VOTE NO on Health Board Referendum

No coverage up until now on this issue, so if you voted early you were on your own. VOTE NO. Evanston Review:

Cook County voters next week will decide the fate of an advisory referendum that calls for creating a citizens' health board modeled after the Citizens Utility Board.

The new consumer group, Public Health Advocates, would be responsible for monitoring health issues in the county and recommending actions to alleviate problems and provide service.

The author of this advisory referendum, Dr. Quentin Young, is an advocate of a nationalized SINGLE PAYER system:

Young, former president of the American Public Health Association, is national coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program and founded the Chicago-based Health and Medicine Policy Research Group. He is an advocate of single-payer health care.

This board would EXCLUDE PHYSICIANS:

Creation of Public Health Advocates, however, is opposed by the Illinois State Medical Society, which is criticizing the proposed group for not including doctors.

"The exclusion of physicians from governance suggests that the proponents of this legislation do not believe that physicians advocate for our patients, a position that ISMS cannot support," said Dr. Craig A. Backs, society president in a prepared statement.

On Tuesday, VOTE NO on the health board referendum!