FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, June 7, 2019
Contact: Clare Fauke, Physicians for a National Health Program, clare@pnhp.org
- WHAT: Demonstration for Medicare for All: “Tell the AMA to Get Out of the Way!”
- WHO: Hundreds of doctors, nurses, seniors and other supporters of improved Medicare for All
- WHEN: Saturday, June 8, 1:30-3:00 p.m.
- WHERE: 1:30-2:00 p.m. – Rally at Blue Cross Blue Shield headquarters, 300 E. Randolph; 2:00-2:30 p.m. – March to the AMA Meeting at the Hyatt Regency, 151 E. Wacker; 2:30-3:00 p.m. – Final Rally outside AMA meeting
CHICAGO — Wearing their scrubs and white coats, hundreds of doctors, nurses, medical students, and health care activists will march on the annual meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA), demanding they drop their opposition to improved Medicare for All and withdraw from the anti-single payer lobbying group Partnership for America’s Health Care Future.
The demonstration will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the headquarters of private insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield (300 E Randolph), where health professionals will speak out against the greed and administrative waste of the insurance industry. Protesters will then march to the AMA annual meeting at the Hyatt Regency (151 E Wacker) to shine a light on the group’s anti-single payer agenda.
Even though a majority of American doctors now support improved Medicare for All, the AMA has for decades opposed any type of single-payer reform. In 2018, the AMA further angered doctors by joining the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, a lobbying group that includes pharmaceutical and health insurance companies, and that actively campaigns against both Medicare for All and members of Congress that support single-payer legislation.
“The AMA claims to represent the values of physicians, but their policies put profits ahead of patient care,” said Dr. Adam Gaffney, president of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), a group of 23,000 doctors who support single-payer Medicare for All. “It’s time for the AMA to leave the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future and join the majority of physicians who support improved Medicare for All.”
While single-payer supporters rally in the streets outside the conference, the Medical Student Section of the AMA plans to file a resolution demanding the organization rescind all policies that prohibit it from supporting or even considering single-payer reform.
Besides physicians and medical students, the demonstration includes a broad coalition of single-payer supporters, such as National Nurses United, People’s Action, Jane Addams Senior Caucus, Democratic Socialists of America, The Center for Popular Democracy, Public Citizen, Social Security Works, United Electrical Workers, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, Healthcare-NOW!, and Progressive Doctors.
“For too long, the AMA has been a roadblock to change in our deadly health care system, where patients have to make impossible choices, like paying for medical bills or paying for food,” said Jean Ross, RN, president of National Nurses United, the largest union of registered nurses in the country. “Enough is enough! Nurses will stand in strong solidarity with doctors, students, patients, and the 70 percent of people in America who support Medicare for All.”
Physicians for a National Health Program (www.pnhp.org) is a nonprofit research and education organization whose more than 23,000 members support single-payer national health insurance.