( – promoted by michael horan)

Updated on July 20 with the following good news from Scott Laugenour, candidate for State Legislature from the Berkshire Fourth District–visit his web site for more information:

I am pleased to report that my campaign collected enough signatures for a single payer question – drafted by Mass Care – to be placed on the November ballot.  The signatures were sent to Mass Care on July 16. Here is the campaign statement [originally published on GMG on July 7]:

The 4th Berkshire District is on track to have a health care reform question on November’s ballot, specifically promoting a comprehensive public health insurance system similar to what most other democracies in the world have.

Scott’s campaign took the lead in giving voters in the 4th Berkshire District an opportunity to weigh in on the issue.

  Scott turned in the last sheets of signatures to the Town Clerk of Lenox this afternoon at 4:00 pm.  Today was the last day that Town and City Clerks can accept the petitions.  Certification and submission of the signatures to the Elections Division are due by July 28 and August 4 respectively.

“When I learned a few months ago that advocates were mobilizing to get this question on the ballot, I immediately offered the support of my campaign for the 4th Berkshire District.  Voters know that too much public and private money is being spent on insurance schemes, premiums, deductibles, and co-payments, while delivering neither quality care nor protection from health care costs that too often cause personal financial ruin.  While incorporating the signature drive for this petition to my own campaign canvassing, I clearly heard from the voters in the 4th Berkshire District that they are eager for the opportunity to cast a vote of no-confidence in the current system.  On this issue, and in their quest for industry cash, both the Republican and Democratic parties have sold out the public interest.  There are thirty-six superior forms of health care delivery among nations around the world, which are variations on a non-profit insurance model.  In all cases, these nations spend much less than we do while outperforming us.  It is time this country joined them, and we’ll start in Massachusetts.”

The campaign reported support for the health care petition from all political persuasions, despite the polarizing manner in which the single payer debate is usually presented in the U.S. media.   “Conservatives in other parts of the world have come to understand that a publicly administered health insurance system produces the best results at a lower price.  The burden of our system on businesses, towns, and people is too great,”  Scott noted, adding that David Cameron’s recently elected conservative government campaigned on strengthening Britain’s public insurance system.  “No politician in any other democracy – to the right or to the left – would attempt to peddle to his/her people the system what our political leaders arrogantly tell us we have to settle for.  The voters in the 4th Berkshire District are ready for the real debate that this ballot question will initiate.”

The question that will be on the ballot was drafted by MassCare (http://www.masscare.org), a Boston-based promoter for a statewide Single Payer Health Care system.  Efforts have been underway in over 40 other house legislative districts to collect the 200 certified signatures necessary to place the non-binding referendum on the November ballot, which reads:

“Shall the representative from this district be instructed to support legislation that would establish health care as a human right regardless of age, state of health or employment status, by creating a single payer health insurance system like Medicare that is comprehensive, cost effective, and publicly provided to all residents of Massachusetts?”

Single payer health care is firmly promoted in Scott’s election campaign, in other Green-Rainbow campaigns, in the platform of the state Green-Rainbow Party, and in the platform of the national Green Party of the US.  No insurance industry contributions are accepted at any level of the green political movement.

My town hall meetings on this issue will be nothing like those of other legislators and  candidates.  I invite the incumbent representative and people of conservative, centrist,  and progressive persuasions to participate in the public debate with me when this issue is presented to voters in the 4th Berkshire District.  It’s time for new dialogue that transcends the tired paradigms, in which the establishment and those profiting from the status quo desire to keep us trapped.  Voters will have the opportunity to demand better in November, both by electing me and by casting a YES vote on this question.”