And so, as the May 5 meeting approached, we prepared for another one of the highly scripted, well-protected events that are supposed to make up the "health care debate" using standard tools of advocacy. We organized call-in days and faxes to the members of the committee requesting the presence of one single-payer advocate at the table of 15. Despite thousands of calls and faxes, the only reply — received on the day before the event — was, "Sorry, but no more invitations will be issued."

We knew that this couldn’t be correct. We had heard Sen. Baucus say on that very same day that "all options were on the table." And so, the next day, we donned our suits and traveled to Washington. We had many knowledgeable single-payer advocates in our group. And as the meeting started, one of us, Mr. Russell Mokhiber, stood up to say that we were here and we were ready to take a seat. And he was promptly removed from the room.

In that moment, it all became so clear. We could write letters, phone staffers, and fax until the machines fell apart, but we would never get our seat at the table.

The senators understand that most people want a national health system and that an improved Medicare for All would include everybody and provide better health care at a lower cost. These facts mean nothing to most of them because they respond to only one standard tool of advocacy: money, and lots of it.

The people seated at the table represented the corporate interests: private health insurers and big business and those who support their agenda. The people whose voices were heard all represented organizations which pay huge sums of money to political campaigns. These interests profit greatly from the current health care industry and do not want changes that will hurt their large, personal pocketbooks.

And so, we have entered a new phase in the movement for health care as a human right: acts of civil disobedience. It is time to directly challenge corporate interests. History has shown that in order to gain human rights, we must be willing to speak out and risk arrest. We must engage in actions that expose corporate fraud and corruption. We must make our presence known.

And that is why the eight of us, knowledgeable health care advocates and providers, most of us parents, some of us grandparents, spoke out one-by-one at the Senate Finance Committee. And it is why we will continue to speak out and encourage others to do the same. Our voices must be strong enough to drown out the influence of corporate dollars.

Health care must become the civil rights movement of this decade. The opportunity is here. And we can create a single-payer national health care system.

Yes, we can.

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Dr. Margaret Flowers is a pediatrician in Baltimore and co-chair of the Maryland chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP). Her statement was co-signed by Mark Dudzic, Labor Campaign for Single Payer; Russell Mokhiber, Single Payer Action; Carol Paris, M.D., PNHP; Katie Robbins, Healthcare-NOW!; Pat Salomon, M.D., PNHP; Adam Schneider, B’more Housing for All; and Kevin Zeese, ProsperityAgenda.us.

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Action Update:

Please do your part in follow-up to this. The "get" we are trying to get is Single Payer representation at the Roundtables. The next one is May 14. Please call both the committee office and the senators' offices and ask for this.

Senate Finance Commitee: 202-224-4515

MAX BAUCUS, MT: 202-224-2651

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, WV: 202-224-6472

KENT CONRAD, ND: 202-224-2043

JEFF BINGAMAN, NM: 202-224-5521

JOHN F. KERRY, MA: 202-224-2742

BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, AR: 202-224-4843

RON WYDEN, OR : 202-224-5244

CHARLES E. SCHUMER, NY: 202-224-6542

DEBBIE STABENOW, MI: 202-224-4822

MARIA CANTWELL, WA: 202-224-3441

BILL NELSON, FL: 202-224-5274

ROBERT MENENDEZ, NJ: 202-224-4744

THOMAS CARPER, DE: 202-224-2441

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Update 2 - Ed Schultz interviews Dr. Margaret Flowers (that's her on the still shot) on MSNBC:

P.S.: Stabenow dissembling answer about "keeping what you have"... that is what the Pete Stark bill is: Expanded and Improved Medicare for All, but keep what you have if you want to. I call it "Public Option on steroids." But that too has been declared off limits.