On Thursday, Dec. 10, Human Rights Day, Kentuckiana proponents of health care as a human right will rally in front of Sen. McConnell’s office to demand health care for all.
What: Demonstration in front of Senator McConnell’s Louisville office
When: Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009, 11:30 am to 1 pm.
Where: 601 W. Broadway, (Sixth and Broadway), downtown Louisville (map)
Who:
Local co-sponsors:
Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare( KSPH) kyhealthcare.org
KY chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program www.pnhp.org
National co-sponsors:
Healthcare-NOW (www.healthcare-now.org ) and its affiliate, the Mobilization for Health Care for All campaign (www.mobilizeforhealthcare.org )
We believe health care is a human right. This is not just a nebulous right, but a life and death issue. We know that 45,000 people die each year ( 122 each day) in the United States because of limited or no access to health care. We know that families are facing financial ruin due to health care bills they cannot pay.
The bills being discussed in Congress this week are completely inadequate to the nation’s health care needs and the needs of our economy. According to current proposals, millions will remain uninsured with limited access to care; millions more will have only skimpy coverage with high deductibles and co-pays. More low-income patients may be shifted into Medicaid which our own state can’t afford. Even the promised “robust public option” is now referred to as a “puny” public plan. Moreover, patients and policyholders will be unprotected from the skyrocketing costs of care and premiums. If a mandate to purchase private insurance is imposed, employers and employees will be handed over to the for-profit insurance industry as a “captive market.”
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has just filed Senate Amendment No. 2837 which would substitute a Medicare-for-all plan for the complicated and costly plans now going through Congress. By expanding and improving Medicare (a publicly funded, nonprofit, single payer plan), we can save money and lives. We will urge Sen. McConnell to vote Yes on the Sanders amendment.
Organizers have invited members of advocacy groups who view health care reform from differing perspectives, but who share the belief that health care is a human right: Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare, the Kentucky chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, Healthcare not Warfare, MoveOn.org members, the Louisville Peace Action Committee, PDA, etc.
This event is one of 18 planned “health care is a human right” events being held across the US on Dec. 10, demonstrations called for by Healthcare-NOW ( www.healthcare-now.org ) and its activist affiliate, Mobilization for Health Care for All campaign ( www.mobilizeforhealthcare.org ).
