By Sam Rappaport
Hyde Park Herald, Sept. 24, 2015
On Oct. 1, students at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine will join thousands of other medical students across the country in rallying for universal, single-payer health care reform. The event is called TenOne Medicare-for-All National Student Day of Action and is being organized by Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP), the student branch of Physicians for a National Health Program (www.pnhp.org), an organization of over 19,000 physicians, health professionals and medical students.
The Pritzker School of Medicine will host a daytime rally from 12-1 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 1, at 5812 S. Ellis Ave. The rally will feature speeches from physicians, nurses, students and patients.
Later that evening from 5:30-8 p.m., Pritzker students will join activists from UIC, RUSH and Midwestern to hold a nighttime march and candlelight vigil at Heritage Green Park, 610 W. Adams St.
Scott Goldberg, a fourth-year medical student at Pritzker who is helping to organizer the event, said that most people are misguided about the reality of our current health care system and harbor unfounded fears of a single-payer alternative.
āTens of thousands of people die every year in this country just because they donāt have health insurance,ā Goldberg said. āMedical problems are the leading cause of bankruptcy in the U.S. More absurdly, nearly 80% of those declaring bankruptcy due to medical debt already have insuranceā¦This year marks the 50th anniversary of Medicare and our mission is clearāto institute truly affordable care by expanding Medicare to cover all Americans. The student single payer movement is growing with more than 650 members at 41 medical schools across the nation.ā
For more information on the event, visit student.pnhp.org.
http://hpherald.com/2015/09/24/medical-students-rally-for-single-payer-health-care/