Here is information for the National Call-in Day on Thursday Jan. 15, 2009 in support of national single payer health care.

In NY, in addition to contacting your local Congressmember and Senator Schumer, we are placing calls to Cong. Charles Rangel to urge him, as Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, to have his committee hold a hearing on the fiscal impact of a single payer health care program. At the end is a letter that Hunger Action just sent him requesting such a hearing. If you want to fax a similar letter to him, his fax number is 212 663-4277. His office number is 212 663-3900.

Here is a sample message to Cong. Rangel:

Hi, my name is ----------------. I am calling to thank Congressman Rangel for his support of HR676, John
Conyers’ National Health Insurance Act. Rep. Conyers already reintroduced HR676 and I want to reaffirm my support for HR676, single payer healthcare legislation and ask Congressman Rangel to do the same
by signing on again as a co-sponsor working for true reform of this terrible healthcare system. I also want to ask that Congressman Rangel, as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, hold official congressional
hearings on HR 676 and the huge economic impact of the reform.

For more info, see www.singlepayernewyork.org

Congressional Switchboard: (202-224-3121).

To find your Congressional rep by zip code, go to writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

Dear Single-Payer supporters:

The Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Healthcare – National Single Payer Coalition Steering Committee is gearing up for the second national call-in day to Congress on Thursday, January 15, 2009. Looking back, thank you to everyone who made the December 22nd call-in day a huge success. By 11am that day, Senator Kennedy's office reported to have already received over 1000 phone calls! Many congressional offices across the country were flooded with the message to support HR 676 and stop Massachusetts style health care reform from being used as a national model.


Here's is how to escalate our efforts for the call-in action on January 15th:


The second Call-In Day on January 15th will target the Washington DC offices. Included in this email is a draft script for the call-in.

HR 676 has been reintroduced to Congress, so we are guaranteed to continue our work supporting the same bill number in the House. There are 86 cosponsors of HR 676 from the 110th Congress who have been sworn into the 111th session. This number will quickly grow because of the extensive lobby efforts already in motion. Our goal is to make sure elected officials hear from their constituents to again cosponsor HR 676 and help to effectively double the number of cosponsors in the House.
We ask that you urge your Congress member to attend the briefing on HR 676 that will be held on January 28th from 12-2pm in Room 2237 of the Rayburn building. The briefing will allow elected officials to learn about the economic impact a single-payer system will have in an economic recovery package. In August of 2005, The National Coalition on Health Care found in a fiscal analysis of health care reform that "the single payer model would reduce costs by over $1.1 trillion over the next decade while providing comprehensive benefits to all Americans." Single-payer is the only reform proposal that can claim cost savings and comprehensive health care for all.

The second platform for the call-in day is to urge federal Senators to sponsor companion legislation to HR 676 in the Senate. This is a critical effort to compete with inadequate reforms currently proposed for Senate discussion.

Keeping calls brief and to the point is best. It makes your members more willing to make calls, and makes it easier for Congressional staff to log in your message.

You may also wish to give your members contact information for one of your group's "experts" on HR676, just in case the Congressional office wants more information. Or give them Rep. Conyers' contact information, or Healthcare-NOW!'s information.

Please do keep track of your group's outreach efforts – especially reactions to the calls that your members may note. All of this information is critical as we track the support in Congress for HR 676. Please report back about the Call-In day to Healthcare-NOW! www.healthcare-now.org/campaigns/call/

Healthcare-NOW! will be sending an email to remind everyone of the call-in day on Thursday, January 15th. This email should be forwarded widely or you can send your own customized email to your list.

How to contact your representative: You can find your representative's contact information at www.votesmart.org. We recommend calling and/or faxing on this day to get your message through. If possible, request to speak to the Chief of Staff or Health Care Aid, rather than leaving the message with whomever answers the phone. If calling or faxing is not possible, you can also contact your members of Congress by email.

Draft scripts are below (activists should tweak the call scripts as appropriate for their individual groups). It should also be noted that a high volume of calls have been getting through to Congress, so some activists suggested shortening the script as the call-in day progresses.

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HR676 Co-sponsor call: Hi, my name is ----------------. I am calling to thank Representative ___________________ for his/her support of HR676, John Conyers' National Health Insurance Act. Rep. Conyers already reintroduced HR676 and I want to reaffirm my support for HR676, single payer healthcare legislation and ask Rep. ____________________ to do the same by signing on again as a co-sponsor working for true reform of this terrible healthcare system. l also request that the Congress person, or a staff member, attend a briefing about HR 676 and its economic impact on January 28th in Room 2237 of the Rayburn building. With cost-savings estimated at $1.1 trillion dollars over ten years, plus guaranteed health coverage for every American, single-payer national health insurance must be part of our economic recovery plan. If you have any questions about single payer or about me, please call me at __________________. Thank you.

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Non-co-sponsors call: Hi, my name is ----------------. I am calling to urge Representative ___________________ to support of HR676, John Conyers' National Health Insurance Act. Rep. Conyers already reintroduced HR676 and I want to reaffirm my support for HR676, single payer healthcare legislation and ask Rep. ____________________ to do the same by signing on as a co-sponsor and working for true reform of this terrible healthcare system. I request that you attend a special brieifing about HR 676 and its economic impact on January 28th in Room 2237 of the Rayburn building. With cost-savings estimated at $1.1 trillion dollars over ten years, and guaranteed coverage for every American, single payer national health insurance must be part of our economic recovery. If you have any questions about single payer or about me, please call me at __________________. Thank you.


Message to your federal Senator: Hi, my name is ----------------. I am calling to urge Senator ____________ to sponsor companion legislation in the Senate to HR 676, the National Health Insurance Act, that will implement a national single-payer health care system in the United States. The current health care legislation posed for discussion in the Senate is using the failed Massachusetts reform as a model for the nation. The reform in Massachusetts is leaving thousands uninsured and is far too expensive to be sustained because it leaves profit in the middle of our health care system. In the most recent election, local ballot initiatives supporting single payer and opposing individual mandates passed by landslide margins in all ten legislative districts where they appeared. With almost all precincts tallied, roughly 73 percent of 181,000 voters in the ten districts voted YES in support of a single-payer system. Say no to Massachusetts style health care, and yes to single payer health care as proposed in HR 676. If you have any questions about single payer or about me, please call me at __________________. Thank you.

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January 14, 2008
Congressmember Charles Rangel
2354 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington DC 20515

Dear Congressman Rangel:

We are writing to thank you for your continued support and sponsorship of HR 676, the single payer health care bill. We hope that you will use your position as Chairperson of the House Ways and Means Committee to convene an official hearing on the fiscal impact that a national single payer health care for all program could have both on the state budget and the nation’s economy. Since President-elect Obama has promised to make health care reform one of his short term priorities, we ask that you convene such a hearing in the next few months.

Hunger Action Network is a statewide membership organization of emergency food programs, faith groups, low-income individuals and advocates working to end hunger in our state. We have offices in both NYC and Albany. High health care bills is one of the major reasons driving more than 2 million NYers annually to utilize emergency food programs.

America deserve the health benefits offered to the people of every other country in the industrialized world—all medically necessary care and freedom from the fear of economic ruin due to illness. Single payer is the one proposal that guarantees quality, affordable health care to every American. This would also be a great benefit to our economy in of time of crisis, helping to control costs for taxpayers, consumers and employers. The New England Journal of Medicine believes the single payer approach would save as much as $350 billion a year in costs. The U. S. spends 16% of gross domestic product (GDP) on health care ($7,129 per capita), twice what any other industrialized nation spends, yet ranks 37th in performance according to the World Health Organization.

A recent national survey by Indiana University of 2,193 doctors found almost 60% in favor of national health insurance (NHI) -- a 10 percent increase in support since 2002. A March 2007 poll by CBS/ NY Times found that 64 percent of the respondents said the government should guarantee health insurance for all.

America’s health care system is in deep trouble. Nearly 50 million Americans are currently without health insurance, more than 75 million went without insurance for some length of time within the past two years, and tens of millions more have inadequate coverage. More than 18,000 Americans die annually due to a lack of insurance. A 2008 study in the journal Health Affairs concluded that as many as 101,000 deaths a year could be prevented by ensuring that all patients receive quality care in a timely manner. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. noted that “of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”

We look forward to the Ways and Means Committee holding a hearing on HR 676.

Sincerely,

Mark A. Dunlea, Esq.
Executive Director

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First-of-Its Kind Study: Single-Payer Reform Would Be Major Stimulus for Economy
January 14, 2009 by HC-N!
Filed under Single-Payer News
2.6 Million New Jobs, $317 Billion in Business Revenue, $100 Billion in Wages

Establishing a national single-payer style healthcare reform system would provide a major stimulus for the U.S. economy by creating 2.6 million new jobs, and infusing $317 billion in new business and public revenues, with another $100 billion in wages into the U.S. economy, according to the findings of a groundbreaking study released today. It may be viewed at www.CalNurses.org.

The number of jobs created by a single-payer system, expanding and upgrading Medicare to cover everyone, parallels almost exactly the total job loss in 2008.

“These dramatic new findings document for the first time that a single-payer system could not only solve our healthcare crisis, but also substantially contribute to putting America back to work and assisting the economic recovery,” said Geri Jenkins, RN, co-president of the National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association, which sponsored the study.

“Through direct and supplemental expenditures, healthcare is already a uniquely dominant force in the U.S. economy,” said Don DeMoro, lead author of the study and director of the Institute for Health and Socio-Economic Policy, the NNOC/CNA research arm.

“However, so much more is possible. If we were to expand our present Medicare system to cover all Americans, the economic stimulus alone would create an immense engine that would help drive our national economy for decades to come,” DeMoro said.

Expanding Medicare to include the uninsured, and these on Medicaid or employer-sponsored health plans, and expanding coverage for those with limited Medicare, would have the following immediate impacts:

Create 2,613,495 million new permanent good-paying jobs (slightly exceeding the number of jobs lost in 2008)
Boost the economy with $317 billion in increased business and public revenues
Add $100 billion in employee compensation
Infuse public budgets with $44 billion in new tax revenues
Further, moving to the new system comes with an unexpectedly low price tag, given the economic benefits and the far-reaching consequences of genuine healthcare reform, DeMoro noted.

Healthcare for all far less than the Wall Street bailouts

Adding all Americans to an expanded Medicare could be achieved for $63 billion beyond the current $2.1 trillion in direct healthcare spending. The $63 billion is six times less than the federal bailout for CitiGroup, and less than half the federal bailout for AIG. Solely expanding Medicare to cover the 47 million uninsured Americans (as of 2006 data on which the study is based) could be accomplished for $44 billion.

The IHSP projections build from an econometric model of the current face of healthcare – applying economic analysis to a wide array of publicly available data from Medicare, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and other sources.

It is the first known study to provide an econometric analysis of the economic benefits of healthcare to the overall economy, showing how changes in direct healthcare delivery affect all other significant sectors touched by healthcare, and how sweeping healthcare reform can help drive the nation’s economic recovery.

Healthcare presently accounts for $2.105 trillion in direct expenditures. But healthcare spreads far beyond doctor’s offices and hospitals. Adding in healthcare business purchases of services or supplies and spending by workers, the total impact of healthcare in the economy mushrooms to nearly $6 trillion.

Overall, every direct healthcare dollar creates nearly three additional dollars in the U.S. economy. In current form, healthcare:

Generates 45 million jobs, directly and in other industries.
Accounts for 10.5 percent of all U.S. jobs and 12.1 percent of all U.S. wages.
Totals 9.2 percent of the nation’s Gross National Product.
Contributes about 25 percent of all federal tax revenues. Federal, state, and local taxes from the healthcare sector in 2006 added up to $824 billion.
All those numbers would rise dramatically through comprehensive healthcare reform. But a single-payer system would produce the biggest increase in jobs and wages. The reason, DeMoro said, is that “the broadest economic benefits directly accrue from the actual delivery and provision of healthcare, not the purchase of insurance.”

Medicare for all has numerous other benefits, of course, noted Jenkins, from a streamlined system with tens of billions less in private insurance administrative waste, guaranteed choice of physician and hospital, no loss of coverage when unemployed, and no one denied coverage due to age or health status.

“Only a single-payer, expanded Medicare-for-all approach ends the current disgraceful practice of insurance companies refusing to pay for medical treatment or engaging in rampant price gouging that discourages patients from going to the doctor, seeing specialists, or getting diagnostic procedures in a timely manner,” said Jenkins.