Six Physician Groups Launch Viral Campaign for Universal Coverage

The video was prepared by the Herndon Alliance, a nationwide coalition of 200 minority, faith, labor, advocacy, business, and healthcare provider groups, including the American Nurses Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Association of Retired People, the Mayo Clinic, and Families USA.

The group signed a letter that reads in part, "We are confident that the reforms being proposed will allow us to provide better quality care to our patients, while preserving patient choice of plan and doctor."

The group's media campaign is Web-based and includes a three-minute series of vignettes from physicians around the country explaining why the status quo is intolerable.

"Medicine now has been shifted and it's really now more about insurance companies and rules that aren't fair. It's no longer about the patient and the doctor," says Lori Heim, MD of Vass, NC.

It's so crucial to make sure health reform passes this time around, and not befall the same fate as a similar attempt did during the Clinton administration, Epperly says.

"It's so different this time—this is the first time that 47 million Americans have gone without health insurance. We have big businesses going bankrupt and people going bankrupt on healthcare costs," he says.