AUGUSTA — A rally calling for universal health care is scheduled for July 8 at the state house, supporters say.

The new national Health Care for America Now campaign aims to provide health care for all Americans by 2009, according to backers.

Among the rally organizers are the Maine People’s Alliance, MSEA-SEIU, Maine Women’s Lobby, Maine Equal Justice Partners/MAIN, Engage Maine, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, Equality Maine, Maine Center for Economic Policy, and healthcare activists.

The event will begin at 11 a.m. on the State Street side of the Statehouse. If it is raining, the rally will be held in the Hall of Flags.

“In 2009, we will either have a guarantee of quality, affordable health care we all can count on, or we will continue to be at the mercy of the private health insurance industry that is charging us more, giving us less and putting company profits before our health,” Alison Vander Zanden of the Maine People’s Alliance said in a statement. “This is the year we will decide.”

The Augusta rally is one of 44 rallies nationwide that is planned for July 8.

The campaign’s national steering committee includes ACORN, AFSCME, Americans United for Change, Campaign for America’s Future, Center for American Progress Action Fund, Center for Community Change, MoveOn, NEA, National Women’s Law Center, Planned Parenthood, SEIU, UFCW, and USAction.