In December six representatives, Danny Davis (IL), Grace Napolitano (CA), Emanuel Cleaver (MO), Jerry McNerney (CA), Robin Kelly (IL), and Alan Lowenthal (CA), added their names as cosponsors on HR 676, Congressman John Conyers’ Expanded and Improved Medicare for All, the national single payer legislation.

The total number of cosponsors is now 59, not including chief sponsor Conyers.

The more cosponsors that are added, the more quickly this real solution becomes politically viable. The more representatives who speak boldly for HR 676, the higher single payer advances on the nation’s agenda.

Call your representative and ask her or him to sign on to HR 676. The Capitol switchboard number is (202) 224-3121. Ask to speak to your representative by name. If you need to look up a representative, you can do so here.

When talking with representatives who have already signed on, encourage them to speak up for HR 676 on the House floor, to the press, in town hall meetings, and to put their support for HR 676 on their website. If they need further information, spend the time to bring the facts about HR 676 to their attention. This clear and simple statement of Dr. Marcia Angell may help.

The list of representatives who have already signed on to HR 676 is here.

The list of representatives who were cosponsors of HR 676 in earlier Congresses but have not yet signed on in the 114th is below. This is a good place to start.

• Rep. Xavier Becerra, California 34th
• Rep. Sanford D. Bishop, Jr., Georgia 2nd
• Rep. Corrine Brown, Florida 5th
• Rep. G. K. Butterfield, North Carolina 1st
• Rep. Andre Carson, Indiana 7th,
• Rep. Marcia Fudge, Ohio 11th,
• Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, Texas 30th,
• Rep. David Loebsack, Iowa 2d
• Rep. Nita M. Lowey, New York 17th
• Rep. Ben Ray Luján, New Mexico 3d
• Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, Massachusetts 8th
• Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, New York 5th
• Rep. Donald M. Payne, Jr., New Jersey 10th
• Rep. Jared Polis, Colorado 2nd
• Rep. David Scott, Georgia 13th
• Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, Mississippi 2nd
• Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez, New York 7th
• Rep. Peter J. Visclosky, Indiana 1st
• Rep. Maxine Waters, California 43rd

"According to myth…a single-payer system is a good idea, but unrealistic.... What is truly unrealistic is anything else." --Marcia Angell, MD, former editor-in-chief, New England Journal of Medicine, June 10, 2009