The AFL-CIO national convention in Pittsburgh adopted a resolution calling on Congress to establish the human right to health care through a Medicare-for-all, single payer universal health care system. Read the resolution here. Here are some excerpts from the Resolution adopted on September 15, 2009:

"Health care is a fundamental human right and an important measure of social justice."

"Universal health care is a basic human right and moral imperative for our nation that must be funded through progressive financing."

"The experience of Medicare (and of nearly every other industrialized country) shows the most cost-effective and equitable way to provide quality health care is through a single-payer system. Our nation should provide a single high standard of comprehensive care for all."

"We reiterate our longstanding call for congressional leaders to unite behind such a plan."

"The single-payer approach is one the AFL-CIO supports and that merits dedicated congressional support and enactment."

Whatever the outcome of the current debate over health care reform in the 111th Congress, the task of establishing health care as a human right, not a privilege, will still lay before us. We continue to believe the social insurance model should be our goal, and we will continue to fight for reforms that take us in that direction." For more information.