Conyers Supports Launch of New Grassroots Campaign for National Health Insurance and Conference

"The American people should demand that Congress Act Now On Universal Health Care"

Washington D.C. - Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, and ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, will be a featured guest speaker Friday, April 16^th, at the "First Annual National Health Insurance Leadership & Organizers Conference" that will be held at Howard University Hospital Towers Auditorium. Leo Gerard, President of the United Steel Workers of America, is the keynote speaker on Saturday April 17^th. This historic conference, which is being sponsored by over 30 national, state, and local grassroots organizations across the country, will bring together the most important leaders of organized labor, physicians, students, academics, nurses, and universal health care activists in order to launch a 50 state campaign for passage of HR 676, Rep. Conyers' "Medicare For All" legislation. The conference also seeks to bolster support for current and future grassroots efforts to pass state single payer legislation. This event comes on the heels of the recent announcement by Physicians for a National Health Program that 12,000 physicians signed a resolution supporting the principles of national health insurance, an historic turning point in the fight for universal health care. Representative Conyers made the following remarks about the upcoming conference:

"Thousands of physicians are now taking a stand on the side of patients. They are openly declaring that for- profit medicine is an abysmal failure that keeps over 44 million Americans uninsured. It is the second leading cause of bankruptcy in America and causes over 18,000 deaths per year. No longer can critics of national health insurance say that it is an unrealistic "pipe dream" of liberals and intellectuals that has no chance of being passed in Congress. The "Medicare For All" plan is also endorsed by Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine and former Surgeon Generals Dr. David Satcher, appointed by President Clinton, and Dr. Julius Richmond, appointed by Jimmy Carter.

"One of the most exciting developments in the fight for universal health care is the emergence of organized labor as a leading voice for true health care reform. Ron Gettlefinger, President of the United Auto Workers, recently declared at a UAW conference that employer based health insurance is dead. He believes that national health insurance is the only solution to save America from its current health care crisis. We are honored that Leo Gerard, President of United Steel Workers, is now joining the fight for national health insurance. "HR 676 creates a publically financed non-profit health care system that would establish a "Medicare For All" program in America. Physicians would be reimbursed at a higher level then they currently are now under Medicare. Every American would receive a national health insurance card, all medically necessary health care services, their choice of physicians or providers- all without the hassles of outrageously expensive annual premiums, pre-existing conditions, and other denials of care. Experts such as Harvard Medical School health economists and physicians David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler say that H.R. 676 could save the United States government approximately $286 billion dollars per year in health care costs due to drastic decreases in paper work and administrative costs, and that families and businesses will save thousands of dollars per year in reduced health care expenditures.

"Today, I call on the American people and organized labor to demand that Congress act now on passage of universal health care legislation. This conference is an historic occasion. I am honored to be part of it."

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