Letter to Congresswoman Joyce Beatty:

Congresswoman Joyce Beatty
Ohio District 3

Dear Congresswoman Beatty,

Above is a photo of the group of us from SPAN Ohio and Our Revolution who gathered outside your Columbus Office yesterday. We came to ask you to become a cosponsor of Medicare for All, HR 1976, and to support the Medicare Expansion legislation that hopefully will be included in the reconciliation bill.

This gathering was prompted by the lack of a response to a meeting we had by ZOOM in May with Janay Eyo, a member of your staff, attended by 8 of us, including 6 constituents. We made the same ask of her at that meeting. We have had no response.

One focus of this gathering was the disparity of health in Franklin County found among people of color: 1) life expectancy disparity of 30 years between some ZIP codes; 2) infant mortality 3 times as high; and 3) maternal death rates 3 times as high. While Medicare, passed in 1965, ended segregation in American hospitals, starting the journey toward equality, it was just the beginning of a journey that still presents many barriers to healthy living among people of color. Medicare for All is a final step to create equality, woven into the American health care fabric. It can even be perceived as a "form of reparations" to Native Americans and African Americans for 400 years of racism.

Medicare Enhancement is an incremental approach to the problem of unequal access to health care in this country. But it will help!

I encourage you to make a statement of support and become a cosponsor of this legislation. Please do it NOW! Please contact me with your response to us.

Sincerely,

Bob Krasen, SPAN (Single Payer Action Network) Ohio Columbus Area Coordinator