Healthcare Reform Report From the Democratic Convention

Health Care Reform Report from the Campaign Trail:
Where do the Democrats stand on universal healthcare?
Does Obama’s plan bring the U.S. closer to health care reform, or will he allow the health insurance industry to continue to stand between Americans and our health care?

On Sunday, Sept. 14, two leading experts on politics and health care will discuss how the Democratic Party and their nominee for President, Barack Obama plan to address the current health care crisis; and whether Obama’s health reform proposals, if implemented, will help to resolve it.

Michael Lighty, Policy Director for the California Nurses Association (CNA), and
Norman Solomon, Co-chair of “Healthcare NOT Warfare” and member of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), are the featured speakers. Solomon recently returned from the Democratic National Convention, where he was an Obama delegate.

The Democrats made a commitment to “guaranteed healthcare” in their convention platform, but what does that really mean? Lighty and Solomon will address the question: Do Obama and the Democratic Party at the national level have a vision that will bring us closer to universal, single-payer health care?

Single payer health care would eliminate the health insurance industry in the U.S, and its
profit-driven approach to medicine. It would make health care available to everyone living in the U.S. and finally bring US healthcare accessibility in line with virtually every other industrialized nation in the world. The US ranks 37th in the world on measures of the health of its citizens, yet we pay about twice as much per person for that level of health care, while leaving about 50 million Americans uninsured.

If elected to office, would Obama be likely to support the national single payer legislation, HR 676, a.k.a. "the United States National Health Insurance Act", authored by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan? And what can citizens do to promote single-payer health care reform legislation, the only cost-effective and universal solution to a crisis that worsens the economic squeeze on employers and middle- class Americans, while leaving Americans less healthy and making the U.S. less competitive with other nations?

This event is sponsored by Single Payer Now and the California Universal Health Care Education Project.