This Friday, January 15, is national call-in day to promote a single-payer healthcare system. Here is the official page with information on HR676 and

This Friday, January 15, is national call-in day to promote a single-payer healthcare system. Here is the official page with information on HR676 and how to contact your congressperson. Also, you can call (202) 225-3121 and ask to be connected to the office of your Representative or your Senators (you can also look up their direct numbers using your zip code here)

Being in the healthcare community, I find it hard to believe that so many people don't support this concept. One of the big arguments is whether healthcare is a right or a privilege and when you work in the medical field, it is obvious that it should be a right, just like having a firefighter to put out your burning house, or a police officer to rescue you from an assailant, everyone should have basic medical care. We often hear the term "socialized" attached to single-payer healthcare as a fear tactic because of the negative stigma still associated with the term socialism. Single-payer, however, is not government run healthcare, it is private healthcare with government paying the bills instead of insurance companies. Essentially nothing will change with how you interact with your physician or clinic, but rather than insurance companies artificially driving up costs and making profits on people's health, denying legitimate claims, and costing an extra 15% or more in administrative costs, medicare and medicaid will cover everyone! Costs overall will decrease, and the out of pocket expense to the individual will be lower than the current system. If we can combine this with a massive expansion in public health education and services, along with major tort reform to revamp medical liability, we might just be able to improve our status from spending more money per capita than any other country, yet ranking number 37 in the world in quality of health care. Shameful.

Please call in on Friday and make your voice heard!