RNs organizing unprecedented, grassroots movement to back the bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representatives Pramila Jayapal, Debbie Dingell, other members of Congress, and advocates including National Nurses United (NNU), the nation’s largest union of registered nurses, will introduce the Medicare For All Act of 2019 on Wednesday, February 27 at 11:15 a.m. EST.
“As the largest union of registered nurses in the country, we could not be more proud of Rep. Jayapal for leading the way on this legislation that will change and save our patients’ lives. Nurses are organizing an unprecedented grassroots movement to demand that our elected officials support this legislation,” said NNU Executive Director Bonnie Castillo, RN.
WHAT: Introduction of Medicare For All Act of 2019
WHERE: House Triangle
WHEN: Wednesday, February 27th 2019, 11:15AM ET
The event will stream live here.
Nurses are acutely aware, from their work at the bedside, that today’s health care system fails to provide quality, affordable healthcare as a right to all people living in the United States. Patients are paying for the current, broken system with their life savings and with their actual lives, say nurses, given that nearly 30 million Americans are uninsured, and at least 40 million more cannot afford the costs of their co-pays and deductibles.
The quality of our health care is shockingly behind other industrialized countries in such critical health outcomes as life expectancy, infant and maternal mortality, and preventable deaths from diseases. Yet the U.S. spends more money per capita on health care than any other industrialized nation. We waste hundreds of billions of dollars every year on unnecessary administrative costs, while health care industry executives measure success in profits, instead of patient care.
The current health care system in the United States is ineffective, inefficient and outrageously expensive. It is time to remove the profit motive in health care, to resolve the inefficiencies and to guarantee quality health care to every person living in the United States.
The Medicare for All Act of 2019 improves and expands the overwhelmingly successful and popular Medicare program, so that every person living in the United States has guaranteed health care with comprehensive benefits.
In early February, National Nurses United sponsored Medicare for all “barnstorm” mass organizing meetings, across the United States, aimed at kickstarting action on Medicare for All in local communities. Over 150 events were held across the country, attended by 5,000 people—and resulting in 1,500 canvasses scheduled over the coming weeks. RNs say this surge of everyday people getting involved with knocking on doors and calling their legislators will continue growing the movement to back the bill.
PRESS CONFERENCE SPEAKERS INCLUDE: Rep. Jayapal (WA-O7), Rep. Debbie Dingell (MI-12), Rep. Jim Langevin (RI-02), Rep. Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Rep. Josh Harder (CA-10), NNU Executive Director Bonnie Castillo, and more. NNU RN Presidents Jean Ross, Zenei Cortez, and Deborah Burger will also be available to speak to the press.
The Medicare For All Act of 2019 is endorsed by: National Nurses United, Physicians for a National Health Program, Social Security Works, Center for Popular Democracy, Public Citizen, Labor Campaign for Single Payer, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Amalgamated Transit Union, American Federation of Teachers, American Medical Students Association, American Postal Workers Union, Association of Flight Attendants, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, Business Initiative for Health Policy, Center for Popular Democracy Action, Coalition of Labor Union Women, Credo Action, Daily Kos, Debs-Jones-Douglass Institute, Democracy for America, Democratic Socialists of America, Demos, Faith in Healthcare, Health Care Now, Indivisible, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Just Care USA, MoveOn, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, National Health Care for the Homeless Council, National Immigration Law Center, National Union of Healthcare Workers, New York State Nurses Association, Other98, Our Revolution, Progressive Democrats of America, People Demanding Action, People’s Action, People’s Action Institute, Service Employees International Union, Ultraviolet Action, Unitarian Universalist Association, United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers, Women’s March Inc, Working Hero Action.
