Petition drive by National Center for Policy Analysis and Salem Radio Network captures 1 million signatures

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) and Salem Radio Network announced today the 1 millionth signature on their joint "Free Our Health Care Now" petition calling on Congress to stop the nationalization of the American health care system.

The millionth signature milestone comes just over a week after President Obama reached a million signers on his health reform petition, funded and promoted by the Democratic National Committee's "Organizing for America."

"It seems we have a horserace," said NCPA President and Kellye Wright Fellow John C. Goodman. "This national debate over how best to repair a dysfunctional health care system has evolved into trench warfare between government vs. patient and doctor controlled health care."

The petition, available at www.freeourhealthcarenow.com, was launched on May 25 by Salem Radio Network, with the team of Mike Gallagher, Bill Bennett, Hugh Hewitt, Michael Medved, Dennis Prager and Janet Parshall, who reach millions of listeners each week and cover 90 percent of the United States. The NCPA, a leader in public policy research for over 25 years, provided the content and analysis on almost all facets of the debate, including educational guidance on the framing and substance of the petition itself.


"This is and continues to be an amazing response from a large segment of the American people," explained SRN president Greg Anderson. "Talk radio is at the epicenter of public opinion and citizens from all across the country are making their concerns known loud and clear."

"None of this could have happened without the expertise, acumen and dedication of the NCPA, and its CEO and President, Dr. John Goodman. His knowledge of health care, his experience in policy debate, and the great team he has built at the NCPA all were integral to this great educational success. The more our audience learned about the health care landscape, the more disenchanted our audience became with President Obama's desire for a so called 'public option,' and with his rush to get health care reform completed by the end of the summer."

"We are thrilled that our educational outreach with Salem Radio Network led to such a surge of interest in this topic," said Dr. Goodman. "Healthcare represents 17 percent of the economy, and the NCPA has long argued that placing government in control of health care would result in significant declines in access, choice and quality of care."

The Free Our Health Care Now petition will be delivered to Congress in late August, and at current signing rates, may become the biggest petition delivered to Capitol Hill since Newt Gingrich delivered 1.3 million signatures to Congress last summer as a part of American Solution's "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" campaign.

The National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization, established in 1983. The NCPA's goal is to develop and promote private alternatives to government regulation and control, solving problems by relying on the strength of the competitive, entrepreneurial private sector. Topics include reforms in health care, taxes, Social Security, welfare, criminal justice, education and environmental regulation. More than 25,000 documents are accessible for research at www.ncpa.org.

NCPA President and Kellye Wright Fellow John C. Goodman is credited by the Media Research Center as playing the pivotal role, along with former Sen. Phil Gramm and columnist Bill Kristol, in the defeat of "HillaryCare" -- the Clinton Administration's plan to overhaul the U.S. health care system. The Wall Street Journal has called Dr. Goodman "the father of health savings Accounts," and The National Journal declared him the "winner of the devolution derby" because his ideas on ways to transfer power from government to the people have had a significant impact on Capitol Hill.

Salem Radio Network is a division of Salem Communications (Nasdaq: SALM) a leading U.S. radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher targeting audiences interested in Christian and family-themed content and conservative values. Salem owns radio properties, the Dallas-based Salem Radio Network(R), which syndicates talk, news and music programming to approximately 2,000 affiliates; Salem Radio Representatives(TM), a national radio advertising sales force; Salem Web Network(TM), an Internet provider of Christian content and online streaming; and Salem Publishing(TM), a publisher of Christian-themed magazines. Upon the close of all announced transactions, the company will own 93 radio stations, including 58 stations in 22 of the top 25 markets. Additional information about Salem may be accessed at the company's website, www.salem.cc.


SOURCE National Center for Policy Analysis; Salem Radio Network CONTACT:Sean McCabe, Pinkston Group, +1-703-969-7975 (cell), mccabe@pinkstongroup.com, for NCPA; or Catherine Daniell, Director of Public Relations, National Center for Policy Analysis, +1-972-308-6479 (office), +1-817-991-1041 (cell), catherine.daniell@ncpa.org http://www.prnewswire.com