Guaranteed Healthcare

By Donna Smith, community organizer, CNA/NNOC 

ROCHESTER, NY -- Seems I just got off that 1980 school bus touring the southeastern U.S. and stumping for HR676, single payer healthcare reform.  But that was 10 months and 24 states ago, and the mood in this country is shifting.

Here in New York in just three days, I have meet with more than 500 people (like the Raging Grannies pictured above in Rochester) to talk about single payer -- publicly funded, privately delivered healthcare. And while the audiences have varied greatly in age and economic status, the support for true reform and the desire to fully understand is much greater than it was in late 2007.

 You see, creating hope and energy sometimes has its own unintended consequences.  And this time, people are beginning to sense a shift that could actually mean the era of selfish and nationally damaging greed is winding to a close.  And I can almost hear a collective sigh of relief tempered with the reality that a lot of hard work over the next few weeks will be required of all who care.

At St. John Fisher College, more than 140 students listened attentively to a presentation on single payer and then asked excellent questions about funding sources and some of the myths they've heard about getting the for-profit motive out of our healthcare.

We talked about single payer being a wonderful and uniquely American way to blend an idea form the left side of the political spectrum -- public funding -- with an idea from the right - private delivery.  The students were pleased to hear that patients -- not insurance companies -- will choose where to seek care under HR676.

At Monroe Community College, students wanted to know how to get involved and where they could tell their own stories.  In a health policy class at the University of Rochester, 120 undergraduate students admitted they knew little of the reform called single payer and then dove in to ask great questions about how their own lives might be altered by health insurance company records already gathered as they made their way through childhood and on to college covered by plans secured by parents and guardians.  They took notes about websites like opensecrets.org (to see where their own representatives are getting their campaign funds) and thomas.gov (for up-to-date information on HR676 progress) and pnhp.org (where doctors put forward the single payer case) and guaranteedhealthcare.org (right here where nurses gather patients' stories).

The the morning drive-time classic rock station WCMF, the Break Room program was filled with single payer talk.  Yes, a rock radio station fit in single payer interviews right in the middle on the morning traffic reports and  the DJ's banter.  For 15 minutes, the popular show let healthcare reform fills Rochester's airwaves.

Our road show then toured St. Joseph's Neighborhood Center and then held a rally and press conference.  You can read about it here: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20080906/NEWS01/809060337/1002/NEWS

The Sisters Of St. Joseph assured the rally crowd that when single payer healthcare reform passes and everyone has healthcare, they'll sure have plenty of other work to do in the world if their community health center isn't needed to serve the uninsured and underinsured. Amen, sisters.

Then on to the Canandaigua Unitarian Universalist Church where 50 more people gathered on a balmy Friday evening to learn more about HR676 and single payer.  With beautiful farm-grown peaches and home-baked goodies in hand, attendees once again asked thoughtful questions and expressed support.

In just three days, more than 500 people have attended road show events.  And of those 500, more than two-thirds were new to the idea of single payer reform.  The movement is moving, and we're not preaching to the saved on this trip.  The good people of New York are ready for change. 

As we pulled away from each venue, we heard people energized to work together through the election and beyond to be a part of a more positive nation and a part of confirming that in these United States, healthcare is indeed a basic human right.

Onward to Syracuse.