The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Chuck Idelson, 415-559-8991 or Shum Preston, 415-412-0825

Nation's RN Union Responds to Daschle Appointment

OAKLAND, Calif.

Geri Jenkins, RN, co-President of the nation's largest union of registered nurses (California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee) today issued the following statement in response to President-elect Obama's appointment today of Tom Daschle as Secretary of Health and Human Services:

"We welcome the invitation of the incoming administration for public comment on health care reform. Nurses know that the public is demanding genuine change in the face of this terrible crisis, and a national guarantee of healthcare for every American.

"The only way to end this national disgrace and fulfill the yearning of all Americans for a more humane health care system is establish a national, single-payer system, such as an expanded and improved 'Medicare for All.' We cannot reform the healthcare system while leaving the insurance companies in control of our health. The national nurses movement and the nation's healthcare reform movement will continue to support HR 676, John Conyers' bill to create an American guaranteed healthcare system."

National Nurses United, with close to 185,000 members in every state, is the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in US history.

(240) 235-2000