What would Jesus do?

Single payer.

Health care for all.

Everybody in.

Nobody out.

That’s the text on the back of t-shirts made by Single Payer Action that will be worn by a group of students at Berkeley Springs High School in Morgan County, West Virginia starting Monday.

The group is also taking out print ads in the local newspaper – the Morgan Messenger – that will run throughout December. (See ad copy here.)

And radio ads on the local country music radio station – WDHC – 92.9 FM from now until the end of the year. (Listen to 30 second ad here.)

The radio and print ads are Christmas ads with the same message as the t-shirt.

The ads quote Jesus as saying:

“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Matthew 19:21)

The ad ends with a holiday greeting – Merry Christmas from Single Payer Action.

“Health care should be be available to everyone in the United States – just like other industrialized countries,” said Emily Yarrington, a junior at Berkeley Springs High School. “We are making an action by wearing these shirts and making other advertisements to make our community more aware of the situation.”

“Forty-five thousand people die in the United States every year because they don’t have money to pay for health insurance,” said Rachel Wurster a sophomore at the high school. “No matter what you believe, 45,000 people dead is not acceptable.”