4:48 PM Eastern - Wednesday, June 17, 2009

State Legislators to Federal Lawmakers: We Need Health Care Reform Now

Pennsylvania State Legislators Sen. Vincent Hughes, Sen. Michael O'Brien, and Rep. Cohen signed onto a letter along with 700 state legislator from every state, to the President, HHS Secretary Sebelius and leaders of Congress, asking them to support key ingredients for real health care reform. Today, a delegation of legislators from around the nation will be on Capitol Hill to meet with the White House and deliver the letter.

State legislators are at the forefront of good health care reform with states like Pennsylvania looking for ways to implement health care reform through mechanisms like Prescription for Pennsylvania.

From the letter:

Key priorities for reform are reflected in recent state initiatives and public opinion polls which show that Americans want more choices and options for quality health care. Americans recognize that the private sector alone has proven incapable of creating a high-quality, fair, and accountable health care system that works for all families. Therefore, a key priority for reform is the choice of a public health insurance plan that is available to businesses, individuals, and families.

These are elected officials who have been legislating on health care reform for years, and have a keen understanding of how burdensome our broken health care system is for state budgets and for people's pocketbooks.

Read the entire letter being delivered on the Progressive State Network's website. You can find a list of Pennsylvania state legislators after the jump.

Rep. Mark Cohen
Rep. Richard Grucela
Rep. Patrick Harkins
Sen. Vincent Hughes
Rep. Babette Josephs
Rep. Barbara McIlvaine Smith, Member, Health and Human Services Committee
Sen. Michael O'Brien
Sen. Michael O'Pake
Rep. Tony Payton, Member, Health and Human Services Committee

Spread the word

Recommendations on SEIU.org

Comments about State Legislators to Federal Lawmakers: We Need Health Care Reform Now are welcome. Off-topic comments and other violations of our community guidelines may be withheld or removed. Comments do not appear immediately after posting.
blog comments powered by Disqus