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DEMOCRATIC
SOCIALISTS
OF
AMERICA
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May 19,
2009
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NEWS FROM DSA |
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Health Care Debate Heats
Up
The battle for
national health care legislation is reaching a critical point. In the House of
Representatives key committee chairs are meeting secretly, supposedly to write
the House version of the bill. In the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by
Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) has been holding open hearings with "experts" to
develop provisions for the Senate bill. The Senate is the more "conservative" of
the two houses of Congress. Proponents of the single payer approach that DSA
favors have been excluded from the Senate
process.
The exclusion of supporters of single
payer makes it much more likely that the Senate will produce a poor health care
bill, lacking even an adequate public option that would provide an alternative
to the private insurers. Demonstrators demanding the inclusion of single payer
advocates have disrupted the most recent meetings of the Senate Finance
Committee.
With the help of DSA
Vice-Chair Steve Max, we have developed a short slide show on health care that
makes the case for single payer as well as the public option. Please help ensure
that it is widely distributed. To view the slide show click here.
We are also asking you to help us pressure
the members of the Senate Finance Committee to open the debate to single payer
advocates and to support a robust public option in any bill that is reported out
of committee. It is very important that the private insurance companies
not prevail in the Senate. The Finance Committee expects to begin working on a
bill in June. I have listed the members of the Finance Committee below. If a member is from your state please send them a message
demanding:
Here is the list of members of the Senate
Finance Committee. Just click on the Senator's name to begin writing your
message.
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Paid for by Democratic
Socialists of America, 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 505, New York, NY 10038.
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