be
personal.  If you have a brief story about how you or a friend or
family member had a problem involving health care and health
coverage, you're more likely to get published.  (More tips below)


Talking Points

• All health care reform meetings, hearings, and panel discussions
in the White House and Congress must include Single-Payer advocates.
  Americans have a right to compare health care plans and to have
their opinions represented.

• Single-Payer will cover every American regardless of employment,
income, ability to pay, age, and prior medical condition. Right now,
about 48 million Americans have no health coverage at all and
millions more have inadequate coverage. Under Single-Payer, everyone
will enjoy guaranteed quality health care, including prescriptions,
and no American will face financial ruin because of illness or injury.

• Private HMOs and health insurance companies increase their profits
by denying treatment to people with medical emergencies and by
denying coverage to those they consider 'high-risk' because of
existing health problems, age, low income, etc. In other words,
private health insurance is designed to fail people who need health
care the most.  That's why we need Single-Payer.

• Single-Payer will allow Americans to choose their physician,
health care provider, and health care facility.  (Canadian citizens
can visit any physician or hospital in the country, without anyone's
permission.)

• Single-Payer will cut national health care costs by as much as a
third and reduce what working Americans pay for health coverage,
because it eliminates the profit-making insurance and HMO
'middle-men.'  At 3% administrative cost, Medicare (which would be
made universal under Single-Payer) is highly efficient compared to
the 15-30% administrative costs (profits, paperwork, CEO salaries,
etc.) of for-profit insurance.

• The 'public health care option' that many Democrats favor is not
Single-Payer and is not an acceptable alternative to Single-Payer.
The public option will leave insurance companies and HMOs in charge
and will not eliminate the massive inefficiency and high costs of
health care.  The insurance-HMO industry must be replaced, not
accommodated.

• Single-Payer reduces paperwork for physicians and other health
professionals, one reason why thousands of MDs, other people working
in the health care industry, and medical students have endorsed it.

• Under Single-Payer, physicians, hospitals, and other health care
providers would compete to serve the public, raising the quality of
health care.

• Single-Payer will boost the ailing US economy and provide relief
for businesses, since it will cancel the high expense and burden of
employer-based health care benefits.

• Polls show popular support for a national health care program that
guarantees universal coverage
(http://www.wpasinglepayer.org/PollResults.html).

• America has the best medical technology but poor access to medical
treatment. Single-Payer will correct this scandal.

• The Center for Responsive Politics has documented the millions in
campaign money that the insurance industry has given to Democrats
and Republicans to maintain their control over health care
(http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=F09), with over
$46 million in contributions in 2008.  Barack Obama, before he
launched his bid for president, supported Single-Payer
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpAyan1fXCE&feature=player_embedded).

• Some politicians favor an 'options' plan that would offer a public
health care plan as an alternative to private coverage.  They would
create a multi-tier system in which those on the public plan get
inferior coverage and treatment.  Some of these plans also promise
insurance firms and HMOs taxpayer-funded subsidies to ensure
profits, or impose health coverage 'mandates.'  These plans are not
universal and not acceptable.  Single-Payer guarantees all Americans
quality care: 'Everybody in, nobody out!"

• Many voters are taking the Single-Payer Pledge: "I will only vote
for candidates who support Single-Payer!"

Don't forget to mention that you're a member of the Green Party,
which supports Single-Payer.  The Green Party and Green candidates
accept no money from corporations.

Want more details on Single-Payer?  Visit the 'Frequently Asked
Questions' page of Physicians for a National Health Program:
http://www.pnhp.org/facts/singlepayer_faq.php

Where should you send your letter?  You can find e-mail and snail
mail addresses for newspapers online.  The newspaper will also
provide guidelines for letters to the editor, such as a limit on the
length.  If one newspaper doesn't publish your letter, wait a few
days and submit it to another newspaper.  If your letter gets
published, you'll be read by thousands -- maybe tens or hundreds of
thousands -- of readers.  Even if your letter doesn't get published,
forward it to friends, family, and neighbors.  Forward it to your
Senators and Representative in Congress.

List of Single-Payer web sites:
• Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org (see press
releases on health care)
• Green Party Single-Payer page http://www.gp.org/organize/sicko.html
• Physicians for a National Health Program http://www.pnhp.org
• Single-Payer Action http://singlepayeraction.org
• Healthcare-Now Coalition http://www.healthcare-now.org
• Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care
http://guaranteedhealthcare4all.org
• California Nurses Association http://www.calnurses.org

Two good articles:

• Interview with Dr. Sidney Wolfe of Public Citizen and Dr. David
Himmelstein of Physicians for a National Health Program, Bill Moyers
Journal, PBS, May 22, 2009 (video clip & transcript)
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05222009/watch2.html

• "We Spend Twice as Much on Health Care as Other Rich Countries --
and What Do We Get for It?"
By Dean Baker, AlterNet, May 19, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/140098