HealthCareForAmericaNow

Media Contact:
Jacki Schechner
National Communications Director
Health Care for America Now
202.510.0605



Denver, CO (August 28) - Health Care for America Now - the national grassroots campaign for quality, affordable health care for all - responds to health care policy advisor John Goodman's assertion as quoted by The Dallas Morning News that emergency room care should be considered government-paid health insurance and  "(t)he next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured" and instead, "categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.

"Mr. Goodman's solution for fixing our broken health care system is to rebrand its failings? Wow. That's not only glaring evidence of a man grossly insensitive and misinformed but also frighteningly telling as to what we can expect should someone like Mr. Goodman have a say in developing the future of health care in this country," said Richard Kirsch, National Campaign Manager, Health Care for America Now.

"What we need the next President and Congress to do is make real health care reform the first order of business in 2009. We not only need to cover the uninsured, but we also need quality, affordable health care we all can count on. We need a public plan so that we are no longer at the mercy of private insurance. And we need government to act as a watchdog - setting and enforcing rules on the unregulated, bureaucratic insurance industry that continues to insist on putting profits before people's health."

According to The Dallas Morning News, Mr. Goodman is "president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a right-leaning Dallas-based think tank" and "helped craft Sen. John McCain's health care policy."
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Health Care for America Now (“HCAN”), a section 501(c)(4) issue advocacy organization, is a broad coalition of nonprofit and political organizations that are working to promote quality, affordable health care for all Americans.  HCAN and each of its members conducts and funds only activities appropriate to its tax and election law status.

About Health Care For America Now: Launched on July 8, 2008 in Washington, DC and 52 cities (including 38 state capitals) across the country, Health Care for America Now is a national grassroots campaign committed to winning a guarantee of quality, affordable health care we all can count on. HCAN’s steering committee includes American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Americans United for Change, Campaign for America’s Future, Center for American Progress Action Fund, Center for Community Change, MoveOn.org, National Council of La Raza, National Education Association, National Women’s Law Center, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Service Employees International Union, United Food and Commercial Workers, and USAction. With more than 219 member organizations – and more joining everyday - HCAN is building a movement that will expect health care reform to be the first order of business for the new President and Congress in 2009.