September 11th First Responders Lead Emotional Rally at State Capitol Tuesday

Workers Featured in Sicko Serve as Reminder of Need for Genuine Reform-- Nurses Pledge to Continue Campaign for Guaranteed Healthcare for All During Schwarzenegger’s Upcoming Special Session

International Nurses Panel Lauds Guaranteed Healthcare Systems

Two 9-11 rescue workers featured in Michael Moore’s Sicko will lead a delegation of several hundred registered nurses to the State Capitol for a rally in support of the kind of guaranteed healthcare they desperately needed after their heroic rescue efforts--but were denied by a healthcare system that focuses more on the profits of insurance companies than on the needs of patients.  They will be joined in their plea by other patients featured in Sicko who were victimized by the for-profit insurance industry.

The rally comes on the heels of efforts in the California legislature on behalf of a flawed healthcare bill, AB 8, which is expected to be vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. That will set the stage for a special session in which Speaker Nunez and his allies are expected endorse a deal with the Governor for a bill that moves even further away from the dream of all Californians for guaranteed healthcare for all.

Monday morning more than 1,000 members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee and other friends stormed the Capitol to urge legislators not to support the backroom deal. With the rally, the RNs, joined by the heroic rescue workers and Physicians for a National Health Program, will continue to press the case for a reform plan, such as an improved Medicare for all, that brings an end to insurance industry profiteering and denial of care.

Among the many problems with AB 8 is that it pushes more people into insurance plans without any controls on skyrocketing costs at a time when premiums have soared 87% this decade and tens of millions of Americans face bankruptcy due to rising health costs – or simply choose not to use the care they have to pay for. AB 8 also would lock millions of Californians into substandard plans with no minimum standards, and permits insurance companies to continue to deny coverage to the sickest Californians.

The day will open with a panel of nurses from Canada, Great Britain, and Australia telling the CNA/NNOC House of Delegates at the Convention Center the real story about single-payer or national healthcare systems in their countries, describing the kind of healthcare system that Americans and Californians could have with the enactment of HR 676 in Congress or SB 840 in California.

Tuesday, September 11

• International RN panel on Guaranteed Healthcare, 10 a.m.,
  Exhibit Hall B
• September 11th Responders Lead 12:30 Capitol Rally for Healthcare—West Steps
  

CNA/NNOC represents 75,000 RNs in all 50 states, and is a leader in the national campaign for genuine healthcare reform as embodied in HR 676 in Congress, and a pioneer in winning legislative patient protections and collective bargaining contracts that have set new standards for nurses across the nation.  For more information about CNA/NNOC, see www.calnurses.org.