Massachusett Health Care Reform Bill?????????

Hello Single Payer Supporters - There are a number of extremely important announcements this week, and there are two important things you can do to help.

Yesterday over 500 Massachusetts physicians signed an open letter asking Congress not to use the Massachusetts health reform as a model for the nation, and calling for single payer health reform. On the same day a letter signed by over 40 labor leaders in Massachusetts said the same thing: Massachusetts reform is not working for working people, and we need effective relief from rising health care costs and eroding benefits. If that wasn't enough, Public Citizen and Physicians for a National Health Program released a detailed analysis of the Massachusetts reform in practice, arguing that it has had a modest impact on residents' access to care, and that it is costly and will be unsustainable for the state in the long-run.

All of these documents are available from the Public Citizen web-site here: http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=28

HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP! The largest circulation papers in Massachusetts have not covered this story, or have only covered it online.

Send the Public Citizen press release to your local papers, or write an op-ed yourself! Please cc us at info@masscare.org so we can follow all the great work you're doing.

COMING UP ON WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 25, FROM 2PM - 4PM in WASHINGTON, DC:
Mass-Care is helping to host an important briefing to Congress on whether the Massachusetts health reform is an adequate model for the nation. The forum will bring testimony from a Massachusetts doctor, nurse, state senator, labor leader, small business health administrator, municipal expert, and a Boston-based economist.

HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP! Ask your Congressperson and his or her health care aide to attend this important forum. Members of Congress can join the committee, chaired by Congressman Eric Massa from New York, that will ask questions of the witnesses. Below is an open invitation to the briefing, along with a letter to Members of Congress asking them to join the panel committee. Give your Congressperson's D.C. office a call and ask them to learn more about what lessons state reform has to offer for the nation!

Announcement of the Forum:
http://www.healthcare-now.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/announ.pdf

Invite your Representative to Attend
http://www.healthcare-now.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/inv.pdf


_______________________________________________
Mass-Care: The Massachusetts Campaign for Single Payer Health Care
33 Harrison Ave - 5th floor
Boston, MA 02111
Ph: 617-723-7001
Fx: 617-723-7002
Em: info@masscare.org