Representatives of groups supporting single payer will also meet with individual state legislators throughout the day and have requested a meeting with Governor Paterson.

The groups want New York State to pass legislation to create its own single payer universal health care system. The California state legislature has twice voted to create a single payer system but it has been vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. Governor Paterson, in contrast, has been a long time supporter of single payer health care. The long-delayed state study by the Urban Institute on what type of universal health system New York should adopt is due out in the next few months.

The single payer groups are also supporting the resolution introduced by Senator Neil Breslin to have the State Senate urge Congress to pass HR 676 (Conyors – D MI), the federal single payer bill. HR 676 is currently co-sponsored by more than 70 Representatives, including many from New York.

Single payer supporters are also upset that the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and the White House have so far refused to consider a single payer health care system while instead insisting that private for-profit health insurance must continue to play a role in any universal health care system.  Thirteen single payer advocates have been arrested in recent weeks for protesting the exclusion of single payer supporters at the Senate Finance Committee hearings on universal health care.

Sponsors of the event include Single Payer New York (www.singlepayernewyork.org), Capital District Alliance for Universal Healthcare, Capital District Area Labor Federation; Faith and Hunger Network;  Hunger Action Network  of NYS: New York State Nurses Association; Physicians for a National Health Program; Students for a National Health Program; Tompkins County Health Care Task Force; and Troy Area Labor Council.