Last Thursday was a huge moment for our movement: 

Senator Bernie Sanders reintroduced the Medicare for All bill in the Senate with 14 original cosponsors after the first-ever hearing in the Senate on Medicare for All. The hearing included powerful testimony from a panel of expert witnesses with firsthand experience about our broken health care system, including NNU Executive Director and RN, Bonnie Castillo. You can watch Bonnie’s full testimony here.

Now our work continues. We must pressure as many senators as possible to sign on. Will you take the first step and sign our national petition calling on the Senate to pass Bernie’s bill and ensure that every person is guaranteed quality health care as a right?

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While we focus on what’s next for this legislation, we want to take a moment to recap all the incredible organizing that led to this moment.

Here’s a snapshot of our Senate organizing work by the numbers: 

• 746 people signed up to join the Senate Organizing Committee across 28 states with at least one Democratic or Independent senator. The committees organized legislative visits with senate offices, collected thousands of petition signatures, and more. 
• 300 calls made to senators across the country ahead of the bill introduction.
• 30+ QR code canvasses during our Senate MFA Week of Action where volunteer leaders in key states across the country hosted events that hundreds of other volunteers in total attended. At these events, volunteers talked to people in their communities and asked them to sign a petition calling on their senators to support Bernie’s bill when it was reintroduced. 
• 700+ people attended Medicare for All Fest to strategize about the national organizing strategy for the final stretch before the bill launch.
• Dozens of meetings with senators led by nurses during NNU’s member lobby week to talk about the issues nurses care most about, including Medicare for All.

A few photos from nurses and volunteers participating in our Senate MFA Week of Action!

We’re so proud of all of this work and grateful to all of you who made this moment possible. But our work is just beginning.

Please add your name to your national petition today calling on the Senate to move Medicare for All forward now.

As Bonnie said during the hearing: “As registered nurses, our primary responsibility is to protect the health and wellbeing of our patients. Our existing health care system does not allow us to do that. Medicare for All is the solution we need to ensure that every patient gets the health care they need.”

Thank you again and stay tuned for lots more ahead. 

Jasmine Ruddy
Organizer
Nurses’ Campaign to Win Medicare for All