'Scrubs for Sicko' Buses Arrive in Washington D.C. Tonight

'Scrubs for Sicko' Buses Arrive in Washington D.C. Tonight

Carrying Nurses, Doctors on National Campaign in Conjunction with Debut of Michael Moore's Film to Spark Genuine Healthcare Reform

National Coalition Will Work to Recruit One Healthcare Provider in 'SiCKO Scrubs' to each of 3,000 Screens

WASHINGTON, June 19 /PRNewswire/ -- A colorfully-wrapped bus carrying nurses on a national tour to build momentum for the June 29 "Scrubs for Sicko" campaign arrives tonight to bring their campaigning to Washington D.C. The bus will arrive at 5 p.m. at the Mayflower Hotel. Tomorrow, the RNs will proceed to the Take Back America conference and a special hearing at the U.S. Capitol.

Planning to spark a fundamental change in national healthcare politics, an unprecedented national coalition of nurses and doctors organizations today announced plans to rally around the openings of Michael Moore's "SiCKO" June 29 to press the campaign for single-payer healthcare, guaranteeing comprehensive, quality healthcare with an expanded and improved Medicare for all. Two patients from the film are also touring with the groups on the bus to share their stories first hand.

Calling it the "Scrubs for Sicko" campaign, organizers will recruit registered nurses and doctors to every theater in the nation where "SiCKO" opens to ensure that caregivers -- in "SiCKO" scrubs -- are in the audience.

The caregivers will distribute information and urge moviegoers to join the drive for a fundamental overhaul of the nation's dysfunctional healthcare system -- as is so brilliantly described in "SiCKO." They will urge the audience to help pass single-payer/Medicare-for-all-type legislation such as HR 676 now pending in Congress and several states, and make it a central focus of the presidential campaign.

Nurses and doctors are serving as co-hosts of "SiCKO" premieres across the nation.

Participants include the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, Physicians for a National Health Program, New York State Nurses Association, Massachusetts Nurses Association, United Steelworkers (USW) Health Care Workers Council, Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, United Nurses and Allied Professionals (Rhode Island), Communications Workers of America, and the New England Nurses Association. The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions is also participating, with other groups to be announced.

A delegation of nurses and doctors from across the country will embark on a tour of East Coast cities beginning today in New York to help energize the nurse grassroots. The tour will mostly take place in a colorfully-wrapped bus encouraging people to see the movie and is being planned in conjunction with premieres of the film in New York, Washington D.C., and other locales.

"SiCKO" profiles a number of Americans with insurance who have been denied needed care by their insurance companies, describes how the insurance-based healthcare system is structured to keep it that way, and provides examples of other industrialized nations where insurance companies do not stand in the way of medical care.

The campaign will highlight the need for reforms that prevent insurance companies from denying care, and send a strong signal to politicians in Congress, state capitals, and the presidential race who are promoting insurance-based reforms.

HR 676 and similar bills in several state legislatures would have one public entity collecting and disbursing all revenues for care delivered by our current, mostly-private hospitals, clinics, and doctors, similar to how Medicare works. The system is universal, assures comprehensive benefits, guarantees freedom to choose your provider, and controls costs. It also drastically curbs administrative costs -- and the waste caused by insurance company profits and paperwork.

Source: California Nurses Association

CONTACT: Charles Idelson, +1-415-559-8991, or Shum Preston,
+1-415-412-0825, both of California Nurses Association

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