{news} (NEWS RELEASE) HEALTH CARE ACTIVISTS VOW ARRESTS AT DODD- BIDEN EVENT

[Tim McKee]

*GREEN PARTY OF CONNECITUT*


MEDIA ADVISORY-For Immediate Release -Dec 9, 2009

Contact: Tim McKee Green Party of CT spokesperson (860) 778-1304


Angry citizens vow arrests at Sen. Dodd fundraiser with Vice President Biden

*What**: Protest at Senator Dodd fundraising event with Vice President Biden
to demand single-payer health reform*

*When**: Friday, December 11, 2009, Human Rights Day  at 11 a.m.*
*Where*: CT Science Center, 250 Columbus Street, Hartford, CT   *Who:* Green
Party of CT and Mobilization for Health Care for All, a national civil
disobedience campaign

*Why**:  Demand “Medicare for All” (Single Payer Healthcare Reform*)



Declaring health care to be a human right, hundreds of advocates for a
single-payer, Medicare-for-All health program will protest at 18 senators’
offices around the country on Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day. *Many
will risk arrest by committing acts of civil disobedience.*

* *

Organizers say the coordinated sit-ins and other actions will spotlight the
“complete inadequacy” of the present House and Senate bills, which, they
say, will leave at least 17 million people uninsured and millions more with
shoddy coverage, unprotected from skyrocketing medical costs.



The actions are part of a national civil disobedience campaign for
single-payer health reform led by the Mobilization for Health Care for All.
The campaign has gained notoriety for having organized more than 35 sit-ins
across the country in recent weeks, targeting private health insurance
companies and exposing their role as the real “death panels” that decide who
lives and who dies based on ability to pay.



Medicare-for-All supporters advocate a publicly financed, privately
delivered health care system similar to Medicare. The single-payer system
would be financed entirely through taxes, cover everyone, ensure freedom to
choose doctors, and save about $400 billion annually by eliminating wasteful
paperwork, bureaucracy and insurance company profits. The vast majority of
people would pay less in taxes than what they presently pay for premiums and
out-of-pocket costs like co-pays and deductibles.



Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, introduced a single-payer amendment to the Senate
leadership’s health bill on December 2nd that would essentially replace the
existing bill’s language with an improved Medicare-for-All plan. Sanders has
also announced plans to introduce another measure that would permit
individual states to experiment with their own single-payer programs.



December 10th is the 61st anniversary of the signing of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, of which the United States is a signatory.
Single-payer actions commemorating Human Rights Day are taking place in 18
cities. For a complete list, see *
http://mobilizeforhealthcare.org/upcoming-actions/. *

* *

#End of Release#





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Tim McKee -National Committee of the Green Party for the state of
Connecticut, New Britain,CT
(860)778-1304 Cell- best way to reach me
(860) 505-8454 (H)
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