FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 18, 2010
Contacts:
Elinor Christiansen, M.D., Health Care for All Colorado
Margaret Flowers, M.D., Physicians for a National Health Program
Mark Almberg, PNHP, (312) 782-6006, mark@pnhp.org
What
Physicians, nurses and other health reform advocates will rally outside two fund-raising events for Sen. Michael Bennet in Denver today where President Obama is speaking to call upon the president to support a single-payer Medicare-for-All program.
Rising to Obama’s recent challenge to critics to come up with better and more fiscally responsible ideas for health care reform, physicians and others will offer their alternative of improving and extending the popular Medicare program to cover the entire population, a solution they say has solid majority support.
Among them will be Dr. Margaret Flowers, a Maryland pediatrician and congressional fellow for Physicians for a National Health Program, an organization of 17,000 physicians who support a single-payer system, who has been trying to deliver an open letter to the president calling on him to meet with her and other Medicare-for-All advocates to discuss the single-payer alternative since his State of the Union address on Jan. 27.
Rally participants will demand that the single-payer model be put back on the table in the health care debate, given that model’s proven effectiveness in providing universal, comprehensive care; its ability to contain costs; and the fact that the annual savings in administrative costs — $400 billion — would mean that it would require no increase in overall U.S. health spending.
Where and When
The Fillmore Auditorium, 1510 Clarkson St., Denver, at 1:45 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 18
The Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, 1550 Court Place, Denver, at 4:45 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 18
Photo and video opportunities: Physicians wearing their white coats and RNs in their scrubs, along with other health reform advocates, will carry signs calling for Medicare for All outside both events.
Who
Margaret Flowers, M.D., congressional fellow for Physicians for a National Health Program
Leaders of Health Care for All Colorado and other health reform groups
For more details on the Denver itinerary, visit:
http://www.healthcareforallcolorado.org/
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Physicians for a National Health Program (www.pnhp.org), a membership organization of over 17,000 physicians, supports a single-payer national health insurance program. PNHP is headquartered in Chicago and has chapters across the United States.
