February, 19 2009, 01:27pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
Obama and Canadian Healthcare
WASHINGTON
President Obama is in Canada today.
CLAUDIA FEGAN
and via Mark Almberg
Co-author of the book "Universal Health Care: What the United States Can Learn from the Canadian Experience,
Fegan is former president of Physicians for a National Health Program.
She said today: "Obama has said that if we were starting over, a
Canadian-style system would be the way to go. Well, we seem to be
revamping a fair amount in the financial sector. We should start over
in the healthcare sector.
"For about half of what the U.S. spends per person on healthcare,
Canada provides coverage to everyone within its borders. Meanwhile, we
in the U.S. have nearly 50 million people without coverage. Our current
healthcare system is damaging the rest of the economy. For example,
healthcare costs are a huge part of what's bringing down the big
automakers."
Physicians for a National Health Program is part of the Leadership
Conference for Guaranteed Health Care, which is holding a congressional
forum on healthcare policy on Feb. 25 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at 2226
Rayburn House Office Building. Contact: Danielle E. Alexander,
danielle@pnhp.org
More Information
A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.
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