Guaranteed Healthcare

Inasmuch as the national healthcare reform effort did not produce a result that will provide the basic human right to healthcare to all in the United States, the work of reaching that goal remains ahead. Those of us who support a single-payer system as the only way to assure true universality for healthcare rights have not stopped our work following the passage of national health insurance reform. And many of us working on single-payer are doing so in our individual states rather than waiting for a national resolution to the escalating health crisis in the United States.

(Link directly to and sign Declaration of Health Independence and Security, before reading more: http://pdamerica.e-actionmax.com/takeaction.asp?aaid=4651)

In Wayne, Pennsylvania, on April 10, 2010, in conjunction with a regional conference of the Progressive Democrats of America, citizen representatives of 14 states gathered and decided to begin a more coordinated collaboration aimed at passage of state-based, single-payer health reform legislation. An additional four states expressed interest in moving forward with the shared collaboration between states.  

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At that meeting, those assembled drafted a "Declaration of Health Independence and Security," and we will be working in the coming weeks and months to gather as many signatures as possible from individuals, groups and coalitions for this declaration in order to clearly communicate our shared intent to secure healthcare for all as a basic human right currently being denied. Please click here to add your name to the "Declaration of Health Independence and Security." We will gather together supporters on July 4, 2010, to formally present our declaration within our own states.

Additionally, the participants at the Wayne meeting decided to move forward in the formation of a broader group to collaborate on their state-based single-payer legislative campaigns. To that end, four working groups have been formed to support the collaboration's work going forward. Those four groups are: organization (for the collaboration), media and education (regarding state-based single-payer), legislative (effort on state single-payer bills), and resources (to make sure the collaboration provides the synergy that best serves all the states in the collaboration). To join a working group, contact me at Donnas@calnurses.org. Our shared effort on state-based reform in no way signals an end to our resolve to pass national improved Medicare for all, and our work with partner organizations continues on all fronts.

So join us in this effort. Let's grab and build on this historic momentum coming from the meeting in Wayne. Let's get the Declaration widely distributed and signed by as many people and groups as possible. The work to create a just and humane healthcare system in this nation is ahead of us--onward to that place.