US doctors create advocacy group in support of Senator Bernie Sanders

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32. The press release came from Doctors for Bernie, So NO, contact Scott Goldberg, MD

Press
US doctors create advocacy group in support of Senator Bernie Sanders
Hundreds of doctors and health care providers across the country have joined Doctors for Bernie, a group that believes the Senator’s campaign for the presidency offers an historic opportunity to advance an agenda for public health



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, January 10, 2020

Contact: Scott Goldberg, MD, Doctors for Bernie media contact, [e-mail]



New York -- A group of doctors and other health care providers have announced the formation of Doctors for Bernie, an independent grassroots organization dedicated to advocating for Senator Sanders for the 2020 Democratic nomination. While each physician in the group has unique motivations for supporting Senator Sanders, they are brought together by the common belief that his policies would have the greatest impact on the health, safety, and well being of their patients.



“I have seen too many patients struggle with affording their medications or falling into debt because of illness,” said Dr. Harrison Kalodimos, a primary care doctor in Seattle. “I spent months studying the details of reform proposals from the public option to all-payer rate setting, but Bernie Sanders’ Medicare For All proposal is the only plan which will guarantee every US resident comprehensive health care while eliminating medical debt and bankruptcies.”



For Dr. Uma Tadepalli, a geriatrician in North Carolina, it was the expansion of Medicare to cover all medically necessary services including hearing, dental, vision, and importantly, long term care that brought her to the campaign. “Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All plan is the only way to meet the health needs of our aging population,” said Dr. Tadepalli.



Medical students have flocked to the group as well. Umer Waris, a fourth-year medical student in California, remarked that: "I wish to one day practice medicine in a health care system without interference from insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and other corporate interests. These for-profit interests only drive a wedge between a patient and their doctor and threaten the very essence of the healing relationship.”



Doctors for Bernie state that Medicare for All is just one part of the Senator’s broad agenda for improving the public’s health, an agenda that would have the greatest impact on minority and marginalized communities. "From education to incarceration to the environment, the ill-effects of institutionalized corporate greed disproportionately impact black, indigenous, and people of color," says Dr. Milan Satcher, a black family physician in Maine. "It will take policies that enact systemic, large-scale changes in order to achieve tangible improvements in the lives of our communities. Senator Sanders has consistently advocated for this."



If you are interested in having a guest from Doctors for Bernie on to your show, please contact [e-mail]. We think your audience would benefit from a physician’s perspective on why Senator Sanders has the most progressive agenda for improving the nation’s health.