Saturday, January 05, 2008

CA Nurses Launch National 'CheneyCare' Campaign..


The California Nurses Association

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 — The California Nurses Association (CNA)/National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) launched a national campaign today in favor of what the group has dubbed "CheneyCare" -- guaranteed, publicly-funded health care for all Americans.

The campaign was inspired by the success of the group's Iowa ads declaring that Vice President Dick Cheney "would be dead" if he did not have publicly-funded health care. A new version of the Iowa ad asking Americans to sign a petition for "CheneyCare" will run today in eight New Hampshire papers before going national in the New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today, as well as leading political blogs, on Monday.

"All Americans have the right to the quality of care that our Vice-President, President, and Congress already have," said Rose Ann DeMoro, Executive Director of CNA/NNOC and a vice-president of the AFL-CIO. "All the leading Democratic proposals fall well short of "CheneyCare," keeping insurance companies at the apex of power and allowing them to deny care that can save lives. The Republican proposals are even worse."

The ad uses recent headlines about Vice-President Dick Cheney's latest heart procedure to point out the difference between the government-funded health care that the nation's leading politicians enjoy and the precarious health care situation in which most Americans find themselves.

A news article about Cheney's recent treatment for heartbeat irregularities provides the context with the headline: "If he were anyone else, he'd probably be dead by now." The text highlights that factors such as the patient's history and prognosis would likely lead to a denial of private insurance claims for most Americans, assuming that they had coverage in the first place.

The ad asks readers to go to http://www.CheneyCare.org and sign a petition in support of CheneyCare for all Americans. The blog ads cut to the chase, with the tagline "CheneyCare for all."

The campaign plans to continue running ads in all the early primary states. Once the presidential candidates are chosen, the petition will be delivered to the both the Democratic and Republican nominees' state campaign offices around the country.
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