Physicians for a National Health Program

The Western Washington Chapter of a Physicians for a National Health Program, a group that supports the establishment of a single-payer health-care system for the United States, will hold its monthly meeting this Wednesday evening, Dec. 17.

The meeting will focus on responding to President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team’s call for community discussions on health-care reform.

The Obama transition team is asking those interested in health-care reform to organize “Health Care Community Discussions” in homes, community centers, cafes and other venues between December 15th and the 31st.

People interested in organizing discussions can sign up on the transition team’s website, and the team will provide discussion leaders with a “moderator kit” that will give the discussion leaders “everything [they would] need to get the discussion going.”

Physicians for a National Health Program is concerned that the single-payer plan is not being given serious consideration by the Obama team. 

Instead, incoming administration officials and Democratic congressional leaders appear to be favoring reforms that couple the existing private-insurance system with government subsidies.

Reform efforts by states employing such “hybrid” systems have always failed, Physicians for National Health Program officials argue, because they do not control costs.

Medicare, on the other hand, an efficient, single-payer system, has already been shown to work, they contend.

The meeting will be held at Swedish Medical Center’s Cherry Hill Campus (formerly the site of Providence Hospital) in JAMES TOWER, 1st floor, Room D. Directions here.

To learn more:

• Go to the website of the Western Washington Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program.
• To learn more about the Health Care Community Discussions go to the Obama Transition Team’swebsite.