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Published byThe Albany Project. 
The Progressive Democrats of America have led the charge calling for a single-payer health care system to be brought to the United States. The legislation that would bring a single-payer system to the U.S. is H.R. 676, also referred to as the United States National Health Care Act or the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act.
Last night, the local chapter of PDA--the Progressive Democrats of Genesee Valley--held a health care forum at the Rochester Museum of Science featuring five guest panelists, including Rep. John Conyers, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee and also is the sponsor of H.R. 676, along with Congressman Eric Massa, who is a co-sponsor of H.R. 676 and has made health care a top priority of his in Congress.
They were joined by Jeff Cohen, a media critic and associate professor of journalism at Ithaca College, where he is also the founding director of the Park Center for Independent Media. Cohen served as the moderator for the forum.
Mimi Kennedy, who serves as PDA's Advisory Board chair, also served on the panel. Kennedy is an actress and has many roles to her credit. Perhaps her best known performance is playing Dharma's mom Abby on the ABC sitcom "Dharma & Greg."
Dr. Theodore Brown also sat on the panel and discussed the history of the health care fight in the United States and how there are similarities with previous fights for improved health care. He is a professor at the University of Rochester.
The focus of the event was clear: How do we achieve a single-payer health care system in this country? The legislation is there. There is strong support for health care reform. All it takes (and that sounds easy, although it isn't) is for Congress to pass legislation (H.R. 676) to achieve the goal of a single-payer system.
Many of those who asked questions wondered when we would get this done and why it hasn't been achieved yet. Melanie Funchess, whose story was told in the Democrat and Chronicle last week, received a standing ovation after telling her story. Melanie's husband was diagnosed with stage four non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2000 and given two weeks to live. In the years that have followed, Melanie's family has had to deal with insurance companies (she contributes this to not knowing "prior authorization", which is something insurance companies utilize to grant doctors permission to go ahead with treatment if it is covered) and filed for bankruptcy. Melanie's story was a powerful one and drew a great response for the crowd and gave us several reasons why we need a public (and improved) health care system in this country.
All the panelists had a chance to address the crowd before the question-and-answer part of the program. One of the best cases for single-payer health care came from Congressman Massa, a cancer survivor himself who was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given months to live. He credited the health care system he was a part of--the veterans health care system--for why he was able to receive top-notch medical care in his hour of need.
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