The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. December 23, 2009 Doctors Group Calls for Senate to Reject Healthcare Bill -------------------------------------------------------- Physicians for a National Health Program is calling on the Senate to reject the current version of the healthcare bill and move toward considering a single-payer approach. In an open letter, the organization writes, “Congress’ capitulation to insurers—along with concessions to the pharmaceutical industry—fatally undermines the economic viability of reform.” The group has criticized numerous aspects of the bill, including the individual mandate requiring that people buy private insurance policies, large government subsidies to private insurers, new restrictions on abortion, and cuts of $43 billion in Medicare payments to safety-net hospitals. Physicians for a National Health Program estimated that at least 23 million people will remain uninsured when the plan finally takes effect. .