Dear Single Payer Supporters:

October 2008

We met last month in recognition that our prospects for grassroots single-payer activism had begun to blossom.More and more people realize that a single-payer program offers the only reform that is both practical and just when it comes to a health care solution for all inhabitants of the United States. Our initiative has met a growing positive response, particularly among union members, among nurses and doctors and other health workers and among a critical mass of community activists.

Single Payer New York aims to join those who want to turn the understanding for the that to achieve a single payer program offers the minimum increment of change we all need, that private health insurance must go, into resolute action, a movement capable of victory.

Evidence is on our side. The facts show our present health system failing. The facts demonstrate repeated failure of reforms based upon private health insurance. The facts reveal that the implementation of single-payer, from the positive record of two Medicare systems, in the US and in Canada, to the more recent triumph in Taiwan, is not only eminently feasible, but will save costs, reduce disparities, improve quality, while providing everyone access to care.

Moral imperative is on our side. Society should offer every person the best possible chance at health. The public should set health priorities. Profit-making should be banished from health care. Access to health care should not be tied to a job.

Public opinion is on our side. People are ready for a change and expectations are rising.

We met last month with an expectation that events would shift the context for our efforts.

We still look with anticipation to the elections, and to 2009, when a new Congress, a new President, and a new New York state legislature, and thousands of new local officials, take office. Together we will can be most creative, most strategic about how to advance our cause after the elections.

Now we must also consider the single payer demand in a new context: the unfolding economic crisis. Layoffs and budget cuts will further swell the ranks of the uninsured. Government austerity measures will further weaken safety net hospitals and programs -- yet will also make proposals for health reform based upon private insurance difficult to motivate.

The list of conference participants is now compiled -- Mark will add everyone to our [Single Payer New York] email listserv and we will be glad to share the list [of attendees to the Sept 13 meeting] among participants.

We also proposed to meet again in January.
Save the date: Sunday, January 11th, 2009.

Immediate Tasks

1. Outreach to counties. It is coming along but we need help identifying people who will be county coordinators. Will you help make calls and emails to find these people?


2. Yard signs are back in stock. To purchase one for a minimal donation of $5.00, please contact Connie LaPorta of 1934 Fifth Avenue, Troy, NY 12180; 518-274-4863; connie3049@earthlink.net


3. Our website needs some attention. Please send suggestions for content. Please send a pictures of your local skyline (trees/hills/buildings). But who would like to help keep the website current? (Our webmaster will help anyone learn how.)


4. Committee coordinators - please volunteer (although you may have already done so last month). Our present committees are labor, state work, HR 676 work, message and media, governance.


5. We need a new committee - planning for the January meeting. Volunteers?


6. Please invite new groups and individuals to join Single Payer New York.


7. Keep the pressure on state and congressional representatives as we head into the election. Keep up the letters to the editor!

A Congressional Town Hall Meeting on HR-676 Single Payer "Medicare for All"
with Rep. John Conyers (D-MI)
lead sponsor of HR-676, The US National Health Care Act
and co-sponsor Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY)

Also invited:
Governor Paterson, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, Representative Hinchey, and faith leaders

Sunday, March 29, 2009
2:00 - 4:30 pm
Westminster Presbyterian Church
262 State Street, Albany
(1/2 block west of State Capitol, parking entrance on Chestnut Street)


Sponsored by the Albany Presbytery
One of 10 national single payer meetings funded by the Presbyterian Church (USA)

For more information: (518) 434-7371

Co-sponsors (partial list): Interdenominational Ministers Conference, Fifth Avenue AME Zion Church of
Troy, Labor Religion Coalition of NY State, Single Payer New York, Capital District Area Labor Federation,
Capital District Alliance for Universal Health Care, Solidarity Committee of the Capital District, Physicians
for a National Health Program (PNHP) Capital District Chapter, Albany Medical College Student PNHP
Chapter, Hunger Action Network of New York State, New York State Nurses Association
www.singlepayernewyork.org

On Saturday, September 13, 2008, single payer advocates from across New York will meet in Albany to form a new statewide organization. Our aim: to build an unbeatable movement for a single payer public system that would fully fund comprehensive health care, including prescription drugs, for all. We invite all single-payer supporters to join us!

Private insurance has no legitimate role to play in the care of patients. We believe it must be replaced by a public program of health financing. Under a single-payer healthcare system, we'll spend our healthcare dollars on care, not on bureaucratic waste, profit-making and corporate gain.

Our grassroots movement has gained momentum in 2008. Healthcare-NOW and other groups organized a nationwide protest on June 19 in support of single-payer healthcare. The U.S. Conference of Mayors, the New York State Assembly, and a growing number of unions and central labor bodies have all endorsed HR 676, the National Health Insurance Act. New studies found that a majority of physicians support national health insurance. And there is renewed support for single-payer among important groups like the League of Women Voters, the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Presbyterian Church USA.

Looking ahead, healthcare will continue to be a central issue in the presidential election. And New York State, with a new governor and a changing Senate, has initiated an official evaluation and discussion of proposals for universal healthcare. Now is the time to strengthen grassroots activism in support of a single national, publicly-financed healthcare plan.

Already a wide diversity of groups and individuals across New York are working for HR 676, and also for a New York state-based single payer system. We have worked together spontaneously, organically, and successfully. We also work with many other groups that promote "universal healthcare" or "affordable healthcare," but not necessarily single payer. We are appreciative of their efforts. But the evidence is convincing that single payer reform is crucial for our state and our nation.

A formal statewide grassroots coalition will allow us to share resources, local news, publications, speakers and more. We have much to learn from one another--and from other successful state-based single payer organizations. Together we can build a vigorous single payer voice in every county in New York State?and, ultimately, a new healthcare system.

Please join us!

New York State Nurses Association
Mike Keenan, President, Troy Area Labor Council, AFL-CIO
Kathleen Scales, Executive Director, Capital District Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
Healthcare-NOW
Health Care Work Group of Otsego, Delaware & Chenango Counties
Mark Dunlea, Executive Director, Hunger Action Network of New York State
Tompkins County Health Care Task Force
Senior Legislative Action Committee of Sullivan County
League of Women Voters of Saratoga County
Patricia Friedland, member, Healthcare-NOW
Rev. Cass Shaw, Albany Presbytery
Long Island Coalition for a National Health Plan
Citizens for Universal Healthcare, Kingston
Solidarity Committee of the Capital District
Jeff Vogel, Delegate Assembly member, 1199 United Healthcare Workers East / SEIU
Joel Schwartz, President, CSEA Local 446, Staten Island Council
Christy Staats, Clifton Park Single Payer Committee
Barbara Warren, Executive Director, Citizens' Environmental Coalition
New York Metro, Syracuse, Ithaca, Capital District, and Finger Lakes chapters of Physicians for a National Health Program
Douglas Delong, MD, Physicians for a National Health Program, Cooperstown
Richard Propp, MD, Capital District Alliance for Universal Healthcare, Inc.
Doug Bullock, 8th District Representative, Albany County Legislature
Rochester Interfaith Health Care Coalition
Dr. Mo Therese Hannah Professor of Psychology, Siena College
Tompkins County Religious Task Force for a Living Wage
Gloria Mattera and Peter LaVenia, Co-Chairs, Green Party of NYS
Tompkins County Workers' Center
Saratoga County Coalition for Single Payer Health Care
Justin Cunningham, Executive Director, New York Statewide Senior Action