Hello One and All:  If you’re still concerned about the lopsided way that we fund health insurance, and the colossal mess that is the health care bill in Washington, come to the statehouse on January 6th and join the Vermont Worker’s Center (VWC) and let our legislators that we elect know that we are furious and want a just and sane health care system.  Below is the who, what, where, when, how of it.  There is also a hearing on January 12th, where people can testify about their suffering in our sick system in front of the Health and Welfare Committee and Doug Racine and Steve Maier.    

Huge Statehouse Event to Kickoff New Legislative Session

Thousands of Vermonters Say: Healthcare Is A Human Right

WHEN:     12 noon, Wednesday, January 6, 2010

WHERE:   Cedar Creek Room, Vermont Statehouse, Montpelier

WHAT:     Postcards signed by over four thousand Vermonters calling for action of single payer healthcare bills and supporting healthcare as a human right will be delivered to the leadership of the Vermont Legislature.  Receiving the cards will be Speaker of the House Shap Smith, Senate Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, and Senator Doug Racine and Rep. Steve Maier, who both chair of the Healthcare Committees in the Senate and House.

BACKGROUND:   In 2008, the Vermont Workers’ Center launched the Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign and on May 1, 2009 organized a “Healthcare Is A Human Right” Rally at the Statehouse which drew over twelve hundred participants and was the largest weekday rally in the state’s capitol history. Over the past few months the campaign has organized a series of nine People’s Forums on Healthcare across the state with over 70 state legislators and more than 800 people participating to date. At the December 1st Chittenden County People’s Forum in Colchester, Senator Racine announced that joint hearings on single payer bills H.100 and S.88 will begin on January 12 and the VWC is organizing hundreds of people to attend. On January 10, the last People’s Forum on Healthcare is being held in Vergennes for Addison County legislators, including Rep. Steve Maier, Health Committee Chair.