State-wide Rally & Lobby Day for single payer in Sacramento today

Today, Monday, January 11, 2010, busloads of medical, nursing and public health students as well as single payer advocates from all over the state of California, including the the Bay Area, will converge in Sacramento for a noon rally and an afternoon of lobbying legislators to support the enactment of California's single payer legislation, SB 810 the California Universal Healthcare Act.

The event's organizers are from the "California Health Professional Student Alliance" (CAHPSA), whose members and supporters will march through the streets to the steps of the Capitol for a rally at noon. Speakers at the rally are to include San Francisco's Senator Mark Leno who is the author of SB 810, Assemblyman Paul Fong (D-Mountain View), Dr. James Kahn, President of the California Physicians Alliance, Deborah Burger of the California Nurses Association, CARA (California Association of Retired Americans) Executive Director Jodi Reid, Andrew McGuire of the California OneCare Campaign, and several CAHPSA members.

"This event will kick off the 2010 campaign for single payer in California" said Don Bechler, chair of Single Payer Now, which is sending a largely Bay Area delegation of single payer activists to Sacramento on Monday. "Our goal is to once again let the legislature and the governor know how much public support this bill has among Californians, so that it gets through the legislative process, and to the governor's desk by the end of this year. If he signs it this time, SB 810 will give everyone in California access to healthcare and save money by eliminating the insurance industry. That won't be accomplished by the current legislation in Congress." Single payer legislation has been passed twice by the California legislature -- only to be vetoed twice by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

For more information, call J.B. Fenix of CAHPSA at 203-464-1892 or Don Bechler at 415-810-5826; or email dbechler [at] value.net, or visit http://www.singlepayernow.net.

Single Payer Now is a statewide grassroots advocacy group based in San Francisco. It educates and trains activists to advocate for healthcare minus the insurance industry. In California, it works toward the enactment into law of SB 810, the California Universal Healthcare Act; and in Congress, HR 676, the U.S. National Healthcare Act. For more information, visit: http://www.singlepayernow.net.

CAHPSA is a broad-based group of health and pre-health professional students who exclusively support SB 810, the California Universal Healthcare Act, as well as the national equivalent, HR 676 / S 703. For more information, visit http://www.cahpsa.org