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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT: Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) Laura Bonham, PDA Communications Coordinator Laura@pdamerica.org, (435) 336-2123 Tim Carpenter, PDA National Director Tim@pdamerica.org, (413)-320-2015 |
Pennsylvania Next Stop for Improved-Medicare-for-All Advocates
WASHINGTON - April 5 - The regional and national leadership of Progressive Democrats of America will be in Pennsylvania this week for a series of events to support a state improved-Medicare-for-all, single-payer healthcare system.
"The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which recently became law, will not solve the healthcare crisis in this country," said Tim Carpenter, PDA national director. "The Medicare system proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that government can do some things much better than the private sector," Carpenter explained. "Healthcare corporations exist only to deliver profits for their stockholders--they do not actually provide healthcare."
PDA national Field Coordinator Conor Boylan will be join Carpenter for meetings and events in the Keystone state April 8-10. Topics of discussion will include organizing support for HB1660/SB400 Pennsylvania's single-payer healthcare bill.
"We're looking forward to seeing colleagues and old friends, meeting new friends, and together advancing the cause of state improved-Medicare-for-all single-payer," said Boylan.
The trip will start with a "Meet and Greet" in Pittsburgh at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 8, at the Healthcare4AllPA office at 2101 Murray Ave. Carpenter and Boylan will be joined by Dr. Mary-Pat Donegan, Healthcare4AllPA's legislative director, for a discussion of state improved-Medicare-for-all, single-payer healthcare and PDA's Brown Bag Lunch Vigil campaign.
On Friday, April 9, Carpenter and Boylan will be in McConnellsburg for "The Progressive Summit of Central PA" beginning at 6 p.m. in the community room of Community State Bank at 415 Fulton Drive. The event will also feature Chuck Pennacchio, executive director of Healthcare4AllPA.
Then, on Saturday, April 10, all eyes will be on the Central Baptist Church in Wayne for a daylong conference on "Building the Progressive Base to Win." The day will begin at 8 a.m. with a discussion of Medicare-for-all, single-payer plans led by Pennacchio; Carpenter and Boylan will present a national PDA overview and state PDA leaders from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and other states in the regions will report. At 11 a.m., Boylan and Donna Smith, co-chair of PDA's Healthcare NOT Warfare campaign, will lead a panel on Healthcare NOT Warfare that will also include Katie Robbins of Healthcare NOW!, Rev. Robert Moore of the Coalition for Peace Action, Peter Lems of the American Friends Service Committee, and Kathy Black of U.S. Labor Against the War. A 1 p.m. panel on state Medicare-for-all plans will include Pennachio, Smith, Walter Tsou of Healthare4AllPA, Ben Day of Mass Care, Dr. Alan Kenwood of PNHP New Jersey and Kurt Bateman of SPAN Ohio.
"We and the other groups represented will be sharing their successes and future plans," said Carpenter. "It will be an energizing experience for us all on the road to realizing improved-Medicare-for-all, single-payer healthcare in Pennsylvania and the region."
2 Comments so far
Show AllAll the rest of us single-payer supporters will be there with you in spirit!
Also, an immediate/ongoing event of interest. I learned about this from HealthCare-Now. I think it will help develop the broad alliance we need to move economic and social justice issues forward! Please post on your site if you haven't yet. Blessings, Carolyn Caffrey (Beckelhymer)
"The most common way that people give up their power is to think they don't have any." -- Alice Walker
WE STILL HAVE A DREAM!!
For those who consider that recent measures fall far short of providing universal health CARE; for those who are profoundly distressed at the ever-increasing divide between the haves and have-nots in this country, at the landslide of people falling into poverty; for those who wish to continue the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., lifting voices together in support of fundamental human rights and social justice in our country; for those who find the basic tenets of participatory democracy being increasingly threatened by entrenched special interests -- Please support and spread the word about:
MARCH TO FULFILL THE DREAM: A MARCH FROM THE DELTA TO DETROIT
April 4-June 20 http://old.economichumanrights.org/index.shtml
"Join the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign on this historic march and caravan from New Orleans to the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit to demand guaranteed healthcare and housing for everyone in the United States. Rising from the ruins of natural disasters and economic storms, we unite – poor people, homeless people, social workers, activists, artists, musicians, people of faith, students, healthcare workers, lawyers, and more – we rebuild! Help us build the movement to end poverty!”
On April 4th, 2010, Easter Sunday and the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination, poor people and their allies will unite with the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC to advance Dr. King’s dream of ending poverty. The March to Fulfill the Dream will visit dozens of cities between New Orleans and Detroit, the site of the US Social Forum 2010 http://ussf2010.org to highlight the urgent need for affordable housing and healthcare in the United States. Housing, healthcare, and jobs are human rights according to the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, endorsed by the U.S. in 1948. Continuing the legacy of Dr. King’s 1968 Poor People’s Campaign, which was cut short by his assassination, the tour is part of a larger strategy to unite poor people’s groups and their allies from across the country to build a diverse nonviolent movement to end poverty. The PPEHRC caravan will visit many cities, including historic cities from the Civil Rights movement, for which Dr. King became the famous spokesperson. Each stop will include marches, demonstrations, and speak-outs led by poor people from the local cities, dramatizing the plight of today’s swelling numbers of the poor. Among the stops is Marks, Mississippi, where Dr. King launched the original Poor People’s Campaign in 1968 with a march and caravan to the nation’s capital."
The march and caravan will converge with the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit, MI scheduled for June 22-26. Over 20,000 people from the U.S. and abroad will engage in plenaries and leadership development to continue the grassroots movement that Dr. King knew was essential to ensuring fundamental human rights and eradicating poverty and injustice.
There are many ways to support and participate in this march and the forum. Please visit the sites above and share information about these groups and events with others! Again, the main sites for information:
http://old.economichumanrights.org/index.shtml
http://ussf2010.org
Let me get this straight, Massachusetts tried this and failed, the system is bankrupt and the only way to keep it going is to suck more money from the working class and you people keep pushing this full steam ahead?
Can you say Post Office, Social Security, Medicare? All those systems are bankrupt, but Democrats still keep chugging like lemmings off the cliff .... oh no wait, Pelosi, Obama, Reed, Franks et all keep pushing US off the cliff while they enjoy their elite health care plan. ... See More
Am I the only one that sees something wrong with the politicians being exempt from having to participate?