April, 13 2009, 11:51am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Mike Hersh, PDA Communications Director,mike@pdamerica.org,Alan Minksy, PDA Executive Director:,alan@pdamerica.org
Week of Action for Healthcare Reform
WASHINGTON
PDA activists from Northampton, MA, to Santa
Barbara, CA, are preparing events for the upcoming "HR 676 Week of
Action," April 18-25, and PDA's leadership will take to the road in
support of Rep. John Conyers' single-payer healthcare legislation.
"PDA
remains committed to the single-payer solution, and we will continue to
push for it inside and outside the beltway," said Tim Carpenter, PDA's
executive director.
The week will kick off in Phoenix, AZ, on Saturday, April 18, with a healthcare town hall featuring Carpenter and representatives of allied organizations and elected officials. The same day, the Heartland Healthcare for All Forum will be held in Kansas City, MO.
On Sunday, April 19, Missourians for Single Payer will present Rep. Ed Massa speaking on "Washington's Hidden Treasure: The Single-Payer Bill, HR 676" in St. Louis.
Monday,
April 20, will see the first of four "Healthcare NOT Warfare" events in
California, leading up to that state's annual Democratic Party
convention starting April 25. The Monday event will feature Carpenter
and PDA California leader Dr. Bill Honigman at a town hall in Corona.
On Tuesday, April 21, Carpenter, Honigman and representatives of allied organizations will be featured at a Healthcare NOT Warfare rally
in Orange County. On Wednesday, April 22, the action will shift to
Santa Monica, where Carpenter will be joined by PDA Board Chair Mimi
Kennedy and board members Tom Hayden and Norman Solomon for a Healthcare NOT Warfare forum.
On Thursday, April 23, Carpenter, Kennedy, Solomon and Honigman will be featured at a forum in Santa Barbara. Also that day, in Toledo, Ohio, Dr. Oliver Fein, president of Physicians for a National Health Program, will speak on the issue at the University of Toledo.
On Friday, April 24, the action will shift to Massachusetts, for rallies in support of single-payer healthcare in Greenfield and Pittsfield, followed by a rally in Northampton on Saturday, April 25. Also on April 25, Dr. Fein will speak at SPAN Ohio's annual conference.
Carpenter
notes that experience in other countries has shown that single-payer is
the only system that can provide universal coverage while lowering
costs, and it would create an estimated 2.6 million jobs in healthcare
and related industries in the U.S.
Other
reform plans under consideration in Congress and the Obama
administration are basically expansions of the current system of
private health insurance, Carpenter said, "but healthcare corporations
exist to make profits for their shareholders, not to provide
healthcare. As long as they are part of the equation, real reform will
elude us."
Progressive Democrats of America was founded in 2004 to transform the Democratic Party and U.S. politics by working inside and outside of the party by working to elect empowered progressives and by building the progressive movement in solidarity with with peace, justice, civil rights, environmental, and other reform efforts. For more information about PDA, please see PDAmerica.org.
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