TBOU ACTION UPDATE : Single Payer Healthcare Rally Wednesday May27 and TBOU Healthcare Roundtable on Wednesday June 3 in NYC

Single Payer Healthcare Advocates to Rally at State Capitol on May 27th
Politicians Need to Protect the People, Not Health Insurance Companies

Supporters of a single payer Medicare for All universal health care program will rally at the State Capitol on Wednesday May 27th at noon.

Representatives of groups supporting single payer will also meet with individual state legislators throughout the day and have requested a meeting with Governor Paterson.

The groups want New York State to pass legislation to create its own single payer universal health care system. The California state legislature has twice voted to create a single payer system but it has been vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. Governor Paterson, in contrast, has been a long time supporter of single payer health care. The long-delayed state study by the Urban Institute on what type of universal health system New York should adopt is due out in the next few months.

The single payer groups are also supporting the resolution introduced by Senator Neil Breslin to have the State Senate urge Congress to pass HR 676 (Conyors – D MI), the federal single payer bill. HR 676 is currently co-sponsored by more than 70 Representatives, including many from New York.

Single payer supporters are also upset that the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and the White House have so far refused to consider a single payer health care system while instead insisting that private for-profit health insurance must continue to play a role in any universal health care system. Thirteen single payer advocates have been arrested in recent weeks for protesting the exclusion of single payer supporters at the Senate Finance Committee hearings on universal health care.
It is estimated that as much as 35 cents of every health care dollar goes to pay for the administration of private health insurance that provides nothing of value to the health care system. The practices of insurance companies contribute to the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans annually. Eliminating private health insurance through a single payer system could save $350 to $400 billion annually.

Even though the US spends almost twice as much money per capita on health care compared to other industrial countries, the performance of the American health care system consistently ranks among the worse of the industrial countries (e.g., 37th by the World Health Organization), while leaving as many as 75 million Americans without insurance during part of any year.

Sponsors of the event include Single Payer New York (http://www.singlepayernewyork.org/), Capital District Alliance for Universal Health Care, Capital District Area Labor Federation; Faith and Hunger Network; Hunger Action Network of NYS: New York State Nurses Association; Physicians for a National Health Program; Students for a National Health Program; Tompkins County Health Care Task Force; and Troy Area Labor Council.

On Wednesday June 3, 2009 the Take Back Our Union (TBOU) will sponsor a Labor Round Table on Healthcare in NYC at the North Star Fund located at 52o 8th avenue 22nd floor mid-town Manhattan (between 36 and 37street) from 4-7PM.Topics for Labor Round table-How do we stop the privatization of Emblem Health (formerly GHI/HIP) and how do we get more rank and file labor activist involved in the single payer movement? To stay updated on healthcare and all labor news visit the blog at : http://www.takebackourunion.org/