Single Payer Update from Maryland chapter of PNHP

Dear All!

Some of you may be wondering what we’ve been up to, so we would like to give you an update and provide you with information on ways that you can be involved.

At the national level, PNHP is an active member of the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care/National Single Payer Alliance. The D.C. and Maryland chapters are on the steering committe of the LCGHC. The LCGHC is growing and at last estimate represented over 20 million people nationwide. You can learn more about the LCGHC at www.guaranteedhealthcare4all.org.

Congressman Conyers reintroduced HR 676 in January. There were a few changes in the text in order to clarify certain areas. We urge you to read the bill at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.676:

There are currently 35 co-sponsors for HR 676. So far, the only member of Congress from Maryland to sign on is Donna Edwards (please thank her if she is your representative). We urge you to contact your congress member and urge him to co-sponsor, especially if your member is Cummings, Hoyer, Kratovil, Sarbanes or Van Hollen. We have met with some of these members and have more meetings scheduled. We urge you to set up your own meetings, call or write to them. THe switchboard at Congress is 202-224-3121.

There is now an HR 676 Caucus in Congress. Please urge your representative to join the caucus. They can contact Joel Segal at 202-225-5126 for more information. The HR 676 caucus met on Wednesday, Feb. 11th. Stay tuned for the meeting report and the next meeting date.

There will be a forum in Congress on Wednesday, Feb. 25th called: “National Lessons from State Health Reform: The Massachusetts Case Study.”

2226 Rayburn HOB, 2pm-4pm. This will be an opportunity for legislators to ask questions from the panel about the results of health care reform in Massachusetts. For more info about the forum, contact Danielle Alexander of D.C. PNHP at 202-393-2069. Please urge your member of Congress to attend! The forum will be televised.

There will be a press conference on Wednesday Feb. 18th to announce the forum. It will be held in the Press Conference Room at Public Citizen at 11 am. The address is 1600 20th St, NW in Dupont Circle. Please let us know if you can attend the press conference. We hope to have a strong showing by health professionals and students in order to demonstrate that there is strong support for reform. If you can attend, please wear your white coat.

At the state level, the Health Security Act of 2009 is currently being walked around in order to gather co-sponsor signatures. We should have a bill number, online copy and hearing date by early next week. Delegates Karen Montgomery and Roger Manno are the lead co-sponsors in the House. Senator Paul Pinsky is the co-sponsor in the Senate. Please contact your Delegate(s) and Senator to ask them to co-sponsor. If you have time and can send us a letter stating your reasons for supporting the Health Security Act, we will include that at the hearings. The letter can be brief - told from your perspective. If you would like to be more involved in the state bill, please contact us.

MedChi is having a rally/lobby day in Annapolis on Wednesday, Feb.18th from 8 am to 11 am on Lawyers Mall. We hope you can attend and help us reach out to health care providers and legislators about Health Security. We will bring materials. Please let us know if you can attend.

We have started a series of speaker training sessions. If you are interested in receiving materials (powerpoint presentations/articles) and learning how to speak about health care reform, we are happy to hold a training in your area. Please contact us in order to schedule that.

We are part of the Coalition for Health Security - a coalition of organizations and individuals who support single payer. The coalition is growing! We need to continue to grow this grassroots movement in order to bring about real change. If you know of an organization (medical, community, faith, labor) who supports single payer, please contact us and we will invite them to join the Coalition.

We are constantly in the process of updating our website at www.md.pnhp.org so keep checking back and please be patient with us.

Thank you for all that you do! Together we can make this happen!

Margaret Flowers and Brigitte Marti