tagged w/ Single Payer Health Care
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iSinglePayer, an iPhone application that advocates for single-payer health care reform was rejected from the App Store by Apple because it is "politically charged." The application displays charts and bullet points about single-payer health care systems, and it allows users to call members of congress. iSinglePayer even calculates your local congressperson using GPS, and displays the amount of money donated to each congressperson from the health sector.
The application was submitted on August 21 and rejected on September 26, more than five weeks after it was submitted. Most applications take 10-14 days to approve. The rejection was made over the phone by a representative from Apple. The representative explained that the application was "politically charged" and was rejected for this reason.
Apple informed Floatopian (which is pretty much just me) that iSinglePayer was rejected in part because it was the product of a lone developer. There are applications developed for particular political candidates, like the official Obama application, but since those have the official support of a politician they are acceptable. When a single developer wants to voice his opinions, Apple censors it.iSinglePayer, an iPhone application that advocates for single-payer health care reform... more
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It's a rotten job, but someone has got to do it: in this video ad, Will Ferrell stands up for the real victims in this health care debate: health insurance providers themselves!It's a rotten job, but someone has got to do it: in this video ad, Will Ferrell stands... more
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Do you support:
Green Jobs?
Direct Taxes on Pollution?
Localizing our agriculture?
Ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Cutting the Pentagon Budget?
Taxing the Rich (who can afford it) instead of the middle class and poor?
Legalizing marijuana use and other victimless 'crimes'?
Single Payer health insurance?
Ending the WTO and NAFTA and returning to Bilateral trade agreements based on workers rights and environmental quality principals rather than a race to the bottom?
Then the Green Party is for you!
Want to keep up to day with Green Party goings on? Then join this group!Do you support:
Green Jobs?
Direct Taxes on Pollution?
Localizing our agriculture?... more
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asherp
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added this
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2 months ago
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CIGNA Chairman and CEO, Edward Hanway, spends his holidays in a $13 million beach house in New Jersey. Meanwhile, regular Americans are routinely denied coverage for the care they need when they need it most.CIGNA Chairman and CEO, Edward Hanway, spends his holidays in a $13 million beach... more
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With Wednesday night's presidential address in mind, check out these thoughts on a public option... from residents of the city of Ithaca, New York.
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With Wednesday night's presidential address in mind, check out these thoughts... more
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This video consists of a series of interviews with real Canadians. They discuss the realities of their single payer health care system, and are offended by the American right wing's insulting it.This video consists of a series of interviews with real Canadians. They discuss the... more
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Catholic leaders lobby against abortion and euthanasia, but where's their activism on that other "life" issue?
Catholics believe in two kinds of sin -- sins of commission and sins of omission. On healthcare, church leadership is committing the sin of omission. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is just not working hard enough on behalf of the most important and desperately needed healthcare reform -- the public option.
For decades the bishops have advocated for universal healthcare -- in fact, for a single-payer system with a strong emphasis on covering the uninsured, the poor and immigrants. The best shot at reform is now. But the bishops are squandering every ounce of moral capital they have, not on the public option, but on ensuring that in any reform bill not one penny of federal funds is used for abortion.
This strategy has put them in the extremist camp among those opposed to abortion. Moderate evangelicals and antiabortion Catholics bit the bullet on abortion four years ago and decided that other issues like ending wars, reducing global warming, and fighting poverty meant it was time to move on from attempting to outlaw abortion. While one can quibble with their strategy, working to prevent the need for abortion was a step forward from working to make it illegal.
On healthcare reform, religious groups opposed to and supportive of legal abortion have adopted an awkward but workable frame for containing the abortion issue. All agree to support the "status quo" and to not use healthcare to advance their abortion agendas; and they agree to disagree about what the status quo is and move on. Not the bishops; they are the only religious group that is holding support for healthcare reform hostage to a complete ban on any form of federal funds being spent on abortion coverage.Catholic leaders lobby against abortion and euthanasia, but where's their activism on... more
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Congressman Anthony Weiner (D., N.Y.) has introduced an amendment with the single-payer plan found in HR 676 and backed by 86 members of Congress. This would replace the insurance company bailout disguised as a public plan currently being considered.
Congress is keeping close tabs on public support. You can make a difference by calling Congress now at http://democrats.com/single-payer-committee-whipCongressman Anthony Weiner (D., N.Y.) has introduced an amendment with the... more
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[FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE]
The House Education and Labor Committee approved the Kucinich Amendment by a vote of 27-19, with 14 Democrats and 13 Republicans voting yes.
The amendment propels the growing single payer health care movement at the state level. There are at least ten states which have active single payer efforts in their legislatures. They are California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington. The amendment mandates a single payer state will receive the right to waive the application of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), which has in the past been used to nullify efforts to expand state or local government health care.
Under the Kucinich Amendment a state's application for a waiver from ERISA is granted automatically if the state has signed into law a single payer plan. With the amendment, for the first time, the state single payer health care option is shielded from an ERISA-based legal attack. Now that the underlying bill has been passed, as amended, by the full committee, we must make sure that Congress knows that we want the provision kept in the bill at final passage!
The state single payer option was one of five major amendments which I obtained support to get included in HR3200. One amendment brings into standard coverage for the first time complementary and alternative medicine, (integrative medicine). Another amendment drives down the cost of prescription drugs by ending pharmaceutical industry's sharp practices manipulating physician prescribing habits. An amendment stops the insurance industry from increasing premiums at the time when people are not permitted to change health plans; and finally an amendment imposing a requirement on insurance companies that they disclose the cost of advertising, marketing and executive compensation expenses (which generally divert money from patient care).[FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE]
The House Education and Labor Committee approved the... more
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asherp
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4 months ago
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As the debate over healthcare reform intensifies on Capitol Hill, we spend the hour with a former top insurance executive who’s now exposing the industry’s dirty secrets. Wendell Potter once served as the head of corporate communications at CIGNA, one of the nation’s largest health insurance companies. Follow the link to Democracy now to view entire interview...chances are it will further polarize your views, which ever way you lean on this issue.As the debate over healthcare reform intensifies on Capitol Hill, we spend the hour... more
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jimmyp
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added this
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4 months ago
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Dennis Kucinich is the MAN!
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asherp
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5 months ago
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Not much to report, except that they are meeting to discuss the option. Let's hope it's more than just for show.
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Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee Hearing
10:30 AM, June 10, 2009
2175 Rayburn H.O.B
Washington, DC
Witnesses to be announced.Not much to report, except that they are meeting to discuss the option. Let's hope... more
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Give voters a voice in the debate over health care reform and they ask about the one thing most lawmakers decided from the start would not be considered: "Why not a single-payer program?"
That was by far the most popular question posed to members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Thursday night, when they took questions on the House floor that had been submitted and voted for online -- something of a first for Congress.
The question-and-answer hour was expected to focus on public health care options as part of a health care landscape that would still be dominated by private insurance companies. But online voters, who cast almost 30,000 votes at progressivecaucus.org between Tuesday night and Thursday, hijacked the session, demanding to know why a single-payer program is not being considered.
Though only five of more than 750 questions were chosen to be asked at the event, some proved far more popular than others. The top questions included how much influence the insurance companies have had on the reform debate and why the public can't have a level of health care comparable to that of the assembled congressmen.
"What is it going to take for you to WAKE UP and smell the catastrophe that for-profit healthcare is?" read the fifth most popular question, the last on the list asked of the caucus members.
The novelty of the forum created a sense of actual dialogue between the legislators and their constituents, said Darcy Burner, the executive director of the nonprofit Progressive Caucus Policy Foundation, which advises the caucus and organized the discussion.
"Part of what we're trying to do is help build relationships between members of Congress and the grassroots such that there is more mutual trust than exists right now, so it didn't surprise me at all that the questions were somewhat adversarial," she said.
The legislators overwhelmingly support a single-payer program, Burner said, but don't consider it feasible. At this point, they're pulling for "a robust public plan that will provide real competition," she said.
The Progressive Caucus includes some 71 House Democrats, but only four made it to Thursday night's session: Caucus co-chair Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), who moderated the forum.
"For decades, Americans' calls for health care reform have fallen on deaf ears in Congress," Ellison said during the meeting. As for Ellison's missing colleagues, Burner blamed delays that kept them from starting before 9 p.m., but she lauded the participation of the four who attended. Both the foundation and the caucus will continue to press for greater interaction with the public, she said.
"It's the people's House. It'd be nice if the people had more input," Burner said. "The more people who are participating, I think, the more valuable the dialogue's going to be."Give voters a voice in the debate over health care reform and they ask about the one... more
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asherp
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6 months ago
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The most stunning and least reported news about President Barack Obama's press conference with health industry executives this week wasn't those executives' willingness to negotiate with a Democrat. It was that Democrat's eagerness to involve those executives in a discussion about healthcare reform even as they revealed their previous plans to pilfer $2 trillion from Americans.
That was the little-noticed message from the made-for-TV spectacle that administration officials called a healthcare "game changer": In saying they can voluntarily slash $200 billion a year off the country's medical bills over the next decade and still preserve their profits, healthcare companies implicitly acknowledged they were plotting to fleece consumers and have been fleecing them for years. With that acknowledgment came the tacit admission that the industry's business is based not on respectable returns, but on grotesque profiteering and waste -- the kind that can give up $2 trillion and still guarantee huge margins.
Chief among the profiteers at the White House event were insurance companies, which have raised premiums by 119 percent since 1999, and one obvious question is why -- why would Obama engage those particular thieves?
It's a difficult query to answer, because Obama is a healthcare mystery, struggling to muster consistent positions on the issue.The most stunning and least reported news about President Barack Obama's press... more
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Geri Jenkins, a registered nurse and co-president of the California Nurses Association, brings us up to date on continuing protests against the exclusion of single payer advocates at Senate Finance Committee hearings on healthcare. As the hearing began 25 protesters stood and turned their backs to the senators. They were wearing signs that called on congress to pass a single payer system. "Nurses say patients first," the signs read. "Pass single payer."
Though most of the protesters left after about five minutes, a few remained to voice their opposition. Two nurses and three physicians were arrested.Geri Jenkins, a registered nurse and co-president of the California Nurses... more
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GRITtv
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6 months ago
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Nurses and doctors continue to protest against the exclusion of single payer advocates at Senate Finance Committee hearings on healthcare. As the hearing began, 25 protesters stood and turned their backs to the senators. They were wearing signs that called on congress to pass a single payer system. "Nurses say patients first," the signs read. "Pass single payer."
Though most of the protesters left after about five minutes, a few remained to voice their opposition. Two nurses and three physicians were arrested.Nurses and doctors continue to protest against the exclusion of single payer advocates... more
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GRITtv
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added this
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7 months ago
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Baucus told the head of CBO last Wednesday that the CBO will play a significant role in efforts to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system because the agencies cost assessments will make or break this enterprise. Experienced observers assert that this is Baucus way of pressuring the agency to come up with figures to justify the kind of healthcare reform Baucus wants.
The fact is, the CBO has issued a series of recent studies which have found that most savings claimed, in the effort to keep private-for-profit insurance companies in the mix, do not exist.
Alternatively, a single-payer system would save more than $350 billion per year, enough to provide comprehensive, high-quality coverage for all Americans.
The CBO has been recognized for the accuracy of its findings and projections and for its non-partisanship. Lets keep it that way.
Tell him we need accurate numbers not creative figuring. Single-payer should be on the table and should be given a full and fair hearing by the Senate Finance Committee.
Easily email Sen. Baucus here, or contact him using the following information.
Senator Max Baucus
511 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-2651 (Office)
(202) 224-9412 (Fax)Baucus told the head of CBO last Wednesday that the CBO will play a significant role... more
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Dear XXXXX:
Thank you for your recent communication asking me to support HR 676, the United States National Health Insurance Act. I am a co-sponsor of the legislation and appreciate the time you have taken to let me know you support it, too.
HR 676 is one of many pieces of legislation highlighting the need for health care reform within our country. While some Americans question the need for health care reform, I believe the fact that more than 45 million Americans lack insurance coverage, and that more and more consumers are losing control over their own treatment process and their choice of provider, means that our system of health care needs a major overhaul. The health care issue will not go away, and I am committed to fight for health care reform that provides universal coverage. Universal coverage is the only way to ensure that health care becomes affordable. By assuring that people get primary care instead of emergency room care, bringing healthy people into insurance pools will lower costs for everyone, and end cost-shifting -- the means by which insured patients pay for the bad debt of the uninsured patient.
I support a single-payer system as the best means of accomplishing universal coverage. Since 1993 and every subsequent session of Congress, I have introduced the American Health Security Act (HR 1200). The plan laid out in this bill would provide universal health coverage, and tax payers would save $175 billion per year in health care expenses. Also, eighty percent of Americans would pay less for their health care while gaining a health benefit package that includes all inpatient and outpatient care, prescription drugs, mental health benefits, and comprehensive long-term care. HR 1200 would accomplish all of this and still provide a deficit reduction of approximately $100 billion per year.
I will continue to support any legislation that moves the U.S. closer to universal coverage for all Americans. Again, I want to thank you for contacting me. As your Representative in Congress, it is critical that I understand the views of my constituents.
I look forward to hearing from you in the future.
Sincerely,
Jim McDermott
Member of CongressDear XXXXX:
Thank you for your recent communication asking me to support HR 676,... more
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What struck me as so unbelievable is that this former co-star and producer of Mutual of Omaha's "Wild Kingdom" is, himself, virtually homeless but is now bringing much-needed health care to citizens of the UNITED STATES. Even though his charitable organization often treats people in poor countries, the U.S. health care crisis has him scheduling more and more trip right her in the U.S.
What have we become? Watch this riveting video and wonder as I did how many BILLIONS of dollars Mutual of Omaha made from the policies it sold sponsoring "Wild Kingdom" and then look at those under-insured or uninsured in the U.S.
Yet this worthy organization that started by providing free health care to third world countries gets little in the way of corporate support and at the end of each weekend's free clinic, still turns away hundreds of sick patients they cannot see in the time donated by generous doctors and health care workers.
Is there any question that America needs a fundamental change in the way health care is delivered to those who can afford insurance and to an ever-increasing sector that can afford none at all?
About Remote Area Medical: http://www.ramusa.org/
Documenting the struggle and untimely death of Lisa, who died while valiantly fighting both cancer and her insurance company.
http://current.com/items/88826127_insured_can_t_get_help_either
http://current.com/items/88834688_tired_of_waiting_for_decent_health_care_let_s_just_take_it
What struck me as so unbelievable is that this former co-star and producer of Mutual... more
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