Afd Press Release 1-28-09

Alliance for Democracy Washington DC Office 3407 34th Place NW Washington DC 20016 202202-244244-0561 [email protected]

For release: January 28, 2009 Contact: Nancy Price, Co-Chair, Alliance for Democracy 530-758-0726 PST Barbara Clancy, Communications Coordinator 781-894-1179 EST The Alliance for Democracy joins the Leadership Conference in support of HR676 to provide Single-Payer Guaranteed Health Care to all Americans. Congress must put an end to the costly paperwork generated by the hundreds of complicated and redundant private insurance plans currently imposed on doctors' offices and hospitals by for-profit health insurance corporations. The estimated $350 billion in annual costs incurred for administrative overhead should be redirected to keeping Americans healthy through comprehensive Medicare for All insurance. No one should be deprived of health services and care because of income, employment, insurance or health status, place of residence, or race. It is time to put an end to the influence of corporate lobbyists in Washington and to let the voice of the people be heard. Poll after poll shows that Americans want a health care system that puts an end to the abuses of the current private health insurance system: increasing numbers of uninsured, unnecessary deaths due to lack of health insurance or timely access to care, spiraling out-of-control costs, and personal bankruptcies over half of which are due to medical debt. The healthcare crisis is deepening as hundreds of thousands of people lose their jobs and healthcare benefits. It is time to fix a system that delivers profits to the health insurance industry at the expense of people, their families and our communities. Of 28 industrialized nations with single payer universal care systems like the type proposed in HR 676, privately delivered – publicly financed, none spend as much per capita as the United States. At the same time, tragically, the U.S. ranks near the bottom among industrialized countries in indicators from life expectancy (20th) to infant mortality (23rd). A single-payer system will guarantee the human right to health by including full healthcare coverage for people of all ages, establishing a universal standard of benefits and care, instituting effective costs controls, cutting administrative waste, and ending insurance industry interference with fair and timely access to adequate and appropriate care. Equally important, a single-payer system as in HR 676 will contribute to the economic recovery of Main Street as documented by the just-released study, “Single Payer/Medicare for All: An Economic Stimulus Plan for the Nation.”

P.O. Box 540115 • Waltham, MA • 02454 • Tele: (781) 894-1179 • E-mail: [email protected] www.thealliancefordemocracy.org