12 Ways PNHP members can work toward a Single-Payer National Health Program:
* Write an op-ed or letter to your local newspaper.
* Write a letter to your medical specialty journal.
* Give Grand Rounds at your hospital on health care reform, or invite another PNHP member to speak at a Grand Rounds or other hospital forum. Call the national office at (312) 782-6006, or check out our Speakers Bureau.
* Present the PNHP Powerpoint slideshow.
* Arrange a session on health care reform at the next meeting of your medical society or specialty.
* Meet with your legislators.
* Meet with the editorial board of your local newspaper or TV station.
* Attend town hall meetings to discuss health care reform with legislators and the public.
* Inform other health care reform organizations that you are willing to speak about the benefits of the single-payer program.
* Offer to draft a proposal or testify in support of state single-payer legislation.
* Participate in forums held by medical associations, church groups, the League of Women Voters, and other civic groups.
* Form a PNHP Chapter, or get involved in the one nearest you.
* Invite your colleagues to join PNHP.
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Students Take Action
* Work as an intern with PNHP
* Form a PNHP student chapter or get involved on your campus with AMSA
* Invite a PNHP speaker to give a talk to medical students and faculty on single-payer.
* Organize a health care debate
* Write an article or op-ed for your school or local paper
* Volunteer at the national office (contact: padma@pnhp.org
The PNHP national office provides educational material, slide shows, and funds for ordering food for student gatherings and lectures.
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Patients and Communities Take Action
* Invite a PNHP speaker to give a talk to medical students and faculty on Single-Payer.
* Write an article or op-ed for your school or local paper
* Volunteer at the national office in Chicago (contact: padma@pnhp.org)
* Share your health care story with PNHP
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Business Leaders Take Action
Business Facts on Single-Payer
National health insurance would only cost families an average of 2% of income for complete coverage (this replaces all other health care bills). For the typical, middle-income household, the cost would only be $731. This is less than what most families are already paying for health care on top of their insurance.
Employers would pay only 7% of payroll to fund coverage for all their employees and dependents. This is less than what many businesses that provide coverage already pay.
Health economists internationally conclude that for-profit health care is less efficient than a national health insurance system. Cooperation (along with negotiated fees and budgets), not competition, is what works in health care.
For details, read Universal Coverage: How Do We Pay for It? Edie Rasell, M.D., Ph.D., Economic Policy Institute (June 17, 1998) and Achieving Long-Term Medicare Financial Stability: A Universal Health Care System is the Only Answer (June 9, 1997).
* Invite a PNHP speaker to give a talk about the benefits to business to your professional organization, union, alumni club or management team.
* Organize a Question/Answer session about Single-Payer with your board or management team.
* Write an article or op-ed about rising employee insurance costs in local paper
* Tell PNHP about the employee insurance challenges you face as a business leader
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Media Take Action
Members of the health care policy press should familiarize themselves with, and study, Single-Payer terms, data and research, to support the forthcoming health care policy coverage leading up to the 2004 elections.