Saturday June 13, 2009, 11:35 am

Medicare for All (Single-Payer) Reform Would Be Major Stimulus for Economy 2.6 Million New Jobs,$317 Billion in Business Revenue
First-of-Its Kind Study: Medicare for All (Single-Payer) Reform Would Be Major Stimulus for Economy 2.6 Million New Jobs,$317 Billion in Business Revenue, $100 Billion in Wages


It's on your kitchen table

In the past few days, our allies in Congress have made serious gains in health care reform. But one thing is still uncertain - whether we'll see a strong, immediate public health insurance option.

President Obama last week indicated that, in order to keep insurance companies "honest" and reduce costs, we must provide Americans with the option of a public health insurance plan.

Now it's time to convince Congress; and the strongest proof that our current health care system is broken is probably sitting on your kitchen table - your medical bills.

What are you spending on health care? Generate your own medical bill online, and send
it to Congress: http://medbill.seiu.org

Today, the Senate is working on a plan for health care reform. The public health insurance option needs to be a part of it because it does three things:

* Lowers costs for individuals and families by competing side-by-side with private insurance plans
* Sets high standards for quality and accessibility that other plans will strive to meet
* Gives Americans more choice in their coverage by offering an affordable alternative to over-priced plans

Congress needs to understand what we're paying for health care. Use our tool to generate a medical bill and send it to your Senators: http://medbill.seiu.org/

After 80 years, we finally have the solution to this health care crisis in our sights. Thanks for joining us in our summer-long sprint to the finish line.

Thanks,
Dr. L. Toni Lewis
SEIU Healthcare

Saturday June 13, 2009, 11:42 am
Friday 12 June 2009

by: David Swanson, t r u t h o u t | Report


Single-payer health care supporters rally in Los Angeles in April. (Photo: Getty Images)
Health care reform plans are being drafted and passed around on both sides of Capitol Hill, but the plan with the greatest number of Congress members behind it was first introduced as a bill six years ago. With two new co-sponsors having just signed on, Congressman John Conyers's single-payer health care plan, HR 676, now has 80 Congress members supporting it.

A House committee held a hearing on single-payer health coverage on Wednesday, and a Senate committee included single payer in a hearing on Thursday. Many opponents of single payer, including President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, say it would be the ideal solution if it were possible.

A single-payer or "Medicare for all" system that eliminates for-profit health insurance and simply pays for everyone's treatment by private doctors and hospitals of their choosing is also the only solution consistently favored by a majority of Americans in polls. The proposal, already in place in most of the world's wealthy nations, is raised at every health care town-hall forum that Congress members or President Obama speak at, including the one Obama held on Thursday in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

The president always rejects single payer on the grounds that some Americans are too fond of their health insurance companies to part with them. A report by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting last week found that the corporate media still virtually bans coverage of single payer. A Senate bill being championed by Sen. Chris Dodd in place of ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy, does not include single payer (which is supported by only one US senator, Bernie Sanders). The Kennedy-Dodd bill, at least in its initial draft, does not even include a "public option," that is a Medicare-like program to exist alongside the private insurance companies. The House bill is being drafted by one current and two former co-sponsors of HR 676, Congressmen George Miller, Henry Waxman and Charles Rangel, but it avoids single payer, championing a public option instead. Other competing Senate bills are expected to complicate things further.

The approach taken by the Kennedy-Dodd bill and considered for the House bill is, rather than eliminating health insurance companies, expanding them by making insurance mandatory and subsidizing its purchase. While this approach is favored by the insurance companies, which have been among the primary participants in White House and Congressional health care forums this year, it is not supported by other corporations that would rather not be required to provide health insurance to employees. If anything has emerged on Capitol Hill this week, it is a chaotic lack of consensus except around the idea that something must be done to address a health care system that is damaging Americans' health and economy. Whether the growing chaos opens the door to single payer remains to be seen, and that possibility appears much more real in the House than in the Senate.

In the House, the progressive Caucus has declared that, while it would prefer single payer, it will back no bill without a public option; the Black, Hispanic and Asian caucuses have also backed a public option; and Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that no bill without a public option will pass. This should mean that, as the debate advances, the House will be more likely to back single payer than any other solution. Or, rather, it would be if it could create laws without having to get them through the Senate as well.

Sen. Max Baucus has taken the lead in Kennedy's absence and chaired hearings last month to which he refused to invite any supporters of single payer. Baucus had 13 people arrested for speaking up at his hearings uninvited, an action that generated more media coverage of single payer than any poll or study ever could have. One of those arrested, Dr. Margaret Flowers, is the Maryland co-chair of Physicians for a National Health Program. She was interviewed by Ed Schultz on "MSNBC," who began covering single payer in a major way. "Bill Moyer's Journal" on PBS also focused on single payer and aired interviews with three leading advocates, including Donna Smith of the California Nurses Association (CNA). Tim Carpenter of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) was interviewed on Fox News. Even the Washington Post took note.

Over the past few weeks, the relatively serious media attention has inspired more activism and vice versa. Senator Baucus has been surrounded by demands for single payer at town-hall forums in Montana and questioned by activists with video cameras in Washington, DC, as have health insurance executives and lobbyists.

Congress members John Conyers, Raul Grijalva, Donna Edwards, Steve Cohen and Emanuel Cleaver, along with Carpenter of PDA and Smith and Michael Lighty of CNA met with Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to lobby for single payer. Conyers has become increasingly outspoken, and on Wednesday evening, complained of being shut out by the president and by Waxman and Rangel, promising not to let up. On June 3, Senator Baucus met with advocates of single payer and told them he was wrong to have excluded them. But he said he would continue to do so.

However, on Wednesday, the Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee in the House, Chaired by Congressman Robert Andrews, held a serious hearing on the topic of single payer, with four of the five witnesses favoring a single-payer system, and Conyers was one of the four.

After the hearing and a briefing, Stephen Spitz of PDA told me, "Some of us met with Congressman Conyers in his office when he suddenly said: 'Let's go to Nancy Pelosi's office.' Off we went and, after talking to an aide of the speaker, we talked with Speaker Pelosi in her office in the US Capitol. She said she is for single payer and encouraged us to keep on doing what we were doing. She said that single payer cannot pass this year in the Congress. She said she was fighting to get a meaningful public option. Congressman Conyers asked her to let him (and experts he would bring) conduct a briefing before the entire House Democratic caucus on HR 676."

The next day, on Thursday, the Senate provided a stark contrast. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a hearing with possibly a record number of panelists, one of whom, Dr. Flowers, favored single payer. Senator Dodd, chairing in place of the absent Kennedy, opened by remarking that he'd never seen a panel so large and that he at first thought the panel was the audience. While hearings often include as many as six witnesses, this one included two panels with a total of 24 speakers. The first panel, with 15 speakers, began with Flowers's very brief statement, followed by 14 other prepared statements, none of them responding to Flowers.

Flowers began by indicating that she spoke for a majority of Americans. No one ever challenged that claim. Flowers criticized the idea of a uniquely American market solution as a delusion that has failed for 40 years. She said that health care in the United States is rationed right now ("rationing" being one of the dangers of "government health care" warned about by the sole witness against single payer on Wednesday). Congressman Dennis Kucinich had made the same point on Wednesday. The threats of wait time and denial of care are here under the current system. In what other industrialized nation, Flowers asked, do people hold bake sales to pay for their health care? In what other industrialized nation do millions of people go bankrupt because of medical bills? None of the following 14 speakers or any of the senators in the room answered these questions. In fact, they directed more criticism at the Kennedy-Dodd bill.

For Gods' sake America wake up!...Protest, do whatever you must do to correct this outrageous denial of human rights....Healthcare is to be denied to the impoverished and financially vulnerable?...Is that the American way?...Healthcare for all is now! Not tomorrow. Tomorrow is too far away and too late!

Saturday June 13, 2009, 11:52 am
Exactly what does it take to make the US government take the steps to ensure that its constituents need no longer live in fear of death or bankrupsy because they simply cannot afford the overblown insurance they need to simply live?...

Unfortunately the US is way behind the rest of the 'developed world' in this instance...Is it not before time that reality sank in?...

Saturday June 13, 2009, 11:58 am
Squillions of dollars for war...No money at all for the suffering and dying without the funds to buy something as simple as their given (but denied) right to free healtcare?

Saturday June 13, 2009, 12:00 pm

Thanks David!

Sign up for conference call on health care reform with Senator Chris Dodd, who is marshaling Ted Kennedy's plan.

http://www.care2.com/news/member/748310254/1166823

Saturday June 13, 2009, 12:42 pm
Thanks David, I am definitely with you on this!

Saturday June 13, 2009, 1:26 pm
The reason I and my husband are in the mess we are in is because of the cost of health care. Things were put off and now my husband is paying with relentless pain daily. To have free health care for all, would make us ALL in the same. Our government wants too keep the great divide going. The haves and have nots. If I get ill and cannot afford health care, I will take my rotting body straight to Washington, and die upon the White House lawn. Where I am sure they would just mulch my body for their lovely landscape.

Saturday June 13, 2009, 2:28 pm
Single Payer System should not and would not stop those who think their health insurance is great.
In all of Europe they have a single pay system, yet many choose and have the choice to pay a 'nominal' little extra if they decide adding private care makes them feel better.

The Doctors are wealthy in Europe but not billionaires. The hospitals depend on what providence or county they are in which can provide more money and extra's.

I live is Suffolk England and went into Labor while passing through Kent County the city of Maidestone.
My son was born in Maidestone where they gave us 'pampers; When I felt better we were moved to the hosp. near my home in Suffolk where the diapers were cloth.

No one goes without healthcare. Hip, joint replacements are done sometimes after a short wait. But those who pay the nominal extra do not wait as long.

Preventative Care is a mainstream of European Healthcare. Patients are advised to go the the Chemist (Pharmacy) before seeing a Dr.
Back in the U.S. The Pharmacist is afraid to advise and we pay Dr's to get expensive prescriptions.
While in Europe many of those medicines are over the counter, no prescription required.

Single Payer is the only way to go. But U.S. Govt. from Clinton's on, have no intention of jeopardizing their stocks in Met Life, Atena, or the Pharmakilers. Not to mention the money that flows to them and their parties.

America will never see Single Payer because of the propaganda, money to be made, and most importantly how significant Congress Health Care worries are compared to the working man and woman.
grrrrrrrrrrrr

Saturday June 13, 2009, 3:27 pm
Write to the President, every day:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

Click Here For Contacting Congress State by State.

Look up your members of Congress and call them now:http://my.barackobama.com/callcongress

Saturday June 13, 2009, 4:04 pm
If there is any one issue that can prove that corruption is rife in US politics, than this has to be it, You would think the health of a nation should be one of the most important issues to a every one of your elected officials. What this says is, "we don't care about you or your health".Then you have one of the most incredibly expensive medical systems in the world to attend to your medical needs. This is another issue that would need the support of your elected officials again, to be allowed to continue.You have a very active Religious lobby that has incredible clout. Surely the health and welfare of their adherents and fellow countrymen would be a valid point to exert political muscle .[would the tentacles of corruption extend this far?] It would appear that the luxury of being avid consumers of Bovine Excreta in the run up to an election, is a luxury that the ordinary citizen will have to fore go if you want truth and justice in your halls of power, or it will be more of the same,

Saturday June 13, 2009, 4:55 pm
They are throwing our faxes in the trash, and ignoring our e-mails and phone calls.

Meanwhile, the Insurance Industry is pouring money into lobbying and advertisements which could be spent on sick people !

Saturday June 13, 2009, 7:29 pm
Thanks David. The article is one of the best updates on where things stand with Single Payer Reform that I have seen!

I think it’s important to understand and share the following (to counteract the scare tactics of the corrupt insurance industry):

Single-payer healthcare is NOT government-run healthcare.

Single-payer healthcare is NOT socialized medicine.

See an excellent article, “The Truth About Health Care Reform,” here: http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2009/06/apparently_were_not_getting_mu.html
http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2009/06/apparently_were_not_getting_mu.html

Quoting from the article:

“By changing the way that health care is paid for, single payer health care can eradicate the disparities and inequalities while simultaneously improving quality of care for everyone. This increase in quality will also cost less.”

Please read the article “Health Reform for Beginners: The Difference Between Socialized Medicine, Single-Payer Health Care, and What We'll Be Getting” http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/06/health_reform_for_beginners_th_1.html
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/06/health_reform_for_beginners_th_1.html

Quoted from the article:

“Socialized medicine is a system in which the government owns the means of providing medicine. Britain is an example of socialized system, as, in America, is the Veterans Health Administration.

“In a socialized system, the government employs the doctors and nurses, builds and owns the hospitals, and bargains for and purchases the technology. I have literally never heard a proposal for converting America to a socialized system of medicine. And I know a lot of liberals.

“SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE IS NOT SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. [my caps]. It's a system in which one institution purchases all, or in reality, most, of the care. But the payer does not own the doctors or the hospitals or the nurses or the MRI scanners. Medicare is an example of a mostly single-payer system, as is France. Both of these systems have private insurers to choose from, but the government is the dominant purchaser. . . . The term refers to market share, not federal control.”

Saturday June 13, 2009, 7:31 pm
Our fight for equal access to healthcare for all is about democracy, human rights, civil rights, and basic human decency. WE MUST JOIN TOGETHER TO FIGHT FOR OUR CIVIL RIGHTS AND BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS.

We need to bombard the White House, Baucus, Senator Kennedy’s office, and our Senators and Representatives with CALLS, Faxes and Emails for SINGLE PAYER. When you make the calls today, TELL your Senators and Representatives that you are OPPOSED to the Conrad co-op proposal.

ACTION PLAN:

1. Tell Senator Baucus NO On The Conrad Co-Op Proposal!
Please CALL Senator Max Baucus at (202) 224-2651
Call the Senate Finance Committee at (202) 224-4515

2. ASK Obama to support Single Payer reform. Tell him it’s what the country wants and needs. 45 million are uninsured. People are dying because of our current healhcare system. We can’t afford not to have single-payer reform!

COMMENT HERE:
http://www.healthreform.gov/contact/index.html

AND HERE: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

CALL AND FAX: Phone: Comments: 202-456-1111;
Switchboard: 202-456-1414; FAX: 202-456-2461

3. Call, Fax and Email Senator Kennedy’s office and insist that he put SINGLE-PAYER healthcare reform on the table. Tell Senator Kennedy NO On The Conrad Co-Op Proposal! Object to forcing all Americans to buy health insurance.

You can email him here: http://kennedy.senate.gov/senator/contact.cfm

Fax him here:
FAX Senator Kennedy's Washington office: 202-224-2417
FAX Senator Kennedy's Massachusetts office: 617-565-3183


4. ASK your Senators to co-sponsor S 703, The American Health Security Act.

ASK your Representative to co-sponsor HR 676, The United States National Health Insurance Act. (78 Representatives have signed on as co-sponsors so far).

You can find your legislators’ contact information here:
http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

For more information on both bills:
http://www.healthcare-now.org/2009/04/on-s-703-the-american-health-security-act/http://www.healthcare-now.org/hr-676/

We CAN do it!

Saturday June 13, 2009, 7:35 pm

President Obama: Yes, We Can... Pay for Healthcare



President Barack Obama said Saturday he had found more than 300 billion dollars that could help his government make health care available to all Americans.

Thursday September 17, 2009, 7:30 am
There are still single-payer events & rallies taking place, scheduled around the country -- The activists haven't given up -- Why should we ! ? !

Healthcare Justice Week
September 20th – 30th, 2009

The following contains active links @ http://www.healthcare-now.org/

Join us in Washington D.C. September 24th, 4:30pm at Upper Senate Park for the 3rd Annual Health Care Justice Vigil.

Join the Mad as Hell Doctors for their Washington D.C. Rally on September 30th in Lafayette Square Park from 4pm - 7pm.

Don't forget to call Congress! Ask your Rep. to support Rep. Weiner's single-payer healthcare amendment, and to retain Rep. Kucinich's state single-payer amendment. Ask your Senators to support S. 703.

■Call your congressional representatives and ask that they cosponsor and actively advocate for HR 676. Call toll free 1-866-338-1015

Mark your calendars for Healthcare-NOW!'s National Strategy Conference on November 14th and 15th. Location and information to be announced soon!


The number of medical, faith, union, political, state, county & local organizations who Endorse HR 676 is enormous ! See them all !!


Please check out these sites and sign the petitions if you haven't yet:

HEALTHCARE - NOW! -- I Support HR 676

Physicians for a National Health Program: PNHP is at the forefront of research and action for a Single-Payer National Health Insurance


Keep Alive the Legacy of a Single-Payer Warrior - Nicholas Skala, 27, Died of Unknown Causes :
Northwestern U law student, senior researcher for Physicians for a National Health Program, 'air-lifted' to DC this summer to see if he could help move the single-payer agenda forward - and to work with J Conyers in the House Judiciary; wrote "'Public Option' Pales Next to Single Payer" for CommonDreams. See the 'SinglePayerAction' video on his Congressional Progressive Caucus presentation.