Working for the Common Good 

Congressional Progressive Caucus Discussing Healthcare Reform
Transcript of the May 21, 2009 meeting of the Progressive Caucus to discuss and answer questions about health care reform. Very enlightening.

Single-Payer Health Care Versus Individual Mandates: A Dilemma for Democrats
Proponents of an incrementalist strategy portray their approach as the best way to win. Their argument has some merit, but the risks of a "half-a-loaf" plan are numerous and profound. No mandated insurance program has been able to provide universal coverage

Dr.Quentin Young of PNHP for NAT DAY OF ACTION 5/'09  
San Francisco was very fortunate that Dr. Quentin Young was in town for the NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION going on across the nation re getting a single payer universal publicly funded healthcare plan

Kennedy and Baucus "Seek Common Ground" on Health Care Legislation
Two Senate committee chairmen issued a joint statement on Saturday saying they would "seek common ground on health reform legislation," despite reports that they disagreed on the shape of a new public health insurance plan that many Democrats want to create

Health Care Activists Lament Single-Payer Snub
On Friday in San Francisco, about 200 single-payer proponents held a rally in front of the Federal Building and headed in small groups to Rep. Nancy Pelosi's office

Single-Payer Health Care: Baucus Keeps Getting An Earful
But Baucus - whose staff has fanned out across Montana this week for two dozen "listening sessions" on the subject - was also hit from another angle when he sent a representative to the Flathead Indian Reservation.

High-Deductible Health Insurance Is Not Always a Bargain
IS your medical insurance bad for your health? If you have a high-deductible plan, the answer may be yes.

Poll: Americans OK With More Government Health Care Influence
A national poll indicates that most Americans are receptive to having more government influence over their health care in return for lower costs and more coverage.

Take Action: Tell Your Senators: No More Delays! Demand Real Reform Now
One plan, embraced by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), among others, would create a "trigger", meaning a public health insurance option would only be created if private insurance can't handle the job and the health care crisis gets worse. Click to act!

The Public Option and Real Health Reform
One advantage to a public health insurance option is that it is transparent. Private insurance doesn't tell you what they pay for services, how often these services are used, and whether these services have improved patient outcomes.

====

I did not submit the following, but still wanted to make sure you saw them:

New Report Casts Exclusion of Single Payer Option as a Question of Democracy and Human Rights
from: Care For
The question of whether national leaders will consider a single payer system as an option for health care reform has become a question of basic democracy.

Reform Talk Dominates WellPoint Meeting - Activists Say Insurer Part of Problem
Dr. Rob Stone, a Bloomington physician who heads the advocacy group Hoosiers for a Common Sense Health Plan, called WellPoint and its industry the "biggest barrier" to affordable health care.

Insurance Companies Want to Hide Truth About Healthcare Reform
Right now, your health care is run by people who value profits, not patients. Private insurance companies set the fees you can't afford, for care they will deny you when you need it. They decide which doctor you can see and which hospital you can use.

Blue Double Cross on Healthcare Reform - NY Times
That didn't take long. Less than two weeks have passed since much of the medical-industrial complex made a big show of working with President Obama on health care reform -- and the double-crossing is already well under way.

by Jason Rosenbaum
Tue Mar 10, 2009 at 02:51:52 PM CDT

As could be expected, she didn't want to come out, face the crowd, and get her well-deserved certificate. But a couple hundred people had a good time pointing out the insurance industry will always put profits before people. Here's some quick video of the event:

The biggest highlight was the presence of Congressman Eric Massa's (D-NY). It's heartening that Members of Congress are willing to join a rally to send the message that we can't trust the health insurance industry with health care reform. And apparently we made so much of a splash, that Ignagni and her henchmen had to respond to our concerns during their press conference later that morning:

The protest ended when the group tried to enter the Ritz to deliver an oversized award certificate to KarOuren Ignagni, AHIP's president and CEO. The "Best Protector of Profits at the Expense of Our Health" award didn't make it past security guards or a strategically-parked car near the entrance.

"I believe in First Amendment rights," Ignagni said when asked about the protest during a subsequent press conference. "We're motivated by going through a process of taking issues off the table that are troubling the American people."

We're not giving up. We know the health insurance industry will be the main enemies of health care reform. As President Obama said, the status quo is off the table. It's time to fundamentally reform our system, and that means putting people over insurance industry profits.

We'll see you next time, Karen! We're looking forward to it!

(also posted at the NOW! blog)

"At the end of the day, at least some of the people who were in the room on Thursday, saying all of those nice things, are going to decide they have more to lose from health care reform than they have to gain.

Maybe it will be the drug lobby. Maybe it will be the insurers. Maybe it will be small business. Maybe it will be all of them. But whatever the array of reform's adversaries, they will have a good shot at winning--unless they are confronted with a public that not just accepts comprehensive health care reform but insists upon it.

Obama can help that process along, by using his position to educate voters and unleashing the grassroots machine he built during the campaign. But he can't do it alone. He'll need the help of groups like the Service Empoyees International Union, Health Care for America Now, Moveon.org, and other liberal groups that can organize supporters and rally them upon command."

"It's not single payer advocates who are harmed by this wall of exclusion, it's all the American families and patients who yearn for real reform and will almost surely be disillusioned by proposals that fail to achieve it. Because you can't genuinely rein in costs without tackling them at the source -- the insurance companies and their built in incentive to perennially jack up premiums, co-pays, deductibles and all the other ATM-type fees that are bankrupting families and crushing businesses. Nor can you begin to address the callous and routine denial of care for those already insured by the claims adjustors and bean counters who don't want to pay for it. There's another potential casualty here as well, President Obama who himself famously said in 2003 that he was a proponent of single payer and must surely know it is best approach. A lot of political capital will be expended to pass reform this year, it ought to be devoted to a reform that will actually work."

"Today's NY Times piece describing how the Health Care Industry in Talks to Shape Policy, wherein Medicare for All/single Payer is pre-determined to be off the table is but the latest example of "Yes, But-ism...".

Yes, they admit, "Expanded and Improved Medicare for All" is the best policy and makes the most sense economically. Yes, it is the best way to actually get to 100% coverage. Yes, it would mean that nobody would be bankrupted because they or a family member got sick. Yes, it free up both workers and employers from constraining burden they have that their counterparts in the rest of developed world do not have. Yes, it would mean we could actually reduce total and control costs through the benefits of reduced overhead, monospony, global budgeting and planning."

"The "but" is always alleged political feasibility. Remember 1994 they say. As if Single Payer was what the Clinton's had proposed. Indeed it was the same "Yes, but" that ruled that day back then, when single payer was not allowed to be at the table as early as the pre-inagural economic summit.

It was a mistake then and it is today."

Read More....