Kucinich’s amendment to allow individual states to adopt a single payer system, in liu of a national plan, has been stripped out of the current floor bill.  Yesterday, Kucinich introduced a letter to have this amendment reinstated.

“Like many other important reforms included in the underlying bill, the Kucinich amendment is the object of attack by the insurance industry,” Kucinich wrote in a letter. “Unlike other reform measures, Leadership has chosen to strip the Kucinich amendment of the protection it deserves.”

Kucinich’s provision, which would allow states to set up single-payer health care systems modeled after Medicare, passed the House Education and Labor Committee in July, but was stripped out by Democratic leaders as they pieced together their final bill from the various committee proposals. Kucinich concedes that the provision represents “incremental reform.” “But,” he adds, “it allows the country to move incrementally in the direction that is needed.”

If Education and Labor Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) is right about there being no floor amendments, this plea could be Kucinich’s last shot.

Update (4:46 p.m.): Democratic Reps John Conyers (Mich.), Eric Massa (N.Y.), Neil Abercrombie (Hawaii), Janice Schakowsky (Ill.), Lynn Woolsey (Calif.) and Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.) have also signed the letter

How can removing this amendment be anything but a buy-out of our congress by the big insurance companies and big pharma?  The majority of our health care providers and workers favors a single-payer system, along with the majority of the American people.  I know that big insurance and big pharma realize that it is only a matter of time before single payer is a reality and they’re fighting tooth and nail to keep their “profit over people” philosphy in place for just as long as they can.  Remember the Tobacco Industry?  Insurance and Pharma are very powerful, but sooner, or later they will go down.  Let’s help to make it sooner.

Kudos to Eric for signing on (I would expect nothing less- he’s a congressman with a set, and then some).  I wonder where Alan Grayson is?

Related posts:

1. Massa and Kucinich, men of principles and integrity
2. I know it, you know it, Eric Massa knows it, why doesn’t the Senate know it?
3. Eric Massa in a quandary.
4. Rerun: Baucus says “NO” to Single-Payer
5. Elmira Star Gazette guest essay, HR 676