Thousands of Pennsylvania
Citizens Declare: "Healthcare, Yes; Health Insurance, No"
In an unprecedented show of citizen unity across the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, physicians, nurses, medical students,
business owners, union members, religious leaders, and
legislators demanded an end to profit-first Health Insurance Company
rip-offs of thirty (30) cents on every healthcare dollar, and a new
beginning with patient-first Single Payer [publicly-funded,
privately-provided] efficiency of three (3) cents overhead -- while
guaranteeing quality, comprehensive, affordable, healthcare for all. Such
a proposal is embodied in PA House Bill 1660 and Senate Bill 330, and
Congressional House Resolution 676.
"We citizens of Pennsylvania declare an end to the
profit-first Health Insurance Company CEOs and underwriters who literally
highjack healthcare from patients and providers, leave 40% of us uninsured
or underinsured, and 98% us vulnerable to bankruptcy in cases of medical
catastrophe," said Chuck Pennacchio, Executive Director of Healthcare for
All Pennsylvania.
"In stark contrast to the profit-first Health Insurer
rip-offs and service denials," added Pennacchio, "we Pennsylvanians --
gathered at this hour in five cities across our great Commonwealth -- call
for immediate adoption of Single Payer Universal Healthcare legislation in
Harrisburg and Washington, DC. House Bill 1660 and Senate Bill 300, known
as the 'Family and Business Healthcare Security Act,' is ready for passage
in Harrisburg, whereupon Governor Rendell has publicly, and
repeatedly, promised he will sign it into law. Pennsylvania's great
success will then serve as the Single Payer model that our nation has
hungered for ever since President Franklin Roosevelt called for [in 1944],
and Harry Truman concretely proposed [in 1945], a national
healthcare policy for all -- through a system of public funding and
private delivery. Congressman John Conyers' HR 676 represents the
soon-to-be-realized vision of FDR and Harry Truman."
Patty Eakin, Temple University Hospital emergency room
nurse, said the campaign for Single Payer "is all in honor of the
thousands who have died, and those who are very ill, because they couldn't
access or afford health insurance." Eakin added, "I see a lot of
suffering, needlessly, because people don't have good preventive care, or
any care. That's why I declare -- that's why all of us declare --
healthcare, yes; health insurance no!"
