State Legislators Launch Effort to Push HR 676

> A group of state legislators has initiated a nationwide effort to
> publish
> an Appeal to President Obama and members of the 111th Congress to
> support
> HR 676, single payer healthcare legislation introduced in Congress by
> Representative John Conyers, Jr. and 75 co-sponsors.
>
> Twenty four state legislators, from 16 states, have sent a copy of the
> Appeal to all 7,500 state legislators in the United States asking
> them to
> add their names to The Appeal which will be published in Roll Call, a
> widely read Capitol Hill publication.
>
> The legislators, in their letter, cite the growing "economic crisis"
> and
> "badly strained" state budgets as the reason why they are asking
> "The U.S.
> Congress … to heal our hemorrhaging state budgets while bringing
> comprehensive quality health care to all our people, by passing HR
> 676…."
>
> Co-conveners of the campaign are State Senator Jim Ferlo of
> Pittsburgh and
> Assemblyman Richard Gottfried of New York. Senators and
> representatives
> from Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,
> Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia
> and
> Wisconsin also signed the letter.
>
> Kay Tillow, Coordinator of the All Unions Committee for Single Payer
> Health Care—HR 676, welcomed the effort by these state legislators and
> urged everyone to contact their own state senator and representative
> and
> ask them to sign the Appeal.
>
> "State legislators," Tillow said, "are caught in a vice of escalating
> healthcare costs, driven largely by the for-profit insurance
> industry and
> declining revenues. Without a national single payer system, state
> budgets
> will continue in crisis and health needs will not be met."
>
> The 'Dear Colleague" letter, the 'Appeal' and other materials can be
> found
> at:
> http://www.healthcare-now.org/campaigns/state-legislators/
>
> Distributed by:
> All Unions Committee For Single Payer Health Care--HR 676
> c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO)
> 1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218
> Louisville, KY 40217
> (502) 636 1551
> Email: nursenpo@aol.com
> http://unionsforsinglepayerHR676.org
> 04/28/09
>