Print This Page Email This Page
2009 CIR Convention Highlights

Coalition of Doctor Organizations: "Our Patients Deserve the Choice of a Public Health Insurance Option"

Groups Representing 215,000 Physicians and Physicians-in-Training Support Legislators Fighting for Quality, Affordable Health Care for All


Doctors from several national organizations issued a statement this morning in support of achieving health care reform this year, including the creation of a robust, high-quality public health insurance option.

The statement by these organizations, which combined represent 215,000 physicians and physicians-in-training, reads: "As doctors we see patients every day who are more afraid of their medical bills than their illnesses.  It frustrates and saddens us to care for patients with what began as a simple and inexpensive medical problem, but has developed into a life-threatening condition.  It makes us angry to see children suffering from treatable illnesses, like asthma, in the Emergency Room because they literally have nowhere else to go."
» Read More


NLRB Rules in Favor of Union at St. Barnabas

After months of hearings, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) sided with the resident physicians at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx who are seeking to join a union and has directed that a union election should be held within 30 days. The decision was issued May 22.

» Read more

Teamwork & Communication the Focus of Union - Management Conference

Poor communication not only creates interpersonal problems between staff in different hospital departments, it can also lead to poor patient care. This was the message driving a one-day conference organized jointly by CIR and New York City's Health and Hospitals Corporation on April 21 at Metropolitan Hospital in East Harlem.

» Read more

Speak out for Health Care Reform in D.C. June 24 and 25!
CIR will be  joining health care providers from all over the country to demand quality, affordable health care for all.

» Click here for more information


What Is the Public Health Insurance Option?

This is currently one of the main fault lines in the debate on health care. During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards all endorsed the principle of having a public plan, similar to Medicare, which would compete with private insurance. President Obama, all three committee chairs in the House, and at least one committee in the Senate is strongly in favor of giving people the choice of private insurance or a robust public plan. Many Republicans, as well as the private insurance and pharmaceutical industry, oppose it.

» Read more