San Francisco Rallies in Support of Medicare for All

 

May 29, 2019

On Wednesday around 40 Medicare-for-All advocates rallied outside the Marines’ Memorial Theater in San Francisco where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was scheduled to address The Commonwealth Club.  

Image Courtesy of Marc Sapir, MD

The rally was coordinated by Single Payer Now and organizational participants included Physicians for a National Health ProgramSan Francisco Berniecrats and others. 

 

June 1, 2019

Then, on Saturday June 1, an early-morning rally was organized outside the Moscone Center where the California Democratic Convention was being held.   

The rally continued inside the center where Speaker Pelosi delivered a major speech about reproductive rights to the Women’s Caucus  in light of abortion-restrictive legislation being introduced in states such as Alabama, Missouri, Georgia and Louisiana.  

Image courtesy of Marc Sapir, MD

Jeanne Crawford, co-chair of the San Francisco Berniecrats Healthcare Committee, helped coordinate that effort, with participation by Physicians for a National Health Program, Progressive Democrats of AmericaSingle Payer Now and San Francisco Democratic Socialists of America

Image Courtesy of Tim Redmond
According to Crawford:
 
The most impactful action took place inside, as Medicare-for-All advocates joined the Women’s Caucus to hear Speaker Pelosi.  We stood in complete silence around the perimeter of the room holding signs that read “If you are not fighting for Medicare for All, you are not fighting for women’s rights,”  “Medicare-for-All legislation abolishes the Hyde amendment, forever protecting women’s access to abortion,” “Medicare-for-All saves families from medical bankruptcy,” and so forth.  When Speaker Pelosi began to speak, we all walked down the aisle – again, in complete silence. Without being disruptive or disrespectful in any way, we got the message across that Medicare-for-All is the best way to support and protect women’s reproductive rights. 

 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has opposed adding single payer to the Democratic Party platform for years. Recently, she implied that people may not understand what Medicare for All is.

On April 5, 2019, in an article titled “Nancy Pelosi urges caution on ‘Medicare for All,’ says Obamacare is best path to ‘quality, affordable’ health care,” Ashley Turner of CNBC reported:

...[Pelosi] believes when most people say they want Medicare for All, they really mean that they want health care for all.

Not so, according to Marc Sapir, MD, a member of Physicians for a National Health Program, who commented: 

The San Francisco protests were intended to highlight that the Speaker’s stated criticisms of Medicare for All have little public traction, and that we need her to support The Medicare for All Act of 2019 which would guarantee full access to care, control costs, and put a nail in the coffin of medical debt.

Speaker Pelosi’s objections to Medicare for All appear to lack a factual basis.  She currently supports reforms that sometimes sound like Medicare for All, but leave insurance companies and Wall Street with the power to push the sickest among us into public programs while skimming healthier people into their for-profit products. Until she changes her position, Speaker Pelosi will continue to face protests critical of her resistance. 

— Georgia Brewer for HEAL California

June 2, 2019

HEAL California is an independent news and information hub focused on the California Medicare for All movement. We feature non-partisan news, views, podcasts and videos that highlight the continuing failures of our broken healthcare system and elevate the voices of advocates and organizations fighting for change. 

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