[GPCA Updates] GP ADVISORY Greens to join July 30 rally for Single-Payer, urge end to insurance industry 'death grip' on health care

[Green Party of California Updates]

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

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, July 30, 2009


Greens to attend 'Medicare: Made In America' rally on July 30, call for
Single-Payer and an end to the insurance industry's 'death grip' on
health care

• Green Party presses demand for GAO study of health care costs under
single-payer and for a nationally televised debate on the merits of
Single-Payer; Greens call insurance companies the only winners under the
Democratic Party plans

• It's time for an angry voters revolt against politicians who reject
single-payer and defend insurance industry power and profits, say Greens


WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party members will turn out for the 'Medicare:
Made in America' Lobby Day and Rally
(http://www.healthcare-now.org/campaigns/single-payer-rally) to take
place in Washington, DC, on Thursday, July 30, joining thousands of
other advocates of the single-payer plan to bring universal health care
to the United States.

"We demand an end to the private insurance industry's death grip on
health care.  The only solution is a single-payer system that covers
every American regardless of ability to pay, age, or prior medical
condition," said Dr. Justine McCabe, Connecticut Green, clinical
psychologist and co-author of a Connecticut statewide single-payer bill
in 1999-2000 (http://www.gp.org/speakers/detail.php?ID=35).

Dr. McCabe spoke at a public forum on health care reform last week that
was part of the Green Party's 2009 Annual National Meeting in Durham,
North Carolina (http://www.ncgreenparty.org/2009-ANM%20FORUM.html).
Video of the forum has been posted online
(http://www.gp.org/video/durham.shtml).

"We're witnessing a conspiracy to prevent all Americans from getting the
quality health care that we all deserve and from knowing that such a
plan is within our reach.  We demand a televised national debate between
advocates and opponents of single-payer, so Americans can hear the truth
about universal health care.  We demand new studies by the GAO and
Congressional Budget Office on the cost of single-payer.  In the 1990s,
analyses by these offices showed that single-payer would save billions
of dollars in health care expenses," said Dr. McCabe.

The July 30 event has been organized by the HealthCare-Now! coalition
(http://www.healthcare-now.org) and will mark the 44th anniversary of
Medicare.  Under a single-payer system (HR 676), Medicare will be
expanded to cover all Americans, with a dramatic reduction in medical
costs because of the elimination of for-profit insurance overhead.

"Insurance firms don't make money by providing health care.  On the
contrary, they make their profits by not providing health care -- by
refusing to cover millions of people, by restricting treatment for those
with coverage, by denying claims, by canceling coverage when people need
health care most.  The result is that 50 million Americans have no
health coverage at all, millions more have inadequate coverage, and
hundreds of thousands go into financial ruin and suffer needlessly so
that insurance company CEOs and shareholders can reap huge profits.
This system stays in place because too many Republican and Democratic
politicians care more about corporate campaign contributions than they
do about the well-being of their constituents," said Rich Whitney, who
received 10% of the vote in his Green campaign for Governor of Illinois
in 2006 and will run again in 2010 (http://www.whitneyforgov.org).

Green leaders had sharp criticism for the retreat of Democrats from
universal health care, for Senate Finance Committee chair Max Baucus's
assertion that single-payer is off the table, and for bad ideas like the
'public option' and mandates.  Greens called insurance firms the only
real winners under the Democratic Party proposals, noting that Democrats
want Americans to spend billions of dollars extra every year for health
care, rather than just eliminate the waste, paperwork, and bureaucracy
of for-profit insurance.  The Democrats' proposed insurance mandate
would mean massive taxpayer subsidies for the health insurance industry.

"Barney Frank says Democrats like himself won't fight for single-payer
because it has no chance of passage.  In fact, it has little chance
right now because Democrats like Rep. Frank won't fight for it.  With a
few exceptions, like Reps. John Conyers and Dennis Kucinich, liberal
Democrats won't challenge the lies that Republicans and blue-dog Dems
are spewing daily in their effort to block reform.  President Obama has
tried to appease Republicans whose only goal is to see him fail," said
Holly Hart, secretary of the Green Party of the United States and a
member of Iowans for Health Care for All.

President Obama admitted this week that the only way to cover all
Americans was through a single-payer system: "Now, the truth is that
unless you have a what's called a single-payer system, in which
everybody's automatically covered, then you're probably not going to
reach every single individual."
(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/us/politics/22obama.transcript.html)

Greens faulted the media for not debunking the aggressive misinformation
campaign led by single-payer opponents and groups like Conservatives for
Patients' Rights, and for paying little attention to the movement for
single-payer, despite support for universal coverage by a majority of
Americans.

"In 2004, Canadians voted Tommy Douglas, the Baptist minister who led
the battle for their country's single-payer system, as the 'Greatest
Canadian' of all time in a CBC poll.  Americans deserve to know how well
the Canadian system works and how popular it is among Canadians.
Americans deserve to know that, contrary to claims from Republicans and
anti-reform TV ads, single-payer means less bureaucratic interference.
Single-payer means full choice of physician and hospital and it means
that decisions about health care are made between doctor and patient,
just like in Canada," said David Doonan, Green mayor of the Village of
Greenwich in New York.

"If all Americans knew how we're getting cheated by our private
insurance system and its defenders in Congress and the White House, we'd
see an angry revolt.  That's what we need right now -- enraged visits
and messages to Congress and the White House, protests in the streets,
and a pledge by voters never to vote for another politician who does not
support single-payer health care," Mr. Doonan added.


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
• Green candidate database and 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
• International Committee of the Green Party:
http://www.gp.org/committees/intl

Recent Green Party press releases:
• "Greens call for new GAO, Congressional Budget Office studies on
Single-Payer health care" (June 18, 2009)
http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=226
• "Green Party leaders challenge Sen. Baucus and defenders of private
insurance to debate Single-Payer advocates" (June 4, 2009)
http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=221

"Public Option Advocates: Time to Come Home to Single Payer"
By Mark Dunlea, Executive Director, Hunger Action Network of NYS;
co-chair, Single Payer New York; member of the Green Party of New York State
http://singlepayernewyork.org/news/comehome.php#more

"Why Obama's Public Option Is Defective, and Why We Need Single-Payer"
By Drs. Steffie Woolhandler and David Himmelstein, The Progressive, July
22, 2009
http://www.progressive.org/mpwool072209.html

"Barney Frank: Front Door Single Payer Suicidal"
Single Payer Action, July 27, 2009
http://www.singlepayeraction.org/blog/?p=1257

"Health Care Hypocrisy"
By Ralph Nader, Common Dreams, July 25, 2009
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/07/25-0

"Internal RNC Memo: 'Engage In Every Activity' To Slow Down Health Care
Reform"
Huffington Post, July 21, 2009
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/21/internal-rnc-memo-engage_n_241940.html

Single-Payer Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.pnhp.org/facts/singlepayer_faq.php

Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of
the United States
Summer 2009 issue now online
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog


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