Advocates for a single payer Canadian style healthcare system will protest at the Department of Health and Human Services (Independence Ave. and 2nd St, SW) on Friday, April 7, 2017 beginning at noon to demand an end to the healthcare crisis in the United States.

This will be the culmination of a national week of action in support for HR 676, the single payer bill in the House.

HR 676 now has 93 co-sponsors, the most since it was originally introduced by Congressman John Conyers in 2003.

“It is time to end the market-based healthcare experiment in the United States,” said Dr. Carol Paris, a psychiatrist, the president of Physicians for a National Health Program and a steering committee member for the Health Over Profit for Everyone (HOPE) campaign. “We are the only country that treats health care as commodity and this has created disastrous results for all but the few who profiteer from this system.”

Dr. Margaret Flowers, co-director of the HOPE campaign said that “the U.S. spends twice as much per person per year on health care, yet we leave tens of millions out, have poor health outcomes and our life expectancy is declining.”

“Eighty people die every day in the wealthiest country in the world simply because they are uninsured. We have the resources to be one of the top health systems and we demand that the US take action now to address this serious crisis by immediately improving Medicare and expanding it to everyone as embodied in HR 676.”

Support for Medicare for all is growing rapidly in the United States because of popular pressure.

During this week of action, in which people called, attended town halls and met with their members of Congress, 17 new members signed on as co-sponsors of HR 676, bringing the current total to 93.

Senator Sanders had informed advocates last fall that he would not introduce legislation, but because of the push back, he has agreed to introduce a companion bill to HR 676 in the Senate next month.

In the past week political commentators — Charles Krauthammer and Fareed Zakaria — as well as two Trump advisors — Christopher Ruddy and H.F. Buckley — wrote in support of Canadian-style single payer health care.