Local group gathers signatures for Single-Payer
The D&C, today, tells us about local activists at the public market yesterday.
As visitors strolled into the market on Saturday, they were greeted with a different sight: about 20 members of Rochester for HR 676, a group that supports Medicare health coverage for everyone, along with members of the Progressive Democrats of America’s Genesee Valley chapter, collecting signatures and informing the public about HR 676, a bill introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich.
[snip]
About a week ago, Congress began work on separate health care reform legislation, hoping to limit costs while expanding coverage. Robin Wilt of the Progressive Democrats group said President Barack Obama once backed the single-payer system but is now supporting a public option that would compete with private insurers.
“There’s no perfect system out there, but I think we can do a better job at reducing costs than we are doing currently,” said Wilt, of Rochester, who estimates there are more than 1,300 privately funded health care plans in the country.
These signatures are to be presented to the Honorable Louise Slaughter, who has been unsupportive of the single payer initiative, thus far. I’m curious as to why this is. Louise is certainly tenured, she has nothing to fear as far as re-election is concerned. Why would she defy her constituents? Last I heard, public support for single payer was somewhere between 60-80%. Does she have some local polls which are showing a different result? What does she know that we don’t know?
Does anyone know??
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The following statement is probably even more relevant today than when it was spoken:
Our failure results from the continued delusion that a market system with competitive supply and demand factors operates in health care delivery. It does not.
— William True, retired hospital CEO, Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel [July 7, 1991]
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[...] us of a Rally, today, heading down to the federal building to deliver all those signatures from this past weekend’s efforts on HR676 to the Honorable Louise Slaughter. Washington Square Park 181 South Clinton Avenue [...]
[...] story about Health Care reformers passing petitions supporting a “Medicare for All” Health Care reform option. Congresswomen Louise Slaughter sent Ladkiddo a letter saying Thanks but no dice. That [...]
We met with the congresswoman’s chief of staff, Patty Larke, Rochester, and then with Congresswoman Slaughter in Washington DC and she said what she’s been saying all along, that she won’t support single payer because there isn’t support for it in the Senate. When we talked to her in DC we reiterated our support for a strong public option that levels the playing field both ways. This is ultimately what the Progressive Caucus went for. No surprises there.
Which public option does she support? Did she define strong?