CONTACT NYC COUNCIL & OTHER LEGISLATORS
TO SUPPORT MEDICARE FOR ALL BILL

Dear PNHP NY Metro Members and Friends,

     We are excited to learn that a bill urging the U.S. Congress to pass John Conyers' “United States National Health Insurance Act,” H.R. 676 (“Expanded & Improved Medicare For All”) has been introduced into the New York City Council by Oliver Koppell from the Bronx. Local initiatives like this are critical to building a movement for single payer national health insurance. If you are in New York City , please help to get this bill passed: visit, call or write your City Council member and ask him or her to let you, Mr. Koppell and the public know of their support for the bill. The text of the bill is below.

     A list of NY City Council members is at the end of this message. Please call or visit yours. The most effective way to let him or her know that you care deeply about this issue is to make a personal visit by yourself or, better yet with a group of others from medical groups, churches, synagogues, labor unions, community groups etc. (if people can't say they represent a particular organization, they can just say they are a member.) Let me know if you plan to make a visit and would like other PNHPers to join you -- I'll try to facilitate it. And if you can't go in person, do express your support by writing, calling or emailing. It can make a big difference!

     If you are outside New York City , try to get a similar bill introduced into your city or country legislative bodies.

     In the not too distant future, we will also be working with our fabulous new Albany PNHP Chapter on a campaign to get the New York State Senate and Assembly to support HR676. If PNHPers from New Jersey and Connecticut show interest, we can do the same in those states as well.

     To find out who your New York City Council representative is and how to get in touch with him or her, go to http://www.gothamgazette.com/city/ and follow the prompts from "Find Your District " (you may have to use street addresses that are not precisely yours, but you can figure it out.)

All the best
Joanne Landy , MPH
Executive Director
Physicians for a National Health Program-NY Metro Chapter

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NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION NO. 75
Resolution strongly urging the United States Congress to pass H.R. 676, which would provide universal healthcare for all Americans.

By Council Members Koppell, Fidler, Foster, Gentile,
Gerson, Mark-Viverito and Sanders Jr.

• Whereas, According to the National Coalition on Heath Care, approximately 45 million Americans are without health insurance, and, in 2003, there were 8.4 million children uninsured in the United States; and
  
• Whereas, Health insurance costs for Americans and the number of Americans without health insurance continues to rise; and
  
• Whereas, According to the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust, premiums for employee-sponsored health insurance in the United State have been rising five times faster on average than workers’ salaries; and
  
• Whereas, Working families are having an increasingly harder time making ends meet, and, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 20 percent of the population in New York City lives at or below poverty level; and
  
• Whereas, According to a recent study by Harvard University researchers, 50 percent of all bankruptcy filings were partly the result of overwhelming medical expenses; and
  
• Whereas, According to the National Coalition on Heath Care’s Facts on Health Care Costs, national health care spending is 4.3 times the amount spent on national defense; and
  
• Whereas, Physicians for a National Health Program reports that under a H.R. 676, the Medicare for All Plan, the country could save over $286 billion a year in health care costs; and
  
• Whereas, In addition to helping workers, a universal healthcare system could reduce the average cost paid by employers for employee benefits; and
  
• Whereas, The benefits from universal health care could include extending the life of untold numbers of Americans who, without health insurance, have higher mortality rates than the insured, according to the National Coalition on Health Care; and
  
• Whereas, Universal healthcare could benefit all Americans, especially those most vulnerable; now, therefore, be it
  
  Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York strongly urges the United States Congress to pass H.R. 676, which would provide universal healthcare for all Americans.