‘Million Med March’ Planned: Satruday, November 21 Rally Beginning on City Island at Noon

Pennsylvania’s Million Med March is part of a simultaneous nationwide rally coordinated at the national level by the Million Med March and Docs4Patient Care, and coordinated at the state level by two Pennsylvania physicians (who’ve never done anything else like this before), Edward Chastka and Phyllis Parcella, a psychiatrist and anesthesiologist from central PA.

This is an entirely grassroots effort by physicians on-the-ground in various states – other than setting a time and date for concurrent events, no national group is directing efforts or footing the bill. The local group doesn’t even really have an official name – Pennsylvania’s Million Med March works fairly well.

This series of demonstrations gives voice to in-the-trenches physicians and other health care professionals whose opinions have not been adequately represented in the national health care reform debate: namely, that health care reform IS desperately needed, but proposed reforms in Congress go way too far and spend far too much and put far too much control of our health care delivery system into the hands of people who didn’t go to medical school.

No one is more aware of the problems that exist in our health care system than doctors and other health care professionals, and no one is more committed to quality patient care. The physicians involved in this effort support realistic and practical reforms, like expanded market-based competition to make insurance more affordable, tort reform to decrease defensive medicine and reduce overall health care costs, revision of archaic payment paradigms and elimination of fraud and waste, to mention only a few. They do not support creation of a huge new government program which cannot possibly sustain itself and must inevitably lead to fewer services, reduced reimbursements to providers, or staggering cost increases.

We’re hoping to get as many physicians and other health care professionals to the Capitol Steps for PA’s Million Med March as possible. PLEASE consider coming and bringing as many of your colleagues as possible.

Please pass this information along to colleagues, friends, family, and anyone you know who is supportive of our effort to preserve the doctor patient relationship by opposing government control of health care, and ask THEM to email it to people on their own lists.

We’re reaching out to patients and other patriots opposed to a government takeover of health care through many community and advocacy groups as well, and if you’re a member of one of those groups, please make sure your fellow members know about this important event.

We’re asking physicians and health care professionals to wear white coats, scrubs, etc, to the event which will begin at noon in the parking lots of City Island in Harrisburg.

Everyone, please bring POLITE signs, banners and flags; please dress warmly and wear comfortable shoes.

Participants will then march over the bridge to the Capitol Complex, where a marvelous program and rally will begin on the Capitol steps at 12:30 p.m.

We have an exciting slate of speakers on various health policy issues – most of whom are practicing physicians in Pennsylvania, all of whom have real-world knowledge about how medicine is practiced in America. Primarily, they all know one thing – that the government simply isn’t qualified to practice medicine or to tell doctors and patients what’s best for them. I’m honored to have been asked to serve as MC for the event.

We’re also asking health care professionals to bring along donations of medical equipment and supplies for the World Surgical Foundation, which brings quality American medicine to the Third World, and will conduct a two week surgical mission in the Philippines in February 2010.

You can get more info here: www.meetup.com/PennsylvaniaMillionMedMarch. Please sign up to participate so we can keep you updated with the latest news and information about the event.

PLEASE come to PA’s Million Med March on Saturday, Nov. 21st, and show our elected officials that doctors, nurses, health care professionals, patients and patriots are UNITED to preserve the quality of America’s Health!

Thank you!