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Letter from Dr. Margaret Flowers

--DISTRIBUTE FAR AND WIDE--

Dear Friends,

Health Justice Week is the time of year when we hold events to remember those who have suffered and died each year because they do not have access to health care in this nation. Here are some sobering facts:

1. When the 19 top industrialized nations were compared, we were found to have the highest number of preventable deaths - an estimated 101,000 people die each year from preventable causes because we do not have a health system.

2. We are the only industrialized nation in which people go bankrupt from medical debt. A recent study found that 62% of all bankruptcies are due to medical debt and 80% of those who declared medical bankruptcy had health insurance.

3. The National Census Bureau released the updated number of uninsured in the US today. There were 46.3 million uninsured people in the US last year (up from 45.7 million the year before). An additional 4 million people became uninsured but were able to qualify for public programs.

On September 16th, a new study will be released that will show the number of people who die in the US each year because they don't have access to health care. We are organizing a memorial to highlight these deaths because these deaths don't make the front page news. They are not visible to the public or to our legislators.

We need to remind the public and the politicians that health care reform is about real people. If we don't address the fundamental problems with health care in this country, then people will continue to go bankrupt, suffer and die. It is time to stop this national tragedy and get real health care reform.

We need your help to make this Health Care Justice Memorial a success. We need volunteers to staff the exhibit. We have a space on the national mall on the grounds of the Washington Monument (in view of the White House). On Sunday, September 20th, we will place American Flags that are 8 by 12 inches and are on 2 foot wooden sticks in the ground. Each flag will represent 10 people who have died so far this year because they didn't have access to care. Each day we will place more flags to represent the people who died that day. We will watch the memorial grow over the week.

We will also have a tent with a table inside for petitions and literature to educate people about the solution: Single payer. Everybody who comes by will be offered a mock up of a national health care card. We also hope to have our giant blow up single payer doctor on site.

Each day as we place more flags, we will film a video and speak about what is happening with health care reform and we will share photos and stories of those who have died if their families ask us to do so. We can also attach photos, names and/or stories to individual flags at the request of the family.

We need to have at least 2 people on site 24 hours each day. We need your help to staff this. We need many volunteers to help with setup on the 20th (starting at 10 am) and volunteers to help take it down starting at 4 pm on the 27th. We will have the site open to visitors during the day from 10 am to 6 pm, and from 6 pm to 10 am the next day we will need people to watch over the site.

Please contact us if you can volunteer. Please try to take at least one shift. We need everyone to make this a success!

Thank you,

Margaret Flowers, M.D.
(410) 591-0892
mdpnhp@gmail.com


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