Take Action

See 22 Action Ideas at Bottom of Page.

Tell Congressmembers: Rangel, Dingell, and Stark Call Congress: 1-866-338-1015

We are Counting on Them for Single Payer! Tell Speaker Pelosi too.  She must move forward with Hearings for H.R. 676, (and your job is to keep signing on more Members of Congress as endorsers.)

Mr. and Ms. Congress Member:

WE ELECTED YOU.

NOW IS THE TIME for you, our powerful Members of Congress whom we elected, to hold hearings on national healthcare and the other issues of grave importance to us. The nationwide polls were clear. "Over 70% of the voters have said over and over again that a solution to the healthcare crisis is their most important domestic issue."  We have suffered enough.   Please don't disappoint us. 

EVERYBODY TAKE ACTION!

We need the Congress Members we elected to hold hearings on H.R. 676.  We have waited way too long for this moment. 

Chairman Charles Rangel, of the House Ways and Means Committee is key to holding hearings on H.R. 676.  Also Congressman Pete Stark, the Chair of the Sub-Committee on Health of the House Ways and Means Committee should call for hearingsl.  Chairman John Dingell of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will also be holding hearings.   It is up to all of us to urge them to hold official hearings and include H.R. 676 in those hearings.  Our idea is to call on them in person, go wherever they are appearing, organize delegations to meet with them, send postcards and faxes, and telephone their healthcare staff. 

Call Congress: 1-866-338-1015

For years, we have been told by the politicians and the media that single payer is, without doubt, the most economical and most comprehensive and best healthcare system we could provide for this country, but that there was no movement to support it. 

But now we have the movement for single payer.  It rose up to elect a new Congress and it will need to be channeled to take action.  We elected a new batch of Congress people. Now we (and they) have to take the next step.  They should hear from us now and every day until they hold the hearings and put single payer, national healthcare on the table for discussion and passage.

No Compromise on Basic Principles

We can’t accept compromise responses, or incremental excuses that continue to pour more of our national treasure into the coffers of the insurance and drug companies. We require a national non-profit healthcare system that serves everyone. 1/3rd of our people are either uncovered or undercovered for healthcare.  1/3rd of the money we spend on healthcare is wasted on insurance company profits, CEO salaries, marketing, lobbying and other non-healthcare extravagances. We can afford a national healthcare system for all children and their parents and grandparents if we create a single payer system -- no insurance companies no unnecessary middleman..  We can afford prescription drugs for everyone if we make Medicare the negotiator on prices and if we are able to purchase drugs as a nation of 300 million -- one big purchasing pool. 

"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane." Martin Luther King, Jr

We are already paying for a national healthcare system -- just not getting it.

Our healthcare money is being eaten up by profits. With a non-profit system (single payer guaranteed healthcare for everybody, we have the potential to have the greatest healthcare system in the world.

Our failure is not that we are spending money using too much healthcare. It is that the profit-makers are taking about one third or more of our healthcare dollars and leaving 1/3rd of our people uninsured or underinsured. If we are to have a great healthcare system, we must elect public officials who respect democracy and listen to their constituents. Contact our office to find out what you can do, info@healthcare-now.org and check out thelist of actions below that you can take right now.

Order your yard signs from our Resource Page. You could put Healthcare-NOW! on these yard signs as well as your own information. Or Call for Congressional Hearings on your yard signs! 

You can also simply make a tax-deductible contribution right now via Secure Donations by Groundspring.  Or make a monthly pledge.  That is even better!  Click the icon at the top right of this page. "Donate Now!"

1. We have an interactive internet campaign intended to reach millions and get them involved; Send a message to your friends to join us. Send email lists of people who would be interested to info@healthcare-now.org
2. You can help organize a Healthcare-NOW Truth Hearing like the ones in over 200 cities educating and mobilizing the public and calling on Congress to provide the healthcare we need. Some cities have had two or three hearings already and are continuing to build the movement through this method.
3. EVENTS Rallies, debates, seminars, demonstrations, candidate forums, film festivals and conferences in cities and towns nationwide show the desperate need for healthcare information a solution to the health care crisis; LINK: See the resources on these pages.
4. Film Showings in our communities help people understand the depths of the crisis and organize community networks to respond; LINK: See how to do it and a list of films.
5. Speaker Training by Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP); Invite a speaker from Healthcare-NOW or PNHP. pnhp@aol.com
6. City and State organizing. Create resolutions in favor of a national healthcare system that would provide for guaranteed healthcare coverage; Sample Resolutions
7. Study groups to read and discuss the important books or articles in our NEWS section exposing the prescription drug industry and the insurance companies. Call Healthcare-NOW, 1-800-453-1305, for suggestions.
8. A Letter Writing Brigade --Join the brigade to write letters to the editor and other follow-up actions. jkallio1@aol.com
9. Sunday Night at the Movies (or Friday or Tuesday, whatever) Organize a regular film evening in your neighborhood to show Healthcare-NOW films and to focus on Michael Moore's next film about the HMO's and the health care profiteers. Invite Congress Members and other elected officials and their staff to come explain their position on national healthcare for all. Make some popcorn!
10. Linkage with seniors and others in the affordable prescription drug movement including support for communities and individuals who are seeking to purchase prescription drugs from other countries;
11. Material support. Make a Pledge to Healthcare-NOW.  Or Join Healthcare-NOW and contribute some bucks along with your time and your talents.  We have a great campaign, but it could be better and much bigger.
12. Invite speakers for mini-conferences and debates, training and discussion at labor unions, faith and community groups. Show a short film such as “The Prom.” or "California One Care."
13. Hold educational fora with elected officials – state, federal and local;
14. Work on your governor and urge him/her to join with other governors to endorse H.R. 676 as the best way to deal with the State by State financial crisis.  Many states have tried to create a healthcare system, but so far, none has succeeded in figuring out how to pay for it and cover everybody.  The insurance companies prevail every time.
15. Do some Media Outreach to get increased understanding of the need for universal health care... Like call in to talk shows and write letters to the editors of newspapers -- small and large.  Write to the blogs too!  Get on the list for our Rapid Response Network jkallio1@aol.com
16. Organize in the Parks and the Streets; take copies of the petition and other materials. Get lots of signatures and send them to Healthcare-NOW. We will take them in large batches to Congress.
17. DIRECT ACTION AC/DC -- Accompany people who are being denied healthcare; join them in challenging their denial.
18. Hold Student Campus Teach-Ins with our Generation Debt Network; Organize Campus Chapters of Healthcare-NOW.
19. Get copies of the Healthcare-NOW petition and get it signed everywhere; send copies to HCN for Congress. 
20. Collect the stories of those who are being denied healthcare; take them to the Truth Hearings nationwide.
21. Hold a Healthcare NOW Truth Hearing in your community and send the testimony to Congressman Rangel's Ways and Means Committee
22. Make alliance with the veterans who are fighting for the healthcare they need.