Guaranteed Healthcare

When the nurses come to Washington, D.C., next week, there will be other advocates and activists for social justice seeking support for some of the same issues and bills.  The vision NNU’s leaders and members have for a more just nation in which Main Street issues matter – like good jobs, education, healthcare, and a healthy environment – is a vision that embraces many issues our allies share and are working to support.

This is an action that takes just moments to complete, but has the potential to change the future. 

A petition drive has been launched by several groups, asking the Senate Democratic Caucus to support the DNC Afghanistan Withdrawal Resolution and Sanders’ American Health Security Act of 2011 (S.915).  To sign the letter,  http://www.pdamerica.org/forms/sign/Sign-Letter-Senate-Democratic-Ca].

This letter will be distributed to the members of the Senate Democratic Caucus on June 7, as part of the National Nurses United  June 7 Rally and Lobby Day. (If you can’t make it to DC for the rally and lobby day, then please mark your calendars for the June 7 National Call-in Day, and find more information on that here: http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/issues/alert/?alertid=48701501].

Many of our allies in the progressive movement have endorsed and signed this letter—we hope you’ll join them.  [Sign here http://www.pdamerica.org/forms/sign/Sign-Letter-Senate-Democratic-Ca].

Our allies have a goal to gather at least 25,000 signatures between now and midnight, June 5.  [Click here to sign http://www.pdamerica.org/forms/sign/Sign-Letter-Senate-Democratic-Ca], and then please post this to your Facebook page and forward this email to your likeminded friends and family members.

Tim Carpenter, of the Progressive Democrats of America, noted, “Bin Laden is dead; the Afghanistan mission is accomplished. It is time to bring our troops and war dollars home and start addressing the very real hardships facing Americans, including providing comprehensive healthcare for all and the spiraling costs of healthcare.”

The idea of a Medicare for All type, single-payer healthcare system will be heard on the Senate floor.  Late last evening, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont filed Senate Amendment No. 2837, and there are two additional original co-sponsors of this amendment, Senator Roland Burris of Illinois and Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio.

Does passage of a bill that funnels millions of additional Americans into the private insurance system, and the decision of House leaders to shut down debate on one single payer amendment and scuttle another, mean the end of the years of efforts by single payer activists to win the most comprehensive reform of all?

By Donna Smith

There were no reports in the media Tuesday about the four United States Senators who voted for a bit of sanity today in the midst of the complexity of the race to reform healthcare in the United States.  Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio all voted to allow individual states the right to pass and implement publicly funded, privately delivered single payer healthcare programs, if they should choose to do so.

But the other Senators on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee didn’t want to support the amendment to the health reform legislation.  Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico was perhaps the most vocal in his opposition to the state single payer enabling amendment as he argued that he felt those Americans happy with their coverage through private or some of the public plans would not want to face a change to a single payer system.