CIR Delivers Holiday Cards to Members of Congress

In December, CIR doctors in New Mexico and other states made sure their elected officials would be thinking about health care reform as they ushered in the New Year.  In visits to the legislators’ offices, they presented giant holiday cards calling for “hope and change in 2009”.
 
Dr. Elizabeth Burpee, CIR Secretary-Treasurer, and Dr. Jesse Barnes, a family medicine resident at UNM, got commitments from Sen. Tom Udall and newly-elected Congressmen Ray Lujan and Martin Heinrich to support the Health Care for America NOW! pledge, promising that they would work to expand access for all Americans.   Udall and Lujan also affirmed their support for the Employee Free Choice Act, which would protect the rights of doctors and other workers choosing to join a union.

Dr. Barnes also delivered a card to New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman, who said he supported the Employee Free Choice Act in 2007 and would likely support it again. Bingaman also agreed with the overall goal of health care reform as a top order of business in 2009.

“It was impressive to see how much respect the Congress people and their staff had for CIR/SEIU Health Care and how much they valued our experience caring for under-served communities in suggesting health policy actions,” said Dr. Barnes.