Single-payer advocates say senators have locked them out.

Hundreds of nurses rallied on Capitol Hill on May 12-13 in an attempt to have their voices and opinions on healthcare reform heard as lawmakers begin to draft legislation.

The rally included the California Nurses Association-National Nurses Organizing Committee, the American Nurses Association, and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. Some of the groups disagree on the details of reform, including whether reform should include a single-payer system, but are united in their effort to be included in discussions on overhaul legislation, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported.

Three of the rally’s sponsors, CNA/NNOC, United American Nurses, and the Massachusetts Nurses Association are joining into a national “super union” of 150,000 registered nurses, according to a CNA news release.

Single-Payer Advocates Snubbed

Nurses who advocate for a single-payer healthcare system -- essentially, the end of commercial health insurance -- say they have been excluded from healthcare-reform bargaining.

On May 12, at the second Finance Committee session, CNA/NNOC members and their allies -- about 30 of them -- rose and turned their backs to the committee’s chairman, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), according to The Nation, a left-leaning weekly magazine. On their backs were signs reading: “Pass Single-Payer” and “Nurses Say: Patients First.” Other signs read “Stop AHIP,” referring to the insurance industry lobby, America’s Health Insurance Plans.

The nurses and their allies were told to leave, and most did. When five objected loudly, they were arrested, according to MSNBC. The five arrested were two RNs, two physicians, and a patient activist, the CNA/NNOC said.

Proposed Legislation Tackles Nursing Ratios

In Washington, nurses also lobbied for federal legislation sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to guarantee a “safe ratio” of nurses to patients in U.S. hospitals. Nursing advocates say hospitals are overload nurses with patients, which leads to “tens of thousands” of premature deaths each year.