Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/1152911
8 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G A P R I L | M AY | J U N E 2 0 1 9 NATIONAL I f you organize, they will come. National Nurses United (NNU) RNs applied that truism this spring with resounding success to the campaign to win Medicare for All. Since Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Debbie Dingell on Feb. 27 introduced the new Medicare for All Act of 2019, H.R. 1384, into the House of Repre- sentatives, the grassroots movement to win this lifesaving, crucial reform has snow- balled. In just a few short months, activists pushed Congress into holding historic Capi- tol Hill hearings on the subject, garnered 118 legislative cosponsors, pressured almost every Democratic presidential candidate to support and make Medicare for All a center- piece of their campaign platforms, and built unprecedented public momentum to pass this best-ever Medicare for All legislation. Many lawmakers who supported the Afford- able Care Act now support Medicare for All. Advocacy by nurses and physicians, health care activists, and political and community activists this spring included huge "barnstorm" organizing events across the country, canvasses and phone banking by dedicated volunteers, a moving April rally in Washington, D.C. before the offices of Big Pharma's national lobbying group at which activists pasted hundreds of GoFundMe pages on PhrMA's front doors and at which Medicare for All activist Ady Barkan, who is dying of ALS but risked his life flying across the country to attend, gave an impassioned speech, and presence at key hearings before the House Rules Commit- tee, Budget Committee, and Ways and Means Committee. "This bill is not only the most compre- hensive Medicare for All proposal we have seen to date, but is coming at a time when a majority of people in America are fed up with incremental tweaks to the current broken system and are demanding Medicare for All," said Bonnie Castillo, RN and execu- tive director of NNU. "It's the right bill, at the right moment, and now we are organiz- ing an unprecedented grassroots movement to demand that our elected officials support this legislation." Medicare for All movement builds undeniable momentum House holds historic hearings and bill cosponsors grow to 118 NEWS BRIEFS