Seven Months To Single Payer Success Lobbying: Making It Happen In Pennsylvania

 Talking Points      Important Facts      Who To Talk To      Literature

We stepped up the pace for 12 days in December, making the case in the General Assembly for single payer universal health care.  We spoke with all 203 Members and emerged convinced that success is within our grasp.  It is clear to us that a Pennsylvania healthcare policy revolution is possible in just seven months.  We'd love to have you at our sides as we drive to the finish line.  Let us know if you can join us in winning single payer universal health care for all of us.

Five Ways To Win

1)  Visit HealthCare4allPA.org to learn more and share it with others.

2)  Lobby your State Legislators using the talking points below.

3)  Write letters to the editor, using the talking points below.

4)  Donate $10, $25, $50 – whatever you can – to our volunteer, citizen-centered education
     and lobbying effort.

5)  Circulate a petition and return it to us.

Talking Points

1.4 million Pennsylvanians have no health insurance. Millions more are underinsured. Untold thousands more think they have good coverage until the corporate-run insurance company rejects their claim based on technicalities, "pre-existing" conditions—or denies life-saving procedures arbitrarily defined as "experimental."

We are left with a system that delivers reduced preventive care; delayed treatment; difficulty seeing specialists; costly co-pays & deductibles, and caps on treatment costs.

Single-payer universal healthcare replaces the "Medical-Industrial-Complex" of corrupt insurance companies and their allies with a simple plan using existing State and Federal funds, a 3% earnings tax and a 10% business payroll tax (a huge savings for most individuals and employers). The outcome would be an improved Medicare-For-All system of publicly-funded, privately-provided universal healthcare.

Once Pennsylvania demonstrates to the nation what 87 countries have already discovered, single-payer universal healthcare will become national policy along the lines of Congressman John Conyers' HR 676. Congressman Conyers made this point precisely when he came to Pennsylvania in April to endorse the "Family and Business Healthcare Security Act."

Over 100 Pennsylvania State Legislators have had discussions with Health Care for All Pennsylvania, and nearly half of them have signed up as co-sponsors.

As the only statewide single-payer campaign in the nation with bills before the House and the Senate, as well as the commitment of our Governor to sign the legislation upon reaching his desk, Pennsylvania is stands to lead the nation out of this crisis, much as we did in 1776.

Consider These Facts

  Administrative costs for greedy insurance companies exceed 30% of the cost of healthcare
   compared to just 3% for Medicare. (This step would save Pennsylvania taxpayers 6-7 billion
   dollars.)

  The U.S. already spends double what most industrialized countries spend per person on
   healthcare.

  18,000 Americans die annually from being uninsured.

  Thousands of the insured die from services denied or delayed by insurance companies.

  Life expectancy in the U.S. is among the shortest in the industrialized world.

  Infant mortality rate in the U.S. is the highest in the industrialized world. Only Latvia is worse.

  We pay far more per person than any other country.

  Approximately 50% of personal bankruptcies in the U.S. relate directly to medical bills.

Who To Talk To

The members of the House Health & Human Services Committee (below) are instrumental in moving health care legislation through to passage.  Each one needs to know how important the Family And Business Health Care Security Act  (HB1660 and sb400) is to voting Pennsylvanians.  Some members (see our list here) already support this legislation.  Others are considering lesser alternatives that address only a fraction of Pennsylvania's needs. 

You can make a difference: contact your representative and let them know you care about sane health care reform.  Don't know who your representatives are?  Click here to find them with your zip code.  Otherwise, click on the names below to see their contact information.  
 

Majority (Room 34E EW)	Minority (Room 108 ROB)
Oliver, Frank Louis, Chairman Seip, Tim, Secretary Myers, John, Subcommittee Chairman on Human Services Pashinski, Eddie Day, Subcommittee Chairman on Drugs and Alcohol Wheatley, Jake, Subcommittee Chairman on Health	Kenney, Jr.,George T., Chairman Benninghoff, Kerry A., Subcommittee Chairman on Human Services Reichley, Douglas G. , Subcommittee Chairman on Health Sonney, Curtis G., Subcommittee Chairman on Drugs and Alcohol
Bishop, Louise Williams Cruz, Angel Curry, Lawrence H. Kirkland, Thaddeus Manderino, Kathy McIlvaine Smith, Barbara Mundy, Phyllis Payton, Jr.,Tony J. Shimkus, Frank Andrews Smith, Ken Waters, Ronald G.	Cutler, Bryan Gingrich, Mauree Kauffman, Rob W. Mackereth, Beverly McIlhattan, Fred Ross, Chris Taylor, John True, Katie Watson, Katharine M.

YOU MAKE THE DIFFERENCE

Please act now and spread the word. Remember, we have the economic (savings, efficiency, competitiveness), moral (lives saved and enhanced), and democratic (65% of citizens want it!) high grounds on our side. Now we need to put our citizen power to work and demand single-payer universal healthcare now!


Best,

Chuck Pennacchio
Executive Director
Health Care for All Pennsylvania
 

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