Guaranteed Healthcare

By Donna Smith

PORTLAND, Maine -- She's a nurse's daughter and mother of a state legislator.  Chellie Pingree is running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine's 1st Congressional District.  Today the nurses of the Maine State Nurses Association, the National Nurses Organizing Committee and the California Nurses Association brought their healthcare report card bus to the town square for a rally with Chellie.

Chellie talked about HR676 and single payer healthcare with those assembled and expressed her desire to get going on her work to help fix this broken system.  The bus, the nurses and Chellie attracted print, radio and television press from the area just as Chellie prepares for her last weekend of campaigning before the Nov 4 election.

Tomorrow, I'll feature a wrap up of some of the less serious moments this week as we prepare for our final four days on the road.  We'll leave Maine for New Jersey and then arrive in Washington, DC, on Sunday.  Energy out in the communities we have visited is high surrounding this election, and we are thrilled to be visiting the communities where our endorsed candidates -- our 2008 healthcare heroes -- are running fantastic campaigns and standing firm on single payer.

Chellie Pingree of North Haven, Maine, is the mother of three grown children, and she is a grandmother.  She is also a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from the 1^st Congressional District in Maine.  She is firmly in support of single payer healthcare reform through HR676, the National Health Insurance Act. 

“When my brother Bob was diagnosed with cancer at age 39, he had to fight two battles - the cancer and the insurance companies. He died 14 months later with the guilt that his illness brought financial ruin to his young family. Unfortunately, my family wasn't unique and this shouldn't happen to anyone,” Pingree shared.

Chellie is a Democrat and she supports H.R. 676, the National Healthy Insurance Act, sponsored by Representative John Conyers, D-MI. She explained, “H.R. 676 is a proposal for a single-payer health care system in America. By bringing all people under one roof of coverage, costs go down as we benefit from system efficiencies and economies of scale. When that one roof doesn't take a profit, costs are even lower.”