There are people who are already organizing local hearings in hundreds of cities. If you're in their city, email them. Check the Events page to find your city with names and email address.  We hope to organize hundreds more hearings over the next three years as we bring our Congress Members home to hear from us.

New York City Republican Convention Rally & Conference

THE FOLLOWING IS A MODEL FOR ORGANIZING A CITIZEN/CONGRESSIONAL HEARING:

Subject: Publicity, Turnout, Speak out for 10/21

Many thanks to all you wonderful hardworking folks and organizations working on and sponsoring and supporting the October 21 Health Care Public Hearing before US Rep. John Olver.

Will you take a few important steps for the hearing?

Will you emphasize turning out your members, friends, and relatives for this event?

Will you post and circulate the attached flyer?

Will your organization send out a press release for the event in its own name?

I have just done so by email for the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 46. It is attached, with the header showing our media list, and can serve as a template for you. (Please let me know any improvements you make to either the media list or the release. Thanks!)

Also, we will have a limited number for slots for community folks to make brief (1 minute) statements to Rep. Olver. If someone in your group has a compelling issue to speak-out about concerning Health Care Quality, Access, or Affordability, they may pre-register their request to speak as follows:

1. EMAIL a "REQUEST TO SPEAK OUT" to Joan Rabin at mailto:jrabin@external.umass.edu. Include: Name, Mailing Address, Telephone Number, Email Address, and a brief summary of your Health Care Concern or Problem.
2. Please arrive no later than 1 PM for your Request to be considered. Check-in at the SPEAK OUT table in the lobby to confirm your attendance at the hearing. People who don't get a chance to speak will be able towrite a statement to Rep. Olver.

Interest in the "Medicare for All" single-payer solution to the health care crisis is growing across the U.S. The October 21 hearing is our Western Mass contribution to this movement. See you there?  JON

OUTREACH FOR CITIZEN HEARING IN MT. HOLYOKE, OCT 21ST:

To: 'Berkshire MassCare'; 'Social Workers for Peace & Justice'; 'Arise for Social Justice'; 'Benjamin Swan'; 'Mass Public Health Assn'; 'Community Education Project'; 'Community Health Center of Franklin County'; 'Class Action'; 'Mass-Care'; 'League of Women Voters of Amherst'; 'Rep. Olver';'FHHCC'; 'Hampshire/Franklin CLC'; 'Mass Senior Action Council'; 'MSP'; 'NALC 46'; 'Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts'; 'Physicians for a National Health Program'; 'Highland Valley Elder Services'; 'Rand Wilson'; 'MNA Region 1'; 'Social Thought & Political Economy'; 'Connecticut Valley Coalition for Women's Lives'; 'Pioneer Valley CLC'; 'WMass Jobs With

Justice'; 'League of Women Voters of Northampton Area'; Rep. Ellen Story

Cc: WMass Single Payer Network

Your friendly Letter Carriers are co-sponsoring a health care public hearing on October 21.  Their union, the National Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 46, is joining with the Western Massachusetts Single Payer Network, Congressman John Olver, Holyoke Community College, and dozens of other organizations.  The hearing takes place Saturday, October 21, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., in the Forum Auditorium at Holyoke Community College, 303 Homestead Ave (Route 202), Holyoke, MA.

Western Massachusetts Congressman John Olver will chair the hearing and former Northampton Mayor Mary Ford will moderate.  The hearing is about a national health care bill, the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act.

The Medicare for All Act is currently before the U.S. House of Representatives as HR 676 and would provide for a universal single-payer health care system—Medicare—for all Americans.  It is sponsored by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan and 75 co-sponsors.

According to Ford, “In a number of studies done in individual states, as well as by the Institute of Medicine, the single-insurance-card, single-payer approach to health care reform is the only plan that provides for affordable access to health care for all Americans while also saving money as a result of administrative streamlining.”

The National Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 46, is co-sponsoring this hearing because its parent union, The National Association of Letter Carriers, has endorsed HR 676, and, as Branch 46 President Jon Weissman said, “The hearing will be a unique opportunity for our members to air their concerns to lawmakers who have the ability to support meaningful health care reform legislation.”

Panels of experts will also address the issues of health care quality, access, and affordability.  Printed materials and a variety of health care reform resources will be made available during the day.  The event is free and open to the public and handicap accessible.  For more information about the hearing contact: Jon Weissman, (413) 737-0640, wmspn@wmjwj.org.

The Hearing’s Sponsors, as of October 9, are:  U.S. Representative John Olver; Western Massachusetts Single Payer Network; Holyoke Community College; Massachusetts Representative Ellen Story; Massachusetts Representative Ben Swan; Arise for Social Justice; Berkshire MassCare/PNHP; Class Action; Community Education Project; Community Health Center of Franklin County/Desmond Callan Community Health Center; Connecticut Valley Coalition for Women's Lives; Franklin/Hampshire Health Care Coalition; Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts; Hampshire/Franklin AFL-CIO; Highland Valley Elder Services; League of Women Voters (Amherst); League of Women Voters (Northampton Area); Mass-Care: the Massachusetts Campaign for Single-Payer Health Care; Massachusetts Ballot Freedom Campaign; Massachusetts Nurses Association (Region 1); Massachusetts Public Health Association (Western Massachusetts); Massachusetts Senior Action Council; Massachusetts Society of Professors (MTA); National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 46; Physicians for a National Health Program (Western Massachusetts); Pioneer Valley AFL-CIO; Pride at Work; Progressive Democrats of America; Social Action Committee of the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence; Social Thought & Political Economy Program (UMass Amherst); Social Workers for Peace and Justice; Vermont Citizens Campaign for Health; Western Massachusetts Jobs with Justice; Wilson for Working Families.

As of October 9, the Western Massachusetts Single Payer Network is Franklin/Hampshire Health Care Coalition; League of Women Voters (Amherst); Massachusetts Nurses

Association (Region 1); Massachusetts Public Health Association; Physicians for a National Health Plan (Western Massachusetts); Social Workers for Peace and Justice; and Western Massachusetts Jobs with Justice. 

The National Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 46, represents U.S. Postal Service Letter Carriers at the Agawam, Amherst, Athol, Chicopee, East Longmeadow, Easthampton, Greenfield, Holyoke, Monson, Northfield, Orange, Palmer, Shelburne Falls, South Deerfield, South Hadley, Springfield, Ware, Westfield, and Wilbraham post offices.

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ALIQUIPPA HEARING

Want to know what Canadians think of their Single Payer System? read Jim Stewart’s testimony. (It is particularly powerful) from the Aliquippa Citizen/Congressional Hearing 2005
http://www.usw.org/usw/program/content/1736.php

Submitted from:
Janet Hill
United Steelworkers Union
Corporate Research
Five Gateway Center
Pittsburgh PA 15222

 

SEATTLE Citizens Healthcare Working Group EVENT

Sent in by Carolyn Apel, after holding a CCH in Seattle:
Our Citizens Health Care Working Group event at Seattle Center on February 25 was a success thanks to all of you who came! And a big thank you to Congressman Jim McDermott who came and spoke out. The room was packed and we sent a loud, clear message to our federal legislators that we want single payer universal health care reform. Everybody in, Nobody out!!!!

A few words from Congressman Jim McDermott who spoke at the event…“Does anyone here doubt that America faces a national health care crisis? It’s your job to develop and submit recommendations to Congress. I hope you start with a giant wake-up call. I’m a medical doctor.

Universal health care was my top priority when I first went to Congress in 1989. It still is. Too often, a discussion about providing affordable health care in America revolves around what we have to lose. I believe the real issue is what we have to gain by covering every American with a national health insurance program.

Ten years ago, we spent $900 billion on health care in America; today it is nearly twice that amount. 46 million Americans have no health care coverage at all. And, we have no way of knowing how many Americans are under-insured or barely hanging on to the coverage they have… As a medical doctor I know that listening to the patient is key to curing the patient. If we listen to America,we can cure America’s health care crisis. The prescription is we, not me. The longer we postpone treatment, the worse it will be for the American people. There’s no reason to wait and no time to waste.

Send an urgent message to Congress: Solve the problem - NOW. Thank you. ”

A linked listing of past Citizen/ Congressional Hearings:

Healthcare-NOW! Coalitions Celebrate National Healthcare Action Day Across the U.S. on June 7, 2006 All across the country, in about 30 cities, Healthcare-NOW! and HR 676 supporters celebrated National Healthcare Action Day on June 7, 2006 by holding a windfall of almost 90 events, including congressional hearings, rallies in front of insurance companies, discussion forums, bannering, media appearances. Pictured to the right: Mayor Perkins, Sabrina Marie Wilson (the Healthcare-NOW organizer and CEO of HEART in Birmingham) and Congressman John Conyers from Detroit at Citizen/Congressional Hearing.  Citizens in Alabama have held four hearings this year.

Citizens Testify at Citizen/Congressional Healthcare Hearing at Riverside Church, New York City May 14, 2006: "As insurance companies make billions in profits, I’ve seen, for example, a man lose his leg because he couldn’t afford antibiotics to treat his foot ulcer, and small children get inadequate care because their parents were not insured." - Dr. Jaime R. Torres

At a Birmingham, Alabama Local Hearing!

Citizens Testify at Citizen/Congressional Healthcare Hearing in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania: Congressman Dennis Kucinich chaired a public hearing on health care in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania which had been organized by a coalition of community groups and the Campaign for a National Health Program Now on May 21, 2005

Los Angeles, CA March 5, 2006 : A federal commission listens as 500 people share their views on coverage for all Americans and how to pay for it.

Public Hearing for HR 676 Faneuil Hall, Boston, MA September 1st, 2005: A diverse group of seniors, workers, caregivers, immigrants, women, people of color, the uninsured and elected officials testified in support of HR 676.

Louisville, KY: June 10, 2006 From the Kentucky Citizen/Congressional Hearing: "The crisis is rooted in the current for-profit financing of health care. There is a solution. It is comprehensive reform based on non-profit, public financing with private delivery of health services." --Garrett Adams, MD, MPH, Hearing Moderator

Boston, MA Faneuil Hall, September 1st, 2005
A diverse group of seniors, workers, caregivers, immigrants, women, people of color, the uninsured, and elected officials testified in support of HR 676.

 

June 7th 2006 - 676 Success !
Healthcare-NOW! Coalitions Celebrate National Healthcare Action Day Across the U.S.!

MEMO TO ALL: The Time is Right and It's right NOW.

All across the country, Healthcare-NOW! and HR 676 supporters celebrated National Healthcare Action Day on June 7, 2006 by holding a windfall of almost 90 events, including congressional hearings, rallies in front of insurance companies, discussion forums, bannering, media appearances and the premiere of “Don’t Be a Chicken,” our new animated feature to educate everyone about HR 676. Others showed “Damaged Care,”and “The Prom,” held forums in churches, campaigned to get more endorsers for HR 676, and got City Councils, Counties States, and International Unions nationwide to endorse resolutions. Here’s a brief rundown of events from across thecountry:

• Montgomery, AL: Hearing held at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, the same spot where the Montgomery Bus Boycott was launched 50 years ago.
  
• Washington, DC: A new Single Payer Caucus formed in Congress, led by Rep. John Conyers. Future hearings and Congressional revelations about healthcare denials in local districts are being planned.
  
• Newark, DE: over 100 people gathered at Rodney Square, with Green Party Candidate speaking. Newark also organized a resolution at the state level in favor of HR 676.
  
• Gainesville, FL: Demonstration at BlueCrossBlueShield offices in Gainesville, FL: showing of “Damaged Care and “Don’t be a Chicken.”
  See It Now.
  
• Atlanta, GA: People’s Congress held at the First Iconium Baptist Church and a press Conference held at Georgia state Capitol building held, with a story on Atlanta’s CBS affiliate Channel 46. Congressman Bishop endorsed HR 676.
  
• Louisville, KY: Screening of “Damaged Care” and keynote speech by Dr. Linda Peeno, renowned critic of HMO’s.
  
• In Bangor, ME: gubernatorial candidate, Pat LaMarche, makes a speech addressing HR676:
  See It Now.
  
• University City, MO: University City became the first city In Missouri to endorse HR 676.
  
• Ithaca, NY: Bannering and Petitioning at Ithaca Fest. City Council passes Resolution endorsing
  HR 676: Showing of “Don’t be a Chicken” at the Unitarian Church. See It Now.
  
• New York, NY: Social Wage Committee of Redstockings Allies & Veterans picketed in front of Senator Hilary Clinton’s office to demand that she introduce a complementary bill to HR 676. Celebration and screening of “Don’t Be a Chicken” held at 1199 SEIU penthouse auditiorium. City Councilman Oliver Koppell spoke about his City Council Resolution and the importance of passing it. Musicians performed from three different groups: Hip Hop, Jazz and the Raging Grannies.
  
• Cleveland, OH: Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones of 11th Congressional District of Ohio releases statement supporting HR 676: Jobs with Justice organizes an event.
  See It Now.
  
• Pittsburgh, PA: Rally at insurance giant Highmark in downtown Pittsburgh attended by 100, prompting an appearance by a Highmark executive. Raging Grannies also sang.
  See It Now.
  
• Bellingham, WA: Bannering in and around the city, with 70 people at 15 overpasses on Interstate 5. Plus an insert a week before in the newspaper (12,000 copies) of “I Can’t Afford to Get Sick.”
  
• Seattle, WA: Health Care for All, Physicians for a National Health Plan and CWA gathered in Seattle, WA at a Mariners game dressed in hospital gowns illustrating the gaps in healthcare nationwide! Raging Grannies sang to the crowd.
  
• Detroit:, MI: Passage of a strong resolution in support of single payer by the United Auto Workers.

• New York

Citizen/Congressional Hearing in New York City.  Three members of Congress attended: Rangel, Conyers, Nadler.  Sixty seven people testified including business owners, doctors, one CEO of a hospital, people with disabilities, veterans, artists, activists, victims of discrimination, people in wheel chairs and scooters, HIV/AIDS activists, youth, labor unions, faith groups, nurses, and many more.  The New York Healthcare-NOW group is now focusing on getting a City Council Resolution passed. 

New York City, May 15, 2005

From Carillon, the (NYC) Riverside Church's Newsletter