The Mad As Hell Doctors’ odyssey into the politics of health care reform ended Wednesday with a modest rally in Washington, D.C., and a resolve to continue the quest for single-payer medical coverage.

Six Oregon physicians left Portland Sept. 8 in a custom-painted Winnebago on a cross-country roadshow aimed at building support for a government-sponsored health plan that would cover all Americans in a single giant risk pool.

In the 1st of a wave of upcoming protests against health insurers denial of coverage approved by doctors, 16 were arrested at Aetna in New York City on September 29th.

[Photo: Associated Press]

Rallies against the big insurers are welcome, but why is single-payer off the agenda?
[Photo: Service Employees International Union]

Activists from Single payer Action and Physicians for a National Health Program have set up a memorial on the National Mall for the more than 44,000 Americans who die every year from lack of health insurance. More than 3,000 American flags are planted on the mall at Constitution Avenue and 15th Street, NW, Washington, D.C.

Just as the province of Saskatchewan in Canada was the first to have Medicare before it spread nationally, some are suggesting that pushing in states with strong movements for single-payer is the most likely path of success.