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Call to Action: Strike Debt Rolling Jubilee Erases Medical Debt
March 16 – March 23
Join Strike Debt for a Week of Action to Declare a
Healthcare Emergency: It's a Matter of “Life or Debt”
In the U.S., healthcare is a bankrupt system run on debt:
· 60% of personal bankruptcies are linked to medical bills.
· 86% of doctors begin their professional lives with educational debt.
· "Unprofitable" community hospitals are being closed left and right in order to make room for for-profit hospitals or condominiums. A leading rationale for closure is the unsustainable debt of these hospitals, debt to investors, debt to cities, debt to states, debt to private companies.
· These debts are literally killing patients, students, providers and communities. They deepen the already entrenched inequalities that our society has built between races, classes, and genders. Our healthcare system doesn’t serve to make us well; instead it prolongs our illnesses in the name of profit.
In reaction to this system, Strike Debt’s Rolling Jubilee initiative will make a big announcement in March. We have bought and abolished a large amount of medical debt. Though this will provide real relief to thousands of people who need it, it is only crumbs in light of the 70 million who still owe money on medical bills.
We want to use the attention this buy will generate to highlight the profound inhumanity and inequality of our medical payment system and to create a vision of a world where healthcare is truly treated as a right. No one should have to go into debt for basic needs. We demand a jubilee for all medical debts, and a healthcare system based on everybody's need for wellness and not the 1%'s desire for wealth.
Strike Debt is calling for a month of education and organizing culminating in a day of action in New York City on March 23. If you'll be in New York, save the date.
If you won't be in New York, join us in bringing this action everywhere! Wherever you are,
- Protest a closed community hospital
- Support a struggling community hospital
- Protest a private insurance company
- Protest a pharmaceutical company
- Do a creative direct action
- Organize a healthcare or debt speak out
- Organize a free health screening or health fare
- Organize free legal advice and debt/financial guidance
- Provide free education about debt and/or healthcare
Some helpful slogans and messages:
- Debt on Arrival
- End Medical Debt
- Single-payer Now
- Medicare for All
- Healthcare: A Matter of Life and Debt
- Isn't Being Sick Bad Enough?
- Cause of Debt: Heart Attack, Cancer
- Strike Medical Debt
- Health care we need, not what we can afford
Hashtag for the action: #lifeordebt
Contact: info@strikedebt.org or send information about your action to rjaction@strikedebt.org
Stay tuned for our action calendar and other updates!
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