Single Payer - Yes We Can! Call Obama and get him to bring it home to America!

[grahamhgreen]

[phone]

Pelosi just guaranteed HR676 an up or down vote.

Now is the time for the president to issue a statement saying he supports the bill!

Please call.

Single payer - Yes We Can!

[foginthemorn]

1. and a big REC. Single payer can be done. Do CALL.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

2. Good idea - flood the White House

K&R

God knows our reps have heard from us!

[hootinholler]

3. Where did Pelosi say that?

That is indeed good news, at least we'll know which reps are on our side.

-Hoot

[grahamhgreen]

5. Here it is in the NY Daily News, also in the Nation, and elswhere! Let's get Obama to endorse!

NY Daily News:

Single Payer Gets A Vote (Updated)
July 31, 2009

Anthony Weiner is about to be the new hero of the progressive crowd after getting a promise from Nancy Pelosi to debate — and vote — on a single-payer plan to solve health care reform.

Weiner got that promise after he agreed to withdraw an amendment to essentially create Medicare for the whole nation in the Energy and Commerce Committee health care markup session this evening.

The Brooklyn-Queens Rep. looked a little surprised when Chairman Henry Waxman said Pelosi would allow that vote, and made Waxman repeat the deal to be sure it was clear and on the record.

It’s an especially big deal for advocates of a single health care system — who see it as cheaper and simpler than the complicated measure being drawn up — because they have been complaining that they have not even been able to get an airing of their position.

And having the vote of the floor of the House will force members to declare a position, and bring much more attention to the idea.

Update: Weiner, who high-fived Tammy Baldwin after getting the deal, crows in a quick press release:

“It’s a Better Plan and now it’s on Center Stage,” says Weiner

Washington, DC - Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA), Chairman of the Energy & Commerce Committee announced today that Speaker Nancy Pelosi has pledged to give Single-Payer an up or down vote when healthcare reform is considered before year’s end.

Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY), Co-Chair of the Middle Class Caucus and member of the Energy & Commerce Committee who led the effort with Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI); Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA); Rep. Elliot Engel (D-NY); Rep. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL); Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-IL); and Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT), released the following statement:

“Single-payer is a better plan and now it is on center stage. Americans have a clear choice. Their Member of Congress will have a simpler, less expensive and smarter bill to choose. I am thrilled that the Speaker is giving us that choice.”

- Michael McAuliff

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dc/2009/07/single-payer-gets-a-vote.html#ixzz0N5Ru97CH


Nation:

"Committee chair Henry Waxman, D-California, had to scramble to win support for the measure from progressive Democrats on the committee, after he cut a deal with conservative "Blue Dogs" who wanted to undermine existing protections for low- and moderate-income Americans.

Waxman did this by agreeing to provisions that place more demands on businesses to cover their employees while expanding support Medicaid programs that aid the poor. He also got House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to agree to allow a full House vote on the single-payer reform that more than 85 House Democrats have endorsed.

Congressman Anthony Weiner, D-New York, worked with Waxman to get the deal on single-payer and declared a sort of victory Friday, saying that: "Single-payer is a better plan and now it is on center stage. Americans have a clear choice. Their Member of Congress will have a simpler, less expensive and smarter bill to choose. I am thrilled that the Speaker is giving us that choice."

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/457846/key_committee_backs_health_plan_pelosi_allows_single_payer_vote

[nosmokes]

4. Absolutely! If you're serious about *real* health care reform ya hafta call!

Single payer is the only thing that makes sense.

[Maru Kitteh]

6. It's not going to happen. He never promised to push single payer while campaigning.

And he won't give the right any more ammunition (jeopardizing the fragile chance for a public option) by making such a statement now.

[grahamhgreen]

7. Sounds like the same negativity I heard during the campaign. He Wants Us to Push Him! Yes We Can!

He knows single-payer is the best and has said so in the past. He can say it again now, It's easy!

He wants every American to have great health care and you do too - this is the only plan that covers everyone. DO YOU REALLY WANT US ALL TO PAY MORE MONEY FOR WORSE HEALTH CAR THAT DOES NOT COVER EVERYONE???!!!! Of course not!

Single-payer isn't more right wing ammo - it undercuts it. It is the most viable, fiscally responsible system there is!

Their biggest issue is with the cost. Single payer costs less than all the other plans. (check http://pnhp.org or http://hr676.org).


Here is Obama on single payer:

Full quote from Obama in 2003:

“I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care program.” (applause) “I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its Gross National Product on health care cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody. And that’s what Jim is talking about when he says everybody in, nobody out. A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that’s what I’d like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House.”

Obama speaking to the Illinois AFL-CIO, June 30, 2003.

[grahamhgreen]

8. Please call.