In November 2011 the leadership of PNHP IL adopted the following statement of support for Occupy Wall Street and all Occupy movements in IL (based on an earlier PNHP statement available here)

PNHP Illinois supports Occupy Wall Street and all Illinois Occupy movements.

We support Occupy Wall Street and all Illinois Occupy movements because the private health insurance industry exemplifies the Occupy movement’s central tenet: its unchecked corporate greed tramples human need.

We support Occupy Wall Street and all Illinois Occupy movements because economic and social inequalities make our patients sick. Low wages, high unemployment, inadequate education, unhealthy food, unaffordable housing, unsafe jobs, a polluted environment, and a lack of access to affordable health care breed death and disability.

We support Occupy Wall Street and all Illinois Occupy movements because health care is a human right.  We reject a system that forces us to treat patients differently based on their insurance and the treatments they can “afford.”

We support Occupy Wall Street and all Illinois Occupy movements because we believe in evidence, and evidence shows us that profit-driven health care decreases access, raises costs and lowers quality. It’s unhealthy for the 99%; only a few corporate executives, bankers, and lobbyists benefit.

We support Occupy Wall Street and all Illinois Occupy movements because our political leaders, held hostage by corporate money, reject evidence-based health policies such as a single-payer reform that would save both lives and money.

We support Occupy Wall Street and all Illinois Occupy movements because the health care economy – like the overall economy – has ample resources to take care of 100%, but those resources are siphoned off by profit-driven corporations in the interest of the 1%.

We support Occupy Wall Street and all Illinois Occupy movements because we took an oath to do no harm, and our corrupt political and economic systems are harming us all.
We support Occupy Wall Street and all Illinois Occupy movements because we are hopeful that we can change our society.

Join us!