Conyers Launches Campaign in 110th Congress for Universal Health Care and H.R. 676

Harvard Medical School Physicians Lead Forum on Single Payer Financing

Washington, DC - Congressman John Conyers, Jr., Chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary and Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, made the following statement on today's Congressional Forum on Universal Health Care with Single Payer Financing:

"Today we take our effort to guarantee health care to all Americans to the next level. Several of our nation's premier physicians, economists, and academics have testified before Congress about why a single payer system is the only way to resolve the crisis of the uninsured while also providing high-quality care and controlling skyrocketing costs. The recommendations of these experts are embodied in H.R. 676, "The United States National Health Insurance Act (Expanded and Improved Medicare For All)".

"Over the last few years, there has been an explosion of support for universal health care from business, organized labor, physicians and other health professionals, and grassroots activists across the country. Every Democratic presidential candidate now explicitly supports universal health care, a consensus that was unthinkable only a few years ago. Frequent editorials in our nation's leading newspapers and public opinion measured across a variety of polls all point to the same basic reality: America's health care system is in crisis, and the public wants the federal government to take action to fix it.

"This forum is the first of many that we will be hosting in the 110th Congress in order to put universal health care at the top of our political agenda. Many of our outstanding leaders in Congress support the idea that we must have universal health care, but we need to move from greater understanding to action in order to create the momentum needed to pass universal health care legislation.

"Health care is the most important concern of many Americans. Leadership is needed to make this issue the top concern of Congress. We intend to provide that leadership by continuing our efforts to make single payer universal health care the law of the land."

###04-24-2007###