Call to Action: Health Care for All

Dear friends,

Once again I'm asking you to take action to fix our broken health care system.

48 Million Uninsured Americans, in a system that demands it.

17 Million Underinsured Americans, who use health care only when it is too late.

More than half of individual bankruptcy filings in NC related to medical bills, with about three-quarters of those individuals health-insured at the time they got sick.

A country that spends twice as much per capita on health care than other developed countries, yet ranks lower in health outcomes.

A system where 2/3 of health care spending is financed by public dollars, where private insurance companies announce record-breaking profits, yet 65 million go without the insurance they need to be healthy.

The system is broken, irrevocably broken, and it is time to replace it.


Our opponents in this battle, and it will be a battle, are the special interests that benefit from this system. The insurance companies who make billions while babies, children, and adults die for lack of proper health care will be the major opponents of Health Care for All. But, all the millions they will spend to defeat this principle can be overcome by one simple thing - your vote. Your vote counts the same as the CEO of BCBS, it counts the same as the vote of the CEO of United Health Care, and your legislator needs that vote in order to remain in office.

Self-preservation is a powerful instinct, and we need to take advantage of that. We need to flood the offices of our legislators with phone calls, FAXes, and emails to let them know that Health Care for All is a right, not a privilege. We need to let them know that the people of North Carolina demand an Up or Down vote, to decide whether health care is a right or a privilege. We need to let them know that we want them not just to support, but to cosponsor the Health Care for All legislation that Verla Insko will be introducing this week!

The Health Care for All legislation takes on the for-profit health care lobby in a completely different way, not head-on with a 10,000 page plan to cover all citizens, nor by calling ONLY for a single-payer system to destroy their operations, but by allowing the people of North Carolina a simple Up or Down Vote.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. Article I of the North Carolina Constitution is amended by adding a new section to read:
"Sec. 38. Health care.
Health care is an essential safeguard of human life and dignity, and there is an obligation for the State to ensure that every resident is able to realize this fundamental right...

SECTION 2. The amendment set out in Section 1 of this act shall be submitted to the qualified voters of the State...The question to be used in the voting systems and ballots shall be:

[ ] FOR [ ] AGAINST

Constitutional amendment providing that health care is a fundamental right."

An Up or Down vote for Health Care as a fundamental right. This same plan of action was used by those who supported giving an education to all of our children, not just those who were wealthy enough to pay for it. The people agreed that education was a fundamental right and it became the job of the state to see to it. We can do this again, we can make it a right that every person in North Carolina be guaranteed health care, then pass the job on to the legislature and Governor to decide how best to make that a reality.

You MUST ACT NOW! Recent polls showed that 51% of North Carolinians supported Universal Health Care, while an overwhelming 61% favored having the state government sponsor a plan to provide health insurance for everyone.

Find your NC House Representative.

Call your NC House of Representative member.

Email your NC House of Representative member.

FAX your NC House of Representative member.

Using a new feature, send an email to ALL the NC House of Representative members.

Ask them to cosponsor Rep. Verla Insko's Health Care for All bill. Tell them it is time to give the PEOPLE an Up or Down vote on whether Health Care is a Right or a Privilege.