I urge you to support State Single Payer as part of the health reform bill.

In the House, the "Kucinich Amendment" passed the Education & Labor Committee on July 17 on a bi-partisan 27-19 vote.

Speaker Pelosi made an enormous mistake by removing it from the bill she introduced on October 29. The "Kucinich Amendment" must be included in a "Managers Amendment" to H.R. 3962 immediately.

States should be free to create the best possible healthcare plans for their residents. If Congress gives States the right to "opt-in" or "opt-out" of a national "public option," it must also give States the right to "opt-in" to a State Single Payer plan.

Moreover, the "public options" currently before the House and Senate are both grossly inadequate. Even with the stronger House plan, CBO predicts only 2% of Americans - 6 million people - will join by 2019.

This small program will not create real competition for private insurance monopolies and therefore will not reduce costs for individuals, businesses, or the government. Instead, costs will continue to skyrocket until no one can afford healthcare.

Therefore the only way to reduce skyrocketing costs is through a Single Payer plan. Activists in California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania want to enact State Single Payer plans, but cannot do so under current law.

The Kucinich amendment would grant a waiver of the application of ERISA to a State Single Payer Plan.