Health Care Advocates Celebrate 50th Anniversary of Medicare/Medicaid On July 30 with State House Event and Rolling Rally Throughout Western Mass

BOSTON, July 29, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Thursday, July 30, Mass-Care, the Massachusetts single-payer advocacy organization, is sponsoring a series of simultaneous events throughout the Commonwealth, in celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the passage of Medicare and Medicaid on July 30, 1965.

Mass-Care is sponsoring an interview of thought leaders and a reception at the State House beginning at 1 p.m. in the Senate Reading Room.

Panelists include Mike Festa, Massachusetts State Director of the AARP; Andy Hyatt, medical student and member of Physicians for a National Health Program; Julie Pinkham, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Nurses Association; Ture Turnbull, Executive Director of Mass-Care; Bill Walczak, co-founder and former CEO of the Codman Square Health Center; and Rand Wilson, Communication and Policy Director of SEIU Local 888. The free-flowing discussion will last approximately 45 minutes and will cover topics including the ability of Medicare and Medicaid to continue to serve vulnerable populations, how population, demographic, and budgetary shifts affect public health care, and what patients, providers, and businesses want from ongoing health reform post-Affordable Care Act. This lively discussion will be immediately followed by a 50th birthday celebration. Light refreshments, including birthday cake, will be served, and entertainment will be provided by Neal Green of the Bo Winkler Jazz Band.

A rolling rally is also planned for Western Massachusetts, with birthday party events co-sponsored by Mass-Care and the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

The rolling rally will visit:

• Springfield City Hall (36 Court Sq.) at 9 a.m.
• Holyoke City Hall (536 Dwight St.) at 11 a.m.,
• Pittsfield Federal Building (78 Center St.) at 12 p.m.
• Northampton City Hall (210 Main St.) at 1:30 p.m., and
• Greenfield Town Common at 3:30 p.m.

"Medicare and Medicaid are the most successful health care programs in America. Medicare has the lowest cost of administration and the lowest rise in costs over the last 50 years. It's important to celebrate the successes of these programs while remembering that we must protect, improve, and expand them to ensure that every American, including our most vulnerable citizens, has access to quality affordable health care from birth to death." – Patricia Downs Berger, MD, President, Mass-Care Board of Advisors.

All events are open to the public. Please contact Ture at 617-602-7868 or at [email protected] with questions or to arrange media availabilities.

About Mass-Care: Mass-Care's mission is to establish a Single Payer Health Care System in Massachusetts so that all residents of the Commonwealth will have access to comprehensive, quality, affordable and equitable health care because it is basic to life and human dignity. Mass-Care was launched in 1995 as a coalition of Massachusetts organizations sharing a deep concern about the inequities of our health care system. Our organization's strategic mission is premised on the belief that only a large-scale grassroots movement will be able to win reform that guarantees universal single payer health care.

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SOURCE Mass-Care