Alert!!!! Tomorrow Wed AM!!!

Sent from 'the road'

Begin forwarded message:

From: arthur persyko <artpersyko@gmail.com>
Date: December 15, 2009 5:14:25 PM PST
Subject: SPN media alert:  Senate to take up Sanders single payer amendment Wednesday morning after 7 am/9 am radio call-in & email-in program on Senate health bill/Medicare buy-in for those 55 to 64 abandoned, says the Washington Post

SPN media alert:  The US Senate adjourned moments ago (just before 5 pm (Pacific), and will reconvene at 7 am (Pacific) to consider two amendments on the health bill, one of which will be amendment 2837 by Sanders for single payer (& you can watch the proceedings in the Senate live on C-SPAN via cable tv, or on your computer.)  Earlier today, Health Justice sent the message below urging calls and faxes to US Senators in support of the Sanders amendment.   Also Wednesday morning, at 9 am, KQED public radio at 88.5 fm says that it will have a discussion of the health bill on their call-in/email-in show, "Forum" (call-in your questions and/or comments:  866-733-6786 and/or email:  <forum@kqed.org>).  And today's Washington Post has a story about the Senate abandoning the proposal to expand Medicare to those between 55 and 64 years old.  -Art 

Invitation From Margaret Flowers MD, one of the Baucus 13,   We have reached an historic place. Tonight, for the first time in the history of the U.S., there will be single payer legislation introduced on the Senate Floor in the form of Senate Amendment 2837 put forth by Senators Sanders, Brown and Burris.   As we learned last Thursday following our rally and senate visits, our presence does make a difference. It was largely due to the actions last week and the many phone calls/emails that this amendment is coming to the floor.   Now we have another chance to be there and show our support for single payer. That is why I am asking you (even though I know this is a busy time) to join me tonight in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office building starting at 5:30 as I stand vigil during the vote. Wear your white coat if you have one. Bring a small sign. We will be in full view of many of the senate offices and our presence will make a difference (believe me that our absence will tell the senators that the support for single payer is not strong).   I hope to see you tonight! If you can't make it, you can watch it at www.c-span.org. And if you havn't already, please call your senators and ask them to vote "yes" on SA 2837!   Best, Margaret Flowers, M.D. mdpnhp@gmail.com 410-591-0892   Make the calls to Sen. Harry Reid and your U.S. Senators TONIGHT: Washington, D.C., office: (202) 224-3542 Las Vegas, NV, office: (702) 388-5020 U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 Peace - onward.  We shall overcome.  Healthcare is a basic human right. We need a massive outpouring of faxes and phone calls to the office of Harry Reid, who is the key to getting a vote on Sen. Sanders' amendment.  Click here to send your fax now to your Senators and to Sen. Reid urging a vote on SA 2837, the Sanders single payer amendment.   Click here to send your fax now to your Senators and Senator Reid Then call the offices of your Senators (numbers here). Then call the office of Sen. Reid (202) 224-3542 to ask him to allow floor debate and a vote on SA 2837. Click here to send your fax now to Senator Reid...

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On KQED Public Radio's Forum for Wednesday, 12/16

9am  Forum with Michael Krasny
Prospects for Health Care Legislation
Senators hope to get a national health care bill passed before the holidays. But the latest version in the Senate omits two provisions sought by most democrats: a new government-run insurance plan and the expansion of Medicare. We discuss whether we'll have a bill by 2010, and what it might look like. Guests include Mary Agnes Carey, senior correspondent for Kaiser Health News, a nonprofit news organization and a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

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Washington Post:

Senate health bill unlikely to include Medicare buy-in

DEMOCRATS SET TO SCALE BACK

Insufficient support for public-option alternative

By Shailagh Murray and Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 

Senate Democratic leaders appeared poised Monday night to abandon efforts to create a government-run insurance safety net in their push for health-care reform, as they attempted to close ranks around a bill they hoped would win the backing of all 60 members of their caucus.

Democratic negotiators had already disappointed liberal lawmakers by jettisoning a full-fledged public insurance plan a week earlier. Last night, party leaders conceded that a key portion of the compromise they crafted to replace the public option -- a proposal allowing people as young as 55 to buy into Medicare -- also did not have sufficient support from Democratic moderates to overcome a likely Republican filibuster...

(above from:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/14/AR2009121401580.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics}