Healthcare-Now!

Healthcare-Now! is a 501c4 organization that actively works to bring about a single-payer health care system in the United States. It is a member of the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care. It was was formed in 2004, originally under the name of the Campaign for a National Health Program NOW, when it held its first meeting, the conference entitled “Health Care Crisis and Election of 2004.” Representative John Conyers and Kim Gandy, President of the National Organization for Women (NOW) were among the famous attendees.

Healthcare-Now is affiliated with Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) and the California Nurses Association (CNA).

Leadership

2023

Healthcare-Now! Advisory Board as of Oct 13, 2023:

• Medea Benjamin - Code Pink
• Bonnie Castillo - California Nurses Association/National Nurses United
• Tom Conway - United Steelworkers
• David Himmelstein, MD - Physicians for a National Health Program
• Terry O'Neill - National Organization for Women
• Cecil Roberts - United Mine Workers
• Ethel Long Scott - Women's Economic Agenda Project

2009

The following are the 2009 Healthcare-Now! Co-chairs, as of November 25, 2009:

• Marilyn Clement, National Coordinator, Healthcare-NOW
• Dr. Quentin Young, National Coordinator, Physicians for a National Health Program
• Leo Gerard, President, United Steelworkers Union
• Jim Winkler, General Secretary, General Board of Church and Society United Methodist Church
• Rose Ann DeMoro, Executive Director of the California Nurses Association

Board of Directors

2023

Healthcare-Now! Board of Directors as of Oct 13, 2023:

• Jenni Chang - Healthy California Now
• Barbara DiPietro - National Health Care for the Homeless Council
• Laura Dominguez - National Nurses Organizing Committee, Texas
• Mark Dudzic - Labor Campaign for Single Payer
• Oliver Fein, MD - Physicians for a National Health Program
• Gerald Friedman - University of Massachusetts - Amherst
• Frances Gill - Democratic Socialists of America
• Lindy Hern - University of Hawaii at Hilo
• YuLing Koh Hsu - Campaign for New York Health
• Geri Katz - Minnesota Nurses Association
• Vinay Krishnan - Center for Popular Democracy
• Judith Lerma - National Nurses Organizing Committee, Texas
• Holly Miller - National Nurses United
• Dan Noonan - Illinois Patient Advocate
• Maribel Nunez - Inland Equity Partnership
• Lisa Patrick-Mudd - Single Payer Now
• Mark Piotrowski - Tallahassee activist
• Ibrahima Sankare - UCLA Medical Center
• Sofia Sepulveda - Texas Organizing Project
• Bob Sisler - Retirees for Single Payer Health Care
• Donna Smith - Progressive Democrats of America
• Walter Tsou - Health Care for All Philadelphia
• Rita Valenti - Healthcare-NOW! Georgia
• Amy Vilela - Las Vegas activist
• Cindy Young - J. Glynn & Company

2010 The following are members of the Board of Directors, as of November 25, 2010:

• Dr. Byllye Avery, Professor, Columbia University and Founder of the National Black Women's Health Project
• Nurah Ammat Ullah, Muslim Women's Institute for Research and Development
• Barbara Baylor, M.P.H., Minister for Health and Wellness Program, United Church of Christ, Cleveland, Ohio
• Don Bechler, Veteran Healthcare Activist, San Francisco
• Adrienne Maree Brown, League of Young Voters and the The Ruckus Society, San Francisco, CA
• Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK, San Francisco. CA
• Flavio Casoy, Medical Student Association
• Hilary Chiz, Steelworkers, Pittsburgh, PA
• Dr Charlie Clements, Director, Unitarian Universalist Service Association, Boston
• Marilyn Clement, National Coordinator,Healthcare-NOW, New York, NY
• Mark Dudzik, The Labor Party, Washington, D.C.
• Rebecca Elgie, Co-Director of The Tompkins County Health Care Task Force
• Dr Oliver Fein, President, Physicians for a National Health Program, NY
• Sandy Fox, Organizer Activist for Healthcare-NOW, Pittsburgh
• Dr Ida Hellander, Executive Director, Physicians for a National Health Program, Chicago
• Dr David Himmelstein, Co-Founder, Physicians for a National Health Program, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
• John Horgan, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Boston
• Susie Johnson, Executive Secretary for Public Policy, United Methodist Church, Women's Division, Washington, D.C.
• Molly Klopot, NY President, The Women's International League for Peace & Freedom, NY Branch
• Reverend Peter Laarman, Executive Director, Progressive Christians Uniting, Los Angeles, CA
• Sister Beth LeValley, Co-Founder of Greater Rochester Interfaith Health Care Coalition, Director of communications, Sisters of Saint Joseph of Rochester Rochester, NY
• Michael Lighty, Director of Public Policy, California Nurses Association
• Robin Lloyd, Community Activist, Burlington, VT
• John Lozier, Executive Director, National Health Care for the Homeless Council, Nashville, TN
• Rabbi Robert Marx, Chicago, Former Chairman of the Board of the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice
• Margie Rece, Organizer/Activists for Healthcare-NOW, Atlanta
• Art Richter, Business Coalition for Single Payer
• Cecil Roberts, President, United Mineworkers of America, Washington, D.C.
• Ethel Long Scott, Executive Director, Women's Economic Agenda Project, Oakland. CA
• Ray Stever, President, Industrial Unions Council
• Liz Theoharis, The Employment Project, New York City, NY
• Miriam Thompson, Activist Organizer, NC
• Kay Tillow, Labor Organizer, Louisville, KY
• Jaime Torres, DPM, President, Latinos for National Health Insurance, New York City, NY
• Dr Lucius Walker, Executive Director, Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, New York City, NY
• Dr Quentin Young, National Coordinator, Physicians for a National Health Program, Chicago, IL

2018 Single-Payer Strategy Conference

Healthcare-Now! Agenda: 2018 Single-Payer Strategy Conference Friday, June 22 – Sunday, June 24 Minneapolis, Radisson Blu Minneapolis Downtown.

Agenda for Friday, June 22

• Call to Order and Call to Action for the Conference – Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, President, New York State Nurses Association.
• Video: Victory at the AFL-CIO! The Labor Campaign for Single Payer Healthcare.
• Why We Fight: Testimony from Patients Fighting Back. Ashlea Bassham, West Virginia teacher; Leslea Hodgson, Land Stewardship Project; Rebecca Wood, Healthcare-NOW Virginia; Christie Offenbacher, social worker and Democratic Socialists of America.
• Keynote Speaker: Representative Keith Ellison, lead sponsor of the Expanded & Improved Medicare for All Act, H.R. 676. Representative Pramila Jayapal, Washington.

Agenda for Saturday, June 23

• Call to Order: Chair – Katie Robbins, Campaign for New York Health and NYSNA
• Running on Medicare for All – Erin Murphy, DFL-endorsed candidate for Governor of Minnesota
• Our Political Moment & the Pathway to Victory, Michael Lighty
• Single Payer 101: Making the Case – Facilitator: Laurel Gamm, Minnesota Physicians for a National Health Program
• Building a Feminist, Multi-Racial, Pro-Immigrant Movement for Single Payer: Why and How? – Roona Ray, Campaign for New York Health; Tammy Rojas, Put People First! PA; Ursula Rozum, Physicians for a National Health Program NY Metro; Megan Svoboda, Democratic Socialists of America Medicare for All Campaign; Laile Wilson, Put People First! PA.
• Taking on Big Pharma – Facilitator: Alex Lawson, Social Security Works; Brian Yablon, Minnesota Physicians for a National Health Program; Justin Mendoza, Public Citizen
• Follow the Money: Big Money and the Politics of Healthcare Reform – Facilitator: Donna Smith, Progressive Democrats of America; Wendell Potter, whistleblower and tarbell.org; Jeff Clark, Move to Amend
• Building Rural Grassroots Power to Win Healthcare for All – Matthew Covington, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement; Mark Schultz, Minnesota Land Stewardship Program.
• Building Solidarity: Bargaining Fights and Healthcare Justice – Facilitator: Peter Knowlton, President, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America
• Forging Partnerships with Workers’ Centers and Other Non-Union Workers’ Organizations – Ben Palmquist, National *Economic and Social Rights Initiative; Tony Pecinovsky, St. Louis Workers’ Education Society
• Crafting Our Message – Matt MacWilliams, founder of MacWilliams Sanders
• Panel: Medicare for All as a Political Campaign Theme – Facilitator: Donna DeWitt, former President South Carolina AFL-CIO; Amy Vilela, candidate for Nevada’s 4th Congressional District; Randy Bryce, candidate for Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District. Respondent: MN State Senator John Marty
• What Does Just Transition Look Like? – Facilitator: Mark Dudzic Labor Campaign for Single Payer; Marilyn Albert, National Union of Healthcare Workers; Eric Gonzalez, Washington State AFL-CIO
• Online Organizing for Medicare for All – Stephanie Nakajima, Healthcare-NOW
• Building a Feminist, Multi-Racial, Pro-Immigrant Movement for Single Payer: Why and How? – Ben Palmquist, NESRI; with Roona Ray, Campaign for New York Health; Tammy Rojas, Put People First! PA; Ursula Rozum, PNHP NY Metro; Megan Svoboda, Democratic Socialists of America Medicare for All Campaign; Laile Wilson, Put People First! PA.
• All About Grassroots Lobbying – Benjamin Day, Healthcare-Now!; Mark Privratsky, Minnesota Nurses Association
• Long Term Care, Disability Rights and the Single Payer Movement – Facilitator: Henry Moss, PNHP NY Metro Chapter; Susan Aarup, ADAPT and Illinois Single-Payer Coalition; Sumer Spika, SEIU Healthcare MN; Eagan Kemp, Public Citizen
• Telling Your Healthcare Story – Geri Katz, Minnesota Nurses Association
• State of the State-Based Single-Payer Legislative and Ballot Campaigns – Facilitator: Chuck Pennacchio, One Payer States
• Panel: Voices From the Grassroots – Facilitator: Marva Wade, NYSNA; Mary Beth Gagne, Maine AFL-CIO; Susan Aarup, ADAPT and Illinois Single-Payer Coalition; Dustin Guastella, Democratic Socialists of America; Mari Lopez, California Nurses Association/National Nurses United.
• On the Road to Medicare for All: Beware the Perils of Commercial Insurance – Diane Archer, Just Care
• Break-out: Socialism and Single Payer – hosted by Democratic Socialists of America
• Creative Strategies for Winning State Single Payer Campaigns – hosted by One Payer States

Agenda for Sunday, June 24

• The National Campaign to Win Medicare for All – Holly Miller, National Nurses United
• Bringing Big Organizing to the Single Payer Movement – Becky Bond, former senior advisor to the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign and co-author of Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything.
• This is What Victory Looks Like – Jose La Luz.

"Single - payer" movement

According to Michael Lighty, a former National Director of Democratic Socialists of America, and Director of Public Policy for the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, writing in DSA's Democratic Left, Winter 2007/2008 .

There’s a growing movement for single-payer universal healthcare. The movement is led by activists in Healthcare-Now!, doctors in the Physicians for a National Health Program, nurses in the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, leaders in labor unions such as United Steelworkers of America and Communication Workers of America, activists in the Progressive Democrats of America, and Congressman John Conyers, with the support for HR 676 by 300 union locals, 75 Central Labor Councils, and 25 state Federations of Labor, and hundreds of clergy and faith-based organizations, as well as civil rights, women’s and healthcare advocacy groups in the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Healthcare.

The policy proposals developed by Beltway think tanks and the principles for reform adopted by the AFL-CIO confer support for single-payer while allowing for private insurance-based approaches as well. Other bills in Congress, notably sponsored by Ted Kennedy and John Dingell and “Americare” introduced by Pete Stark, seek to incrementally establish a single-payer system.