[All] FW: General Council news release for distribution

[Neil E. Taylor]

 United Church 
Members Are Being Asked to Sign a Pledge for Medicare
 
Toronto: 
For 60 years The 
United Church of Canada has advocated in support of universal health care. Now 
the church is calling on its members to sign the 
Medicare Pledge launched by the Canadian Health Coalition, a 
public advocacy organization dedicated to the preservation and improvement of 
Medicare. 
 
The Medicare 
Pledge is part of an ongoing campaign spearheaded by the coalition, of which the 
United Church is a member. In part, the pledge says that “quality 
health care must be based on need, not ability to pay” and that we “must improve 
our public health care for everyone, instead of expanding private for-profit 
services that benefit only a few.” So far over 
10,000 Canadians and more than 100 organizations, including the United Church, 
have signed the pledge.
 
The United 
Church’s call for its members to sign the Medicare Pledge comes just days before 
a National Day of Action for a New Health Accord on March 31. The day of action 
coincides with the date that the current health accord between the federal 
government, the provinces, and the territories expires. Thus far, the federal 
government has refused to renegotiate the agreement.
The coalition 
argues that without a new health accord it will be impossible to ensure national 
health care standards across the country.
 
“Medicare is not 
something that Canadians should take for granted,” says The United Church of 
Canada’s Moderator, the Right Rev. Gary Paterson. “Signing the Medicare Pledge 
is one way to ensure that, for generations to come, the health care system that 
we have been privileged to enjoy is preserved and 
protected.”
 
For more than 
half a century, the United Church has supported the concept of universally 
accessible health care for all Canadians. In 1954, the church first endorsed the 
principle of a national health insurance plan, and urged all levels of 
government to move toward the establishment of such a plan. In 1994, it strongly 
affirmed its support for the core principles of Medicare: that Canada’s health 
care system remains universal, accessible, comprehensive, portable, and publicly 
administered.
 
To sign the 
Medicare Pledge go to http://medicare.ca/medicare-pledge 
.
 
For more 
information
Mary-Frances 
Denis
The United 
Church of Canada
416-231-7680 
ext. 2016
1-800-268-3781 
ext. 2016
mdenis at united-church.ca                              

  		 	   		  
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