March 22, 2016

SUPPORT FOR A SINGLE PAYER, MEDICARE FOR ALL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM HAS MY VOTE

As unions, public health committees, healthcare professionals and caregivers, political organizations, elected officials and concerned individuals living and working in New York State, we place our highest priority on the achievement of universal healthcare and continued progress in access to quality healthcare for all.



We believe that healthcare should be a right, not a privilege, for all who live in the United States.



Towards this paramount goal, essential to the health and safety of our country, we are united in a long-standing effort to achieve a Single Payer, Medicare for All healthcare system that would provide care on the basis of patient need and bring to an end the profiteering of the health insurance industry.



We are resolved that the time for transition to a Single Payer, Medicare for All system is now.



This is one of the critical reasons we are supporting Senator Bernie Sanders, whose principled support for a Single Payer, Medicare for All system is a centerpiece of his campaign platform, in the New York Democratic Presidential Primary on April 19, 2016. Senator Sanders’ position is most consistent with our own principles and values and he deserves our vote.

We wish to express our respect for our allies in the labor, healthcare for all, civil rights and social justice movements that have given their backing to the candidacy of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. We are committed to uniting with these allies and others to ensure the defeat of the dangerous agenda of certain right-wing Republican candidates in the General Election.

We agree with the position of Democrats, many Independents, Green Party and select Republicans that the extreme politics of certain sectors which are making gains within the Republican Party -- defined by hate, inequality and violence -- place the nation in peril.



We are further resolved to work with all like-minded Americans and residents of our country to mobilize a strong vote in opposition to any of these right-wing candidates in the General Election, November 8, 2016.

Communication Workers of America

Communication Workers of America, Local 1180

CWA District 1 Health Care Coordinating Council

AFGE Local 3369, Social Security Administration

New York State Nurses Association, Board of Directors

National Nurses United

New England Joint Board, UNITE-HERE

Moveon.org

Working Families Party

Annette Guadino, Campaign For New York Health*

Elizabeth Rosenthal, MD, Board Member, Physicians for a National Health Program New York Metro Chapter*

Daniel Neghassi, MD, Board Member, Physicians for a National Health Program New York Metro Chapter*

Hannah Moreira, Medical Student Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Board Member, Physicians for a National Health Program New York Metro Chapter*

NYC Councilman Rafael Espinal

NY Assemblyman Luis Sepúlveda

NY State Senator Bill Perkins

*organization listed for identification purposes only