March 18, 2018
Congressman Keith Ellison
2263 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Congressman Ellison,
Congratulations on assuming the lead sponsorship of HR 676, the national single payer legislation, and thank you for your courage to take on this important role. Since 2003 when Congressman John Conyers first introduced HR 676, our committee has been working with him to build union support for the bill from the grassroots to the top of the labor movement.
Our committee has won the endorsement of HR 676 from 637 union organizations across the country. As of today 158 Central Labor councils and 44 State AFL-CIO Federations, including the Minneapolis and St. Paul CLC’s and the Minnesota State AFL-CIO, have endorsed HR 676. The complete list of those unions is on our website at http://unionsforsinglepayer.org/union_endorsers/
Since HR 676, the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act, was introduced it has served as the standard by which to judge any plan for a universal, comprehensive, efficient system for single payer healthcare in the U. S. The legislation grew out of a proposal that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) authored by medical doctors who were members of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP). Many of these physicians assisted Congressman Conyers with the writing of HR 676.
HR 676 is an integral whole. From its removal of insurance companies and investor owned for-profit hospitals to its progressive funding; from its provision for displaced workers to its removal of co-pays, deductibles, and premiums; from its global budgeting of hospitals and its immediate implementation to its concept of saving from administrative waste to better the care of everyone and extend it to all, HR 676 is comprehensive and based on sound policy. We commit to working with you to protect HR 676 from those who would weaken it and to build the powerful movement necessary to win its passage in Congress. That movement is now stronger than ever and will rise to meet the challenge.
Thank you for your work on HR 676 and for the role that you will play in finally bringing health care to all of our people. As PNHP founder Dr. Quentin Young used to say: “Everybody In, Nobody Out.”
Sincerely yours,
Kay Tillow, Coordinator
All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care—HR 676
http://unionsforsinglepayer.org