11-15-06, 12:00 a.m.

“Let’s be realistic; let’s do the impossible.” Che Guevara


“The Time is Now,” said Congressman John Conyers to the Healthcare-NOW national strategy meeting yesterday in Chicago. Conyers and 60 Healthcare-NOW organizers from 16 states joined in thinking about how to push forward for a single-payer national healthcare system in the United States in a marathon 10 hour strategy session. Healthcare-NOW is a bottom up movement organization so the strategies evolved throughout the day came from very few speeches and a lot of discussion. Conyer’s bill H.R. 676 will provide healthcare for everyone in the United States by eliminating the profits of the insurance companies and negotiating drug and other treatment costs. It will be paid for on a sliding scale by all of us together. We will have no bills, co-payments, deductibles, denials, or bankruptcies. And we will be paying less than we are now.

Conyers told the organizers “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.” He spoke of his first decision to run for Congress as a young lawyer. He won by 128 votes! He has been key to many investigations, impeachments, forward-looking and controversial legislation including the Martin Luther King Holiday, and visionary leadership. Now as he becomes the leader of the House Judiciary Committee, he will have jurisdiction over many areas including “bankruptcy.” As we look into the future, bankruptcy hearings will be able to uncover the reasons why 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.

You are part of the 30,000 people on the Healthcare-NOW list, so you probably played a role in electing a “healthier Congress” last Tuesday.* You deserve to have a heads-up on what is coming next. “Now is the Time!” We may never have a better possibility of pushing forward for a national healthcare system than right now during the next few months. If not now, when?

The bill will be reintroduced in January. We will probably have the same bill number, H.R. 676. Before January, we want you to seek endorsement from all of the new Members of Congress, those whom we’ve signed on during the past 18 months and all others – Republicans, Democrats and Independents, Senators and House Members. Get the Senators to commit to join with others in introducing a companion Senate bill. The task for you is to visit your Members of Congress NOW before the end of the year. Take an influential delegation with you – a labor leader, a doctor or nurse, a faith leader and others; Take Healthcare-NOW’s pamphlet with you so the Members will begin to understand the issue and the solution; Get your City Council, your union, your church, your community group, your peace group – all to endorse H.R. 676 and to become members of Healthcare-NOW. See ENDORSE on our website . Plan new Public Congressional Hearings on the Healthcare Crisis in your cities. We debated the name for these hearings, but the idea is to be creative and to keep the pressure on your member of Congress. We plan to do 1,000 of these hearings including one very large one in New Orleans. Get ready to send postcards and engage in call-in days. We might try to organize these on the 6/7th of each month to make it easy to remember since we are organizing for 676. Plan to create or be involved in one of thousands of events on April 4th or that weekend (the 6th and 7th) in your town. That is the anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Healthcare for everybody was a major passion of his. This 40th anniversary will be a day to call attention to his leadership and to assume the responsibility of leadership ourselves. We will do a teach-in in Washington at a pre-arranged date together with major members of Congress. 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. In addition to the positive message “Support H.R. 676,” be sure to challenge any plan that is being proposed by Congress that would add more money to insurance companies’ profits. They make hundreds of billions in profits – It is the biggest factor in denying healthcare for everybody in the United States. We don’t need insurance companies; we just need healthcare. Oppose any Congressional plan that keeps them in control of our healthcare system. Maybe we should have a new slogan or button, “No insurance companies; just health.” The Older Women’s League will be celebrating Mother’s Day next spring with its campaign for H.R. 676. We’ll be able to get their Mother’s Day cards and more of their great materials. We want to do lots of media work. We have a critical message.

Virtually every candidate who was elected 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.”

Be in touch with us for materials, for contacts in your area, to let us know what you are doing, and to participate on the conference calls with the organizers if you are planning to organize a Community Congressional Hearing on Healthcare. Now is the Time.

--Marilyn Clement is the National Coordinator, Healthcare-NOW and can be reached at or 800 453-1305.

Addendum

HR 676 now has 77 congressional co-sponsors in addition to John Conyers. It would institute a single payer health care system in the U.S. by expanding a greatly improved Medicare system to every resident.

HR 676 would cover every person in the U.S. for all necessary medical care including prescription drugs, hospital, surgical, outpatient services, primary and preventive care, emergency services, dental, mental health, home health, physical therapy, rehabilitation (including for substance abuse), vision care, chiropractic and long term care. HR 676 ends deductibles and co-payments. HR 676 would save billions annually by eliminating the high overhead and profits of the private health insurance industry and HMOs.

HR 676 has been endorsed by 205 union organizations including 48 Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations and 15 state AFL-CIO's (KY, PA, CT, OH, DE, ND, WA, SC, WY, VT, FL, WI, WV, SD & NC).

For further information, a complete list of union endorsers, or a sample endorsement resolution, contact: Kay Tillow, All Unions Committee For Single Payer Health Care-HR 676, c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO), 1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218, Louisville, KY 40217 or (502) 636 1551, (502) 459-3393, e-mail: