3-30-09, 11:33 am

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Following its successful town hall meeting with Rep. John Conyers in Northampton, MA, last week, PDA is moving south to sponsor a rally in support of the single-payer solution outside the White House Regional Health Forum tomorrow, March 31, in Greensboro, NC.

The rally will begin at 9 a.m. outside the North Carolina A&T Alumni Foundation Event Center, 200 N. Benbow Road, in Greensboro.

The purposes of the rally are to demonstrate to the White House the broad public support (including 59% of doctors) for the single-payer solution to America's healthcare crisis and to make sure that single-payer is given a fair hearing by the Obama administration's healthcare policy task force and by Congress.

“Health costs are now the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in this country and a limiting factor in U.S. business competitiveness,” said Tim Carpenter, PDA's executive director. “Every other developed country in the world has a national healthcare program because, like Medicare here, they cost less in overhead and provide more services. Nevertheless, the U.S. government insists on supporting the for-profit insurance approach to healthcare largely because well financed lobbyists from the private insurance companies exert a great deal of influence. We're determined to break that cycle.”

PDA, along with more than 70 co-sponsors in the House, supports Conyers' HR 676 to create a national single-payer system that would guarantee care for all while reining in the spiraling cost of healthcare in the U.S.

Progressive Democrats of America is one of the nation's fastest-growing grassroots political organizations; it has active chapters in 45 states. PDA is dedicated to reviving the progressive tradition of the Democratic Party through grassroots organizing and working with elected Democrats to advance peace, justice and social, economic and environmental responsibility. More information is available at: .