They're calling it a "Care-a-van" — a cadre of medical doctors who piled into a motor home and pulled out of Oregon's Willamette Valley on Sept. 8, to rally support across the country for a single-payer health care system. And the doctors — aided by the likes of Dennis Kucinich's 2004 national campaign organizer — plan to arrive in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with a rally to influence the current congressional debate.

"We're mad as hell because our health care system is run by people who profit from illness," is the way Dr. Paul Hochfeld states the case for the Mad as Hell Doctors in one of their press releases. "The rest of the civilized world has test driven single payer and it works. But elected officials in America won't even allow a discussion.

And while many on the left are rallying in hopes of modest reform that includes a public option, the docs see that as anything but progress.

"The public option is a trap," says Hochfeld. "It sounds reasonable, but the problem with it, no matter what the final bill looks like, is that it will continue to allow private medical insurance companies to dictate America's public health policies. And that's just plain wrong."

The doctors arrive in Detroit on Thursday, Sept. 24. They have two events set up.

They'll be at the Wayne State University Medical School at 3:30 p.m. They'll be at Sacred Heart Church, 1000 Eliot St. (near Eastern Market), Detroit at 6:30 p.m.

For more information, check madashelldoctors.com. Or to go directly to their C&W-style anthem to single-payer, go straight to tinyurl.com/mwr7ta.