PRESS RELEASE

---

Local Initiatives Support Conyers'
Universal Health-Care Bill

April 23, 2006 (EIRNS)—City councils that have passed resolutions endorsing H.R. 676, the U.S. National Health Insurance Act, include Baltimore, Maryland; Erie, Pennsylvania; and Moorehead, Kentucky. In January, the Kentucky House of Representatives Committee for Health and Welfare voted up a measure calling on Congress to pass the bill.

Of the 68 current Congressional backers, six had signed up as of February this year. Among the many union endorsements are those of the United Auto Workers, United Mine Workers, United Steel Workers of America, and the Service Employees International Union.

A 2003 poll reported that 49% of doctors support legislation to establish national health insurance (Indiana University poll, published in the 2003 Annals of Internal Medicine). Dr. George Alexander, Director of the National Association of Public Health Workers, is an outspoken proponent. A support group, Physicians for a National Health Program, has seen its membership rise from 10,000 to 14,000 in recent years.