Single Payer Health Care Thread - Failure is NOT an Option!!

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

I may post one of these weekly, maybe more often. What I want is to educate and inform,
and mobilize the progressive community. Your help needed. DUers get er done!

The Single Payer Movement is growing, but we have our work cut out for us:

We have not yet mobilized the progressive community to its potential.
Without that mobilization, congress will continue to turn a deaf ear to the Single Payer Movement.
They will continue to laugh in our faces and arrest our activists.

Right now, there are two groups in the progressive community:

1. involved active, informed, and engaged or
2. barely aware, busy folks who depend/trust Obama and congress to do the right thing because after all they have a mandate from the voters.
Most of the 2nd group don't know anything about single payer, why we should want it, why it is the most doable reform and most affordable, nor are they aware that private insurance for medical access is an aberration, not the rule, in most of the world.
Most US citizens have no idea that most developed countries have single payer and have done so for decades.

We need both groups engaged in order to move Obama and the Congress in the right direction.

The challenge for us is to

1.) educate the public about Single Payer, and
2.) involve them in the Single Payer Activism movement in such a way that we can mobilize them with a single email.
(Just like the e-voting/paper ballot movement was built)..

How we can win? By joining together. Go to www.prosperityagenda.us which has a blog and action alerts that are updated every day.

ProsperityAgenda is geared towards the layerperson, general voter group.
They make it easy for you to take action with very little time investment.
This organization is run by some of the most effective or "get er done" activists in the entire United States, among them Kevin Zeese, one of the "Baucus 8" who were arrested upon orders of Senator "Mad Max" Baucus.
Over the years I have seen first hand Kevin's enormous talents and abilities in activism through his work in the e-voting movement..
ProsperityAgenda works with the other Single Payer Groups, so this isn't a case of one group trying to crowd another out.
*This is a case of finding a website that is well geared to involving and mobilizing the general public.

Good advocates not only educate the public (something we must do), they give their audience something to do.

Joining www.ProsperityAgenda.us can help us make it easy to do that.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

1. Tom Tomorrow of This Modern World - Cartoon on Health Care

[snowdays]

19. :-)

[nxylas]

42. LOL @ #4

I've used that argument against Republicans in the past. Nothing is guaranteed to make them change the subject faster.

[redqueen]

43. Love it.

:)

[auntAgonist]

2. 1st K&R

[jocapo]

3. Organizing for America

I'm starting to get emails from David Ploufe at Organizing for America (Barack Obama's old campaign site) asking for donations to "stand with the President" on Health Care reform. I'd love to do that but until they say they are committed to including a Single Payer public plan, and fighting hard for its passage, I won't give them my money. If we could push this organization to get behind a Single Payer public option it would go a long way towards making it a possibilty.

[philly_bob]

22. I got same request for donation for "Health Care Reform." My reply was:

SINGLE PAYER. SINGLE PAYER.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

25. everyone who gets those emails should hit the reply button

and say what you said.

That is what I've done.

[Christa]

38. Same here. NT

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

29. Yeah, that email made no sense.

Do you stand with Obama's 3 ambiguous goals?

K&R

[livefreest]

45. what a great idea! i just did it

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

4. baucus might be the least of our worries….

baucus might be the least of our worries….

May 16, 2009 in Montana.
Posted at 4&20 blackbirds A journal of Montana politics and culture



max baucus’s inept and sorry spectacle in his handling of his finance committee’s hearings on healthcare served to galvanize supporters of single payer universal health care (the majority according to all the polls i have read). his blundering laughter and arrogant statement that “we need more police” while doctors and nurses were led away in handcuffs, who were arrested for the crime of attempting to speak out about being ignored and denied a legitimate place at the discussion table only aroused a growing wave of resentment and disgust against his proposals to impose forced private insurance plans upon all citizens to the utter dismay of those who want to see real health care reform enacted this year. and then, to make matters worse, the health insurance and health care industry groups backed out of a promise they had made to obama to limit health care costs.

baucus’s idiocy has been damaging enough but, the real enemies of health care reform are only now beginning their attack ads and they have a 7 to 1 advantage in ad revenue that they can spend telling lies and creating fear about health care reform. by the use of 30 second ads they hope to foment enough angst to stall or kill any health care reform in this country.

backed by right wing sociopaths and the extremely wealthy coffers of health care insurance lobbyists (thanks to you and your empoyers increasingly burdensome premiums for less and less coverage) these snake oil salesmen and sales ladies will pull out all the stops to derail anything resembling public health care choices (leave alone the single payer option) because they fear the competition will expose them for the profit mongering, greedy and merciless vipers that they are.

so while we must fight max baucus’s unyielding and arrogant attitude toward universal single payer….let’s not forget about that snake in the grass….

http://4and20blackbirds.wordpress.com/2009/05/16/baucus-might-be-the-least-of-our-worries/

[Mythsaje]

5. K&R

It's my loudest drum.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

6. Please post your article, link or your thoughts to this thread

and we can reach more people.

Thanks!

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

7. Please post your article, link or your thoughts to this thread

and we can reach more people.

Thanks!

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

8. "The Single Payer Fire Has Been Lit" - Kevin Zeese of the Baucus 8

The Single Payer Fire Has Been Lit
by Kevin Zeese



A Populist Health Care Rebellion Rages

Last week when I was one of the Baucus Eight – so-named because eight of us were arrested before Sen. Baucus, I hopped others would join us. Yesterday, they did. And, the single payer movement grew stronger.

Before the hearing I joined nearly 50 people in a spirited protest outside the U.S. senate letting all who entered know we wanted a single payer national health care plan.

...As the hearing began, and Sen. Baucus was speaking a group of about 30 nurses, dressed in their red hospital uniforms, stood up and turned their backs on Baucus. They had pinned to their backs: “Nurses Say: Stop AHIP. Pass Single Payer.” (AHIP is America’s Health Insurance Plans – the health insurance industry lobby.)

...All five were arrested and taken away for booking. They were charged with Disruption of Congress, the same offense I will go to court for on May 26th.

Now, 13 have been arrested – the Baucus 8 have morphed into the Baucus 13 – demanding a seat at the table; merely urging that the most popular health reform among the people as well as among doctors, nurses and economists be part of the conversation.

...more at the link
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Single-Payer-Fire-Has-by-Kevin-Zeese-090512-462.html

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

9. Photo: Doctors and Nurses being arrested and hauled off per Sen Mad Max Baucus

Five Nurses and Doctors Arrested at Baucus Finance Committee Hearing on Florence Nightengale Day Protests for Guaranteed SinglePayer Healthcare

Slide show here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16992253@N06/3526172446/

[Joanne98]

10. K&R

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

11. STUDY: SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE REFORM WOULD BE A MAJOR STIMULUS FOR THE US ECONOMY

A new study shows that SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE REFORM WOULD BE A MAJOR STIMULUS FOR THE US ECONOMY and would provide:

** 2.6 Million New Jobs,
** $317 Billion in Business Revenue,
** $100 Billion in Wages, and
** $44 Billion New Tax Revenues


The press release is here: http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/press-releases/2009/january/nurses-to-congress-expanding-medicare-could-reverse-job-losses-and-repair-our-broken-healthcare-system-and-safety-net.html

Here’s the study: http://www.calnurses.org/research/pdfs/ihsp_sp_economic_study_2009.pdf

It’s clear that single-payer is the solution, not only in terms of providing quality care for all, but also economically!

WHY ISN’T SINGLE-PAYER ON THE TABLE?

[Kansas Wyatt]

12. DEAR HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES

We The People agree to drop the single payer rhetoric if you will agree to the following:

Since poor people cannot afford insurance, the Federal Government will allow people to opt into Medicare for the duration of their lives. Now, since feisty Americans don't like to be told by the Federal Government what they are going to do and when they are going to do it, we are allowing Americans the choice to freely choose at their convenience when they would want to opt into Medicare. Again, the Federal Government would not be telling anyone to do this, since Americans are against anything run by the government, don't want to be forced into anything, and want the choice to say when they are poor enough, without any means testing. This would be an enormous break for the insurance companies, since poor people tend to be loaded down with medical problems, and insurance companies would not have to pay for any of it or be burdened down with sick people. So it's a win win for the insurance companies!

After all, you insurance companies don't want to end up in a new program, where every single American is angry with you and suddenly comes down a myriad of medical problems that are only in their heads. Jeez, if all your customers were running to the doctor for exams and tests all the time, some of which would end up in hospitals for further testing, it could bankrupt your insurance company.

[LaurenG]

13. Kick! Rec!

:kick:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

14. "Top Ten Reasons to be Against Single Payer Health Care" Cartoon

[AllyCat]

41. Hmmm...printing and distributing...

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

15. "Ending a Parade of Preventable Misery"

16 May 2009
Single Payer Health Insurance: Ending a Parade of Preventable Misery

Single-payer health insurance is way to go
By Don Terry / May 14, 2009

An army of lawyers and lobbyists is gathering along the Potomac.

The upcoming battle in Washington over national health care reform is going to be fierce.

Billions of dollars are at stake.
There will be blood.
So, I called a doctor.

About 70 percent of the patients who Dr. Claudia Fegan treats at her South Side clinic don't have health insurance -- like the housekeeper whose breasts were purple and rock-hard from cancer.

"She was just waiting at home to die," Fegan says. "She didn't have insurance. She didn't know what to do. Her daughter finally brought her in."

Fegan, past president of Physicians for a National Health Program, has seen cases like that again and again. A parade of preventable misery. That's why she supports a single-payer system that would essentially expand Medicare coverage to include every American, regardless of age.

....

http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/single-payer-health-insurance-ending.html

[snowdays]

16. A BIG rec.

[Union Yes]

17. Proud 10th rec!

[snowdays]

18. SEIU --SPOKESPERSON IS LYING IN MONTANA.. SEE THIS......

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8413396&mesg_id=8415467

[fight4my3sons]

20. South Thomaston activist arrested in Washington, D.C.

Call is a co-founder of the Midcoast Health Care Reform organization and Maine Healthcare Reform. He said he and other protesters wanted to bring attention to the fact that no advocates of a government-run single-payer health-care system were represented at the Senate Finance Committee's round-table discussions on health-care reform. Instead, he said, only lobbyists and special interests with drug companies and insurance companies were invited to the table.

Capitol Police confirmed Thursday that he and four others were arrested and charged with "disruption of Congress" after they interrupted the hearing. A police spokesman said it was a misdemeanor charge.

http://knox.villagesoup.com/Government/story.cfm?storyID=158781

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

24. "He spent the next 30 hours in a jail cell."

Mad Max Baucus should be in jail for defrauding the voters!

Call said he was then taken to the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department where he was fingerprinted and had a mug shot taken.

He spent the next 30 hours in a jail cell. He said the hardest part was that there was no mattress and he had only a concrete floor or a steel cot. He added that his legs were sore from wearing leg irons during the process.

He said the police and guards were very courteous, helpful and professional, however, and he never felt he was in danger.

After 30 hours he was released on personal recognizance, but he said he will have to go back to Washington for the trial.

[fight4my3sons]

21. HealthJustice.org

http://www.1payer.net/

[Wednesdays]

23. K&R

:kick:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

26. Single-Payer Healthcare Advocates Protesting Exclusion from Congressional Debate Arrested

Single-Payer Healthcare Advocates Protesting Exclusion from Congressional Debate Arrested
by scott harris May 16, 2009

Single-Payer Healthcare Advocates Protesting Exclusion from Congressional Debate Arrested
Interview with Dr. Margaret Flowers,
co-chairman of the Maryland chapter
of Physicians for a National Health Program,
conducted by Scott Harris

....BETWEEN THE LINES: Why is it that this country doesn't seem to want to even address the possibility of putting on the table the approach most of the rest of the industrialized nations of the world take to healthcare, meaning a government, single-payer system? Why do you think that is so dangerous here in this country that you have to get arrested to say your piece?

DR. MARGARET FLOWERS: Right. There's a huge disconnect, because we know in many independent polls that the public wants a national health program like the other industrialized nations have. They want a single-payer program, and so do healthcare providers. And we really hoped with the election of President Obama that we would see a change in the way Washington politics occur. So we've been meeting with members of Congress for months now, talking to them just asking to be included. But what it comes down to is on the policy, if you compared a national health program based on single-payer financing to any of the reforms that they're considering right now, single-payer would win. It saves money, it includes everybody, it improves health outcomes, it allows doctors and patients to make medical decisions instead of insurance companies. But we know how much money ... the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries are the highest campaign donors that there are.

BETWEEN THE LINES: I've heard about some anti-national health care ads that are airing or being prepared to run around the country. It plays on people's fear of a government bureaucracy denying them treatment for this or that disease, or rationing, or waiting endlessly for essential treatment or medical care. Do you think the American people will be vulnerable to this campaign of fear, that somehow government health care insurance would equal disaster in their personal lives?

DR. MARGARET FLOWERS: You know I hope that they aren't. I hope that people will educate themselves this time. Because really you know, it's completely the opposite. If you look at the evidence, the public programs do much better, in terms of when you have a public health facility and a private, the public health facility actually does better in terms of outcomes, and provides care for a lower cost.

And we know that we have rationing in this country already; we just ration based on ability to pay. There's no real public debate about what we want to do as a country when it comes to health, it's just all about whether you can afford it or not. I hope that people will talk to each other and really learn about this issue.

...more at the link
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Single-Payer-Healthcare-Ad-by-scott-harris-090516-393.html

[Wilms]

27. :thumbsup:

:thumbsup:

[Lorien]

28. K & R

:kick:

[Dragonfli]

30. K&R

[Sandrine for you]

31. J'approuve.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

32. Sen. Clinton's recommendations:

The two that stand out are:

Have C-Span televise the Congressional hearings about UHC...some people would watch, well, a lot of people would watch.

Offer American citizens the same government health plan that Congress receives. They seem to like it.

[eridani]

35. Private insurance companies would, however, refuse to provide it

They won't stand for a lot of sick people signing up for it.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

33. Diane Rehm Show Monday on Single Payer

May 17, 2009
Diane Rehm Show Monday on Single Payer
Filed under: News — russell @ 7:50 pm
Diane Rehm will host a show about single payer national health insurance on Monday May 18 at 10 a.m. (Listen live on-line at www.wamu.org)

On Friday, Rehm says that after airing a show last week on health care reform, she was inundated with e-mails and phone calls from listeners demanding that she give more time to single payer.

The Monday May 18 show will feature Dr. David Himmelstein, a founder of Physicians for a National Health Program.

Dr. Himmelstein is a leading proponent of a single payer, everybody in, nobody out, national health insurance system.

Also on the show will be Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont).

Sanders has introduced single payer legislation in the U.S. Senate.

Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future, will also be on the show.

Hickey is a proponent of a public option.

In the past, Hickey has said that he would prefer a single payer plan, but that it’s unrealistic in this political climate.

Rounding out the panel will be Susan Dentzer, editor-in-chief of Health Affairs and an on air analyst on health issues with the The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

http://www.singlepayeraction.org/blog/?p=703

[annabanana]

36. Dr. David Himmelstein (PNHP) is a name we should ALL know.

He is one of America's heroes.

[avaistheone1]

46. Sure is! http://www.pnhp.org/ is a great place to get all your questons

answered on single-payer universal health care.

[Kablooie]

34. Umm... unfortunately, failure is ALWAYS an option. And is the option that is most exercised.

But maybe this will get around it.

[fasttense]

37. Kick

[MelissaB]

39. K&R

:kick:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

40. The Truth About HR 676 which expands Medicare

The U.S. National Health Care Act, H.R. 676, sponsored by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), would build on the existing Medicare program:

• Patients would go to providers of their choice and receive high quality comprehensive care, including medications, with no co-payments or deductibles.

• H. R. 676 ensures equity by guaranteeing access to first class care to all US residents regardless of employment, income or health status.

• By eliminating the patchwork of private insurance plans with their high overhead and profits, the US would achieve savings of close to $400 billion per year, enough to guarantee comprehensive health care to everyone without spending any more than we presently do.

• H.R. 676 would be funded through a combination of existing federal and state health expenditures, a modest payroll and income tax, and surtaxes on very high-income groups. Taxes would be fully offset by a reduction in premiums and the virtual elimination of out-of-pocket expenses.

• H.R. 676 would help contain rising health care costs through global budgeting, bulk purchasing, and streamlined administration. By removing the burden of health costs from businesses, it would help job growth and the entire U.S. economy.

KEY POINTS
H.R. 676, The U.S. National Health Care Act, is the standard against which all health reform legislation should be measured. It is the most fiscally prudent approach. Polls show that the majority of physicians and voters support “Medicare for All”.

OPPOSITION
National health insurance would require new taxes. Covering the uninsured might be unaffordable.

REBUTTAL
Taxes required to finance H.R. 676 would be fully offset by a reduction in out-of-pocket costs, with no increase in total health spending.
With simplified single-payer administration, funds currently squandered on needless overhead and bureaucracy will be redirected to provide improved and expanded health care, and are sufficient to cover all the uninsured and underinsured. As long as we continue to rely on private for-profit insurers, universal coverage will be unaffordable.

[mdmc]

44. I support President Obama AND single payer health care

Bring it on !

[YewNork]

53. So do I

I actually think that Obama's ultimate goal is single payer, but he knows that he can't do it on the first go around.
The public will not accept a change that will put the insurance companies out of business.

[orbitalman]

47. This bill PROVES we don't have to start over "from scratch."

It's simply a matter of expanding what we already have. Assign some of the insurance co's as administrators, if necessary, and get rid of the rest.

[bsd13]

48. What is single payer?

Does anyone have some links that give an overview of what
"single payer" health care means? I'm assuming, at
first blush that it is referring to the idea that the
individual is responsible for paying for their own health
care, but I also know what happens when we assume. Thanks!

[Greyhound]

57. Google is your friend. If you are really interested enter "hr 676". n/t

[mckara]

49. Take Profit Out of Health Care!

n/t

[debbierlus]

50. I am completely sickened that Obama meets with the healthcare stakeholders (insurance reps)

And, stands silent while drs and nurses are arrested for just TRYING to get a seat at the table to advocate for a single payer system.

I signed up for Dean's night school and public option. This will open the door to single payer.

[Bushknew]

51. Obama & Pelosi are not the "deciders". Hear us don't arrest us! Hear us don't arrest us!

They can not say single payer is off the table.

After all, this administration is suppose to be transparent.

I understand that Obama was never for single payer but I was never really for
Obama either, yet I had to vote for him. I'm a Dennis Kucinich Democrat that voted for Obama.

The left is his base. Hear us don't arrest us.

[YewNork]

52. I have insight

I know people on the inside of the health insurance industry and they are getting ready to put millions toward fighting any changes.
They are going to start a fear campaign that will make Harry & Louise seem like they were for Hillary Clinton's reforms.

I just hope that whatever Obama is planning, that he has a huge block of money and talent available to fight the smear
and fear that will be coming from the insurance industries.

[Hotler]

54. Kicking! eom

[mdmc]

55. .

1

[Greyhound]

56. Good post, but please, for the love of all that is good, drop the "get 'er done" line. n/t

:kick: & R