116 CALIFORNIA DELEGATES CALL ON SPEAKER PELOSI TO SCHEDULE A FLOOR VOTE ON MEDICARE FOR ALL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Hanieh Jodat
Phone Number: 310–819–0770
Email: passthedamnbill@gmail.com
6/28/20
In the run-up to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, during Sunday’s California State Delegation Meeting, 116 California Delegates and 14 Alternates representing 50 of the state’s 53 Congressional Districts released an open letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling on her to schedule a floor vote on H.R. 1384 Medicare For All Act of 2019.
Delegates and activists will rally outside Pelosi’s San Francisco Congressional Office at 12PM PST on Monday, June 29th, before delivering the letter to her office.
The House bill, sponsored by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), has already achieved significant progress in the century-old struggle for universal healthcare in the United States of America, including reaching a historic majority of House Democrats as co-sponsors of the bill and historic first-ever Congressional hearings on Medicare For All held in December 2019.
Twenty-nine Californian House Democrats are Co-sponsors to the bill, including Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Ro Khanna, Rep. Karen Bass, and Rep. Maxine Waters.
An Edison Research/Washington Post statewide exit poll of California voters on March 3rd, 2020 found that 55% of voters supported replacing all private health insurance with a single-payer government plan for everyone. Only 36% opposed.
“Medicare For All is the single most life-saving piece of legislation that Congress could adopt. COVID-19 threatens us all, but not equally,” said Dr. Hae Min Cho, a San Francisco Delegate. “Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are dying at 4 times the general rate. Our Black brothers and sisters are dying at 2.4 times the general rate. Young Latinx folks have the highest rates of exposure in CA. Homeless neighbors, incarcerated folks, and migrants in ICE detention facilities are in much greater danger. Trans people, the elderly and poor desperately need coverage. We all need Medicare For All, now more than ever.”