Physicians rally at Atlanta hospital for universal single-payer health plan
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, November 1, 2017
Contact: Clare Fauke, Physicians for a National Health Program, 312-782-6006, clare@pnhp.org
WHAT: Doctors Rally for Health Equity and Medicare for All
WHEN: Friday, November 3, 5:00-5:30 p.m.
WHERE: Grady Memorial Hospital Pavilion, 80 Jesse Hill Jr Drive SE, Atlanta, GA 30303
WHO: Dozens of doctors and medical students in white coats
Atlanta—On Friday, dozens of doctors and medical students in white coats will rally at Grady Memorial Hospital demanding health equity and Medicare for All. While congressional Republicans attempt to dismantle America’s health care safety net, polls show record support for a universal health program such as H.R. 676 in the House or S. 1804 in the Senate.
“We’ll never achieve health equity without single payer health insurance as the first step,” said Akshaya Kannan, a medical student at Emory University who will lead the rally.
Many of the doctors are in Atlanta this weekend for the annual meeting of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), nonprofit research and educational organization of more than 21,000 doctors and health professionals who support Medicare for All. The theme of this year’s conference is “Single Payer: Health Care Equity.”
“Every day I watch both insured and uninsured patients struggle to pay for care,” said Claudia Fegan, M.D., a Chicago-based internist and national coordinator for Physicians for a National Health Program. “In our fractured, profit-based health care system, money is always the elephant in the exam room. Not surprisingly, a majority of American doctors now support a single-payer health program.”
Rally for Health Equity speakers include:
- Tabia Henry Akintobi, Ph.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor of Community Health and Preventive Medicine at Morehouse School of Medicine
- Claudia Fegan, M.D., national coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program and chief medical officer for the Cook County Health and Hospital System and John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County
- Akshaya Kannan, medical student at Emory University School of Medicine
- Kate Dirks, medical student at Emory University School of Medicine
- Kimberly Manning, M.D., physician at Grady Hospital
- Linda Liu, medical student at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine