One Thousand to Rally for Single-Payer Healthcare in Pennsylvania Capitol

Demand for Genuine Healthcare Reform Intensifies, Drawing Crowds from
Pennsylvania and Surrounding States

HARRISBURG, Pa., Oct. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- From towns throughout
Pennsylvania and at least 6 surrounding states, crowds of single-payer
advocates will gather in the Capitol rotunda for a rally and march from 10am
to 12pm on Tuesday, October 20. The crowd will be addressed by a host of
speakers, representing the diverse groups that support single-payer healthcare
as embodied in both state legislation (SB 400 and HB 1600) and national
legislation (HR 676 and S 703). The rally represents the increased attention
and advocacy around single-payer as current proposed health reforms are
falling short of the widely shared goals of universal healthcare coverage and
cost control.

WHO: 1000 or more healthcare advocates, members of labor unions, doctors,
nurses, and patients, along with State Representatives and Senators

WHAT: Single-Payer Healthcare Rally in Pennsylvania Capitol

WHEN: Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 10am to 12pm

WHERE: Capitol Rotunda, Harrisburg, PA

Single-payer healthcare would eliminate health insurers and instead funnel
healthcare dollars through a 'single-payer,' similar to how Medicare works.
By eliminating the bureaucracy and profit-driven motives of a private health
insurance system, single-payer would reduce costs for individuals, business,
and municipalities. It is the only proposed health plan that would guarantee
comprehensive coverage for everyone - a point admitted even by President Obama
on July 22, 2009, "Now, the truth is unless you have what's called a
single-payer system in which everyone's automatically covered, you're probably
not going to reach every single individual."

Keynote speakers will include Wendell Potter, former Cigna executive who has
testified before Congress on the tactics health insurers use to deny care and
who now advocates for single-payer; Senate Bill sponsor Senator Ferlo; AFL-CIO
President Bill George; PASNAP President and Temple University Hospital ER
nurse, Patricia Eakin; Tim Carpenter, President of Progressive Democrats of
America; and, others.

SOURCE Pennsylvania AFL-CIO

Kathleen Casey of PASNAP/NNOC, +1-610-246-1369; or Jim Deegan of AFL-CIO,
+1-717-231-2867