Healthcare-Now!
From KeyWiki
Healthcare-Now! is a 501c4 organization that actively works to bring about a single-payer health care system in the United States. It is a member of the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care. It was was formed in 2004, originally under the name of the Campaign for a National Health Program NOW, when it held its first meeting, the conference entitled “Health Care Crisis and Election of 2004.” Representative John Conyers and Kim Gandy, President of the National Organization for Women (NOW) were among the famous attendees.
Healthcare-Now is affiliated with Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) and the California Nurses Association (CNA).[1]
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Leadership
The following are the 2009 Healthcare-Now! Co-chairs, as of November 25, 2009:[2]
- Marilyn Clement, National Coordinator, Healthcare-NOW
- Dr. Quentin Young, National Coordinator, Physicians for a National Health Program
- Leo Gerard, President, United Steelworkers Union
- Jim Winkler, General Secretary, General Board of Church and Society United Methodist Church
- Rose Ann DeMoro, Executive Director of the California Nurses Association
Board of Directors
The following are members of the Board of Directors, as of November 25, 2010:[2]
- Dr. Byllye Avery, Professor, Columbia University and Founder of the National Black Women's Health Project
- Nurah Ammat Ullah, Muslim Women's Institute for Research and Development
- Barbara Baylor, M.P.H., Minister for Health and Wellness Program, United Church of Christ, Cleveland, Ohio
- Don Bechler, Veteran Healthcare Activist, San Francisco
- Adrienne Maree Brown, League of Young Voters and the Ruckus Society, San Francisco, CA
- Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK, San Francisco. CA
- Flavio Casoy, Medical Student Association
- Hilary Chiz, Steelworkers, Pittsburgh, PA
- Dr Charlie Clements, Director, Unitarian Universalist Service Association, Boston
- Marilyn Clement, National Coordinator,Healthcare-NOW, New York, NY
- Mark Dudzik, The Labor Party, Washington, D.C.
- Rebecca Elgie, Co-Director of The Tompkins County Health Care Task Force
- Dr Oliver Fein, President, Physicians for a National Health Program, NY
- Sandy Fox, Organizer Activist for Healthcare-NOW, Pittsburgh
- Dr Ida Hellander, Executive Director, Physicians for a National Health Program, Chicago
- Dr David Himmelstein, Co-Founder, Physicians for a National Health Program, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
- John Horgan, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Boston
- Susie Johnson, Executive Secretary for Public Policy, United Methodist Church, Women's Division, Washington, D.C.
- Molly Klopot, NY President, The Women's International League for Peace & Freedom, NY Branch
- Reverend Peter Laarman, Executive Director, Progressive Christians Uniting, Los Angeles, CA
- Sister Beth LeValley, Co-Founder of Greater Rochester Interfaith Health Care Coalition, Director of communications, Sisters of Saint Joseph of Rochester Rochester, NY
- Michael Lighty, Director of Public Policy, California Nurses Association
- Robin Lloyd, Community Activist, Burlington, VT
- John Lozier, Executive Director, National Health Care for the Homeless Council, Nashville, TN
- Rabbi Robert Marx, Chicago, Former Chairman of the Board of the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice
- Margie Rece, Organizer/Activists for Healthcare-NOW, Atlanta
- Art Richter, Business Coalition for Single Payer
- Cecil Roberts, President, United Mineworkers of America, Washington, DC
- Ethel Long Scott, Executive Director, Women's Economic Agenda Project, Oakland. CA
- Ray Stever, President, Industrial Unions Council
- Liz Theoharis, The Employment Project, New York, NY
- Miriam Thompson, Activist Organizer, NC
- Kay Tillow, Labor Organizer, Louisville, KY
- Jaime Torres, DPM, President, Latinos for National Health Insurance, New York,, NY
- Dr Lucius Walker, Executive Director, Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, New York, NY
- Dr Quentin Young, National Coordinator, Physicians for a National Health Program, Chicago, IL
"Single - payer" movement
According to Michael Lighty, a former National Director of Democratic Socialists of America, and Director of Public Policy for the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, writing in DSA's Democratic Left, Winter 2007/2008 .[3]
- There’s a growing movement for single-payer universal healthcare. The movement is led by activists in Healthcare-Now!, doctors in the Physicians for a National Health Program, nurses in the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, leaders in labor unions such as United Steelworkers of America and Communication Workers of America, activists in the Progressive Democrats of America, and Congressman John Conyers, with the support for HR 676 by 300 union locals, 75 Central Labor Councils, and 25 state Federations of Labor, and hundreds of clergy and faith-based organizations, as well as civil rights, women’s and healthcare advocacy groups in the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Healthcare.
- The policy proposals developed by Beltway think tanks and the principles for reform adopted by the AFL-CIO confer support for single-payer while allowing for private insurance-based approaches as well. Other bills in Congress, notably sponsored by Ted Kennedy and John Dingell and “Americare” introduced by Pete Stark, seek to incrementally establish a single-payer system.
