On Tuesday, Erica Smith is hosting a grassroots virtual Medicare for All fundraiser. As we saw earlier this evening Erica firmly, forcefully and proudly supports Medicare for All while her two status quo-oriented, corporate opponents do not.
In June, Daily Kos' Frank RL reported that one of those opponents, Cheri Beasley, is not just opposing Erica but will also "oppose Medicare for All and will instead support 'strengthening the Affordable Care Act,' according to a member of her campaign staff. According to her staff, '[Beasley] knows that Medicare for All, single payer, whatever you call it, that’s not going to help [her].' Beasley has made very few public statements about her views on policy. In one of her only interviews as a Senate candidate, she limited her thoughts on health care to her belief that people should 'have good health care.' At this time, her website contains no mention of any policies she supports."
When we look over at Jeff Jackson, Erica's other opponent in the primary, it doesn't get much better. He's been taking tens of thousands of dollars from Big Pharma execs and has continued to call for "universal healthcare" while refusing to support Medicare for All.
Meanwhile Senator Erica Smith is running an energetic and boldly progressive campaign. She's already visited every county in North Carolina and is proudly running on Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and ending the filibuster. She also doesn't take a dime of Corporate PAC, fossil fuel, or Big PhRMA money.
I asked Erica to let our readers know what she has planned for Tuesday and she was eager to invite everyone to join her Kara Eastman, Jen Perlman, and Roza Calderon for this important conversation about "fixing our broken healthcare system and putting people over profits." It's at 7pm (Eastern Time) on Tuesday.
Message From Erica Smith On Medicare For All
We've made this a grassroots fundraiser to prove a point. While other politicians rely on closed door events where they auction off their policy positions to the highest bidder, we're trying things a different way. We're showing that together, working people can build political power by standing up and fighting for policies that will transform our lives for the better.
Policies like Medicare for All, an issue that's particularly personal to me.
I had a medically fragile son, and experienced first hand the horror of navigating a for profit health care system. Our medical insurance and children’s medicaid didn’t cover the medical equipment that his very life depended on. I had to get a part time job teaching at an alternative school and we sold the car my eldest son used to commute to and from work. Our system is broken. We saw that all too well this past year as millions were left vulnerable, without healthcare, during a pandemic. With Medicare for All, we can end the days when a family goes bankrupt because someone got sick and at long last we can put people at the center of our approach to healthcare.
These past 18 months have been filled with tragedy and loss and while COVID has taken the lives of the insured and the uninsured, of wealthy folks as well as the poor, it has disproportionately harmed working people and the uninsured and underinsured.One-third of COVID-19 related deaths have been connected to a lack of health coverage. COVID-19 has further laid bare the systemic racism that inflicts every aspect of our country. It’s revealed that despite what certain conservative pundits may want you to believe, we need government and that government matters. Most devastatingly, it’s exposed a healthcare system that is utterly inadequate, fueled by greed, morally bankrupt and in desperate need of change.
The system currently in place, simply put, does not work. The system we have is there for you least, just when you need it the most. Losing your job is hard enough, why should that struggle be further compounded by the loss of your health coverage? And even with the insurance coverage that people have, as Senator Warren pointed out last year, many people think that they like their health insurance until something actually goes wrong and then, they’re left with an untenable bill, a stack of paperwork and endless legal battles. Right now, we have a health INSURANCE system, what we need, is a health CARE system. Medicare for All moves us in that direction. Healthcare should be a human right, not a “benefit” that needs to be negotiated for and hard earned. Reform is not enough when the entire system is centered around profits, not people. When the wealthiest nation on the planet does not guarantee healthcare to its citizens, that’s a choice. An unconscionable choice.
It isn't always easy raising money for a true grassroots campaign that takes no Corporate PAC, fossil fuel, or Big pharma money. We're trying to demonstrate with these issue based grassroots fundraisers that together, with our principles and bold ideas, we can fight back against corporate funded conservative and forge a Government that makes a different choice and ensures healthcare as a human right for every single one of us.
I hope to see you on Tuesday!
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