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In This Section:

Six Generations of U.S. War Opposition
California's Nurses and Women Take on Billionaire CEO Meg Whitman
Afghan War Leaks Expose Costly, Deceitful March of Folly
Vote Expected on War Escalation Funding Today
No to Oligarchy
Trumka: Boost Fairness and Revenue with Estate Tax Reinstatement
Rose Ann DeMoro Wants Hospitals to Scream
Let's Give Congress Our Marching Orders
Capitol Hill Demonstration Marks Three-Month Anniversary of BP Oil Disaster
Monahan Brothers' Cross-Country Walk to Overturn 'Corporate Personhood'
Conyers Releases Committee Interview of Torture Memo Author Bybee and Sends to Justice Department
Afghan Envoy Holbrooke and Senate in La La Land
House Hearing Focuses on Mine, Workplace Safety
Envisioning the Future, Fanning the Flames
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer Met by Protestors during the National Governor's Association Meeting in Boston

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A Strategy for Healthcare-NOW

By Marilyn Clement, National Coordinator, Healthcare-NOW
November 15, 2006, Chicago, IL

“The time is now,” said PDA National Advisory Board Member Rep. John Conyers to the Healthcare-NOW national strategy meeting last week in Chicago.

Rep. Conyers and 60 Healthcare-NOW organizers from 16 states joined a marathon 10-hour strategy session about how to push forward toward a single-payer national healthcare system. Healthcare-NOW is a bottom-up movement organization, so the strategies evolved during the day came from very few speeches and a lot of discussion.

Rep. Conyers’ bill, H.R. 676, would provide healthcare for everyone in the United States by eliminating the profits of the insurance companies and negotiating drug and other treatment costs. It would be paid for on a sliding scale by all of us together, with no bills, co-payments, deductibles, denials, or bankruptcies. And we would pay less than we are now paying.

In the new Congress, Conyers will become the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, with jurisdiction over many areas, including bankruptcy issues. As we look into the future, bankruptcy hearings will be able to bring to the spotlight the fact that 50% of the personal bankruptcies in the United States are caused by healthcare crises. Healthcare-NOW can help provide the testimony. That is just one example of why we feel hopeful for this coming period.

In fact, we may never have a better possibility of pushing forward for a national healthcare system than during the next few months. So Healthcare-NOW activists in Chicago adopted a national strategy to do just that:

1. H.R. 676 will be reintroduced in January, probably with the same bill number.
2. Before January, Healthcare-NOW will seek endorsements from members of Congress from all parties and identify senators to commit to joining together to introduce a companion Senate bill. Healthcare-NOW members are being asked to organize delegations of healthcare, labor and religious leaders to visit their members of Congress before the end of the year.
3. Healthcare-NOW members will seek resolutions or other expressions of support from city councils, unions, churches and community groups. Click here to endorse this effort.
4. Healthcare-NOW will plan new Public Congressional Hearings on the Healthcare Crisis in cities across the country to keep the pressure on our members of Congress. We plan to do 1,000 of these hearings, including one very large one in New Orleans.
5. Healthcare-NOW will organize postcard campaigns and engage in call-in days. Our goal is to organize these on the 6th or 7th of each month to make it easy to remember since we are organizing for H.R. 676.
6. Healthcare-NOW members will create or be involved in thousands of events nationally in the first week of April marking the anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Healthcare for everybody was a major passion of his.
7. Healthcare-NOW will do a teach-in in Washington at a pre-arranged date together with major members of Congress.
8. Healthcare-NOW is becoming a membership organization - $25 for individuals and $50 for organizations. Of course we will not turn anyone away, but we really need your commitment to help us escalate this work. Contribute through our website. Donate NOW or send a check.
9. In addition to the positive message to Support H.R. 676, Healthcare-NOW will challenge any plan proposed by Congress that would add more money to insurance companies’ profits.
10. The Older Women’s League will celebrate Mother’s Day next spring with a campaign for H.R. 676, including Mother’s Day cards, other great materials and lots of media work.

Virtually every candidate who was elected this month had something to say about healthcare. They know that the voters want them to take a stand for healthcare. Here’s an excerpt from the New York Times: “Now, they say, they have to produce to deal with long-festering problems like access to affordable healthcare, loss of manufacturing jobs, and an exit strategy from Iraq. There is a strong populist tinge to this class.”

As Rep. Conyers told the organizers last week in Chicago, “It is a great thing to look back on your life and see the opportunities to make history. It is a wonderful way to live.”

Now is the time.

Marilyn Clement can be reached at info@healthcare-now.org or 800 453-1305