tagged w/ Universal Health Care
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A Chicago woman was arrested at the Chicago CIGNA sit in. She was protesting that people need universal health care. A friend of hers was killed by a woman release from mental care because the woman had no insurance coverage. She subsequently killed three people.
More health insurance company sit ins are planned around the country for this Thursday 10/15/09. See http://mobilizeforhealthcare.org/A Chicago woman was arrested at the Chicago CIGNA sit in. She was protesting that... more
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In this video Canadians Defend Their Health Care System
and some alive and old at the same time who is also Canadian
and did not get killed by a death panel.In this video Canadians Defend Their Health Care System
and some alive and old at the... more
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macfan
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2 months ago
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Why other Western countries offer no panacea for American woes
ObamaCare is in retreat. That much was clear the moment the president started springing B-grade Hollywood references to "blue pills and red pills" in its defense during his news conference last week. But before ObamaCare can be beaten back decisively, its critics need to answer this question: How did his plan for a government takeover of roughly a fifth of the U.S. economy get this far in the first place?
The answer is not that Democrats have a lock on Washington right now—although they do. Nor that Republicans are intellectually bereft—although they are. The answer is that both ObamaCare's supporters and opponents believe that—unlike Europe—America has something called a free market health care system. So long as this myth holds sway, it will be exceedingly difficult to prescribe free market fixes to America's health care woes—or, conversely, end the lure of big government remedies.Why other Western countries offer no panacea for American woes
ObamaCare is in... more
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(this video contains selected highlights from last night's speech and remarks with the Press, and a scene from The Matrix)(this video contains selected highlights from last night's speech and remarks 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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Care about Healthcare?
Be sure to join this group, and add stories about health care to this group.Care about Healthcare?
Be sure to join this group, and add stories about health... more
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asherp
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4 months ago
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People from Toronto respond to a US advertising campaign about the Canadian healthcare system.
While the debate over changes to the US healthcare system continues, lobby groups are investing advertising dollars to get their point across. One such group, Conservatives for Patient's Rights has released an advertisement outlining Canadian dissatisfaction with government run healthcare. The Real News Network invited Torontonians to respond.People from Toronto respond to a US advertising campaign about the Canadian healthcare... more
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MSNBC looks into it.
Click the link for the video.
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asherp
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6 months ago
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Doctors and other advocates of a national single-payer system–also known as Improved Medicare for All–directly confronted Senators at the Senate Finance Committee roundtable on health reform today.
The single payer advocates wanted to know why single-payer experts were being excluded from the roundtable of fifteen witnesses.
The doctors said that a publicly funded, privately delivered single-payer system is the only solution to the crisis plaguing our nation’s non-system of health care. It covers everyone, and contains costs.
“Why isn’t single-payer at the table today?” they asked.
Despite polling that shows a clear majority of public and physician support for a single-payer system, Senator Baucus, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee has stated on multiple occasions that single-payer is “off the table” of health reform.
Today’s round table, the second of three, consists of 15 witnesses with no single-payer advocates.
Doctors and activists representing a coalition of single-payer advocacy organizations including Physicians for a National Health Program, Healthcare-NOW!, Single Payer Action, Private Health Insurance Must Go, the Campaign for Fresh Air and Clean Politics, Prosperity Agenda, and Health Care for the Homeless dressed in black in memory of the 22,000 people who die every year due to lack of health insurance.
They spoke out at today’s Senate Finance Committee Hearing one after another during the opening comments of the discussion.
“Health insurance administrators are practicing medicine without a medical license,” said Dr. Margaret Flowers, Co-Chair of Maryland chapter PNHP. “The result is the suffering and death of thousands of patients for the sake of private profit. The private health insurance industry has a solid grip on patients, providers and legislators. It is time to stand up and declare that health care is a human right.”
Much to the frustration of Chairman Baucus, multiple disruptions demanding single-payer be on the table set the tone for the second of three roundtables on Health Reform by the Senate Finance Committee.
“The current discussion on health reform is political theater at its best. Our elected officials are hosting these events to go through the motions of what developing effective national health policy should look like. There is a big difference between getting health policy experts in the room and the witnesses here today who would profit the most from reform. That difference means our hard earned dollars will go to further insurance industry profits, not to guarantee health care to the American people,” states Katie Robbins, Assistant National Coordinator of Healthcare-NOW!, representing thousands of citizens in support of single-payer health care.
“It’s a pretty spectacular display of raw political power,” said Russell Mokhiber of Single Payer Action. “The health insurance industry demands that not one of the fifteen people who testified today shall be a single payer advocate. And the industry gets what it wants. It’s time for the American people to storm the gates and demand – put single payer on the table.”
Single-payer is successfully implemented in the United States’ own Medicare system providing comprehensive care to the elderly, as well as in many of the best health care systems in the world. A single-payer system as embodied in legislation HR 676 and S 703 would provide guaranteed, quality care to all Americans at the same cost of our current system.
Single-payer advocates will continue to use direct actions and nonviolent civil disobedience to urge the inclusDoctors and other advocates of a national single-payer system–also known as Improved... more
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asherp
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6 months ago
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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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Congress Watch went to the streets to see what the general population thought about Universal Single Payer Health Care. You might be surprised what we found.
Later we meet up with health care activist Heather Grant, of the advocacy organization Maine People's Alliance, to discuss the issue further.Congress Watch went to the streets to see what the general population thought about... more
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asherp
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10 months ago
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Five decades after the rise to power of the Castro brothers, Cuban crumbles, while the world keeps looking at the Castros as if only they were citizens of Cuba. The people must be heard!Five decades after the rise to power of the Castro brothers, Cuban crumbles, while the... more
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Zurama
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11 months ago
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Cuban Independent Photojournalist Luis Alberto Pacheco Mendoza, took these four disturbing photos, in a Cuban Hospital, giving us a glimpse into the state of Cuba's health care system. This is what Michael Moore didn't show you.Cuban Independent Photojournalist Luis Alberto Pacheco Mendoza, took these four... more
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Zurama
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11 months ago
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Kennedy stepped down from the judiciary committee to focus exclusively on health care.
"I expect to lead a very full agenda in the next Congress, including working with President Obama to guarantee affordable health care, at long last, for every American," Kennedy said in a statement. "This is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I intend to make the most of it."
Kennedy, 76, has championed universal health care coverage for more than four decades in the Senate. He has been consulting with staffers, other senators and health care advocates for months on a new blueprint for extending coverage.
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Are we ready for universal health care? Will Kennedy and Obama make it happen?Kennedy stepped down from the judiciary committee to focus exclusively on health care.... more
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Tom Daschle will be the next Health and Human Services Secretary. Daschle has written a book concerning the Health Care crisis.“Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.”
He proposes creating a Federal Health Board, similar to the Federal Reserve System, and the merging of employers’ plans, Medicaid and Medicare with an expanded federal employee health benefits program that would provide universal coverage.
Daschle was Senate Majority/Minority leader for Ten years and is know for his calm demeanor.
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CHICAGO — President-elect Barack Obama has offered the nomination of Secretary of Health and Human Services to Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the former Democratic Senate leader who was an early supporter of Mr. Obama’s run for the presidency.
Democratic officials said that Mr. Daschle has accepted the nomination. But they said that a formal announcement won’t be made until Mr. Obama first settles on his national security and economic teams, and no job offers have been extended in those areas.
Mr. Obama’s transition team announced on Wednesday that Mr. Daschle will also oversee Mr. Obama’s health policy working group to develop a health care plan, which could take care of what his friends say was one of Mr. Daschle’s conditions for considering the HHS post. He was concerned that he not just be the head of a huge bureaucracy but a chief player on the subject he has literally written a book on.
Mr. Daschle was initially considered for the position of Mr. Obama’s chief of staff, but that job went to Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Chicago. If confirmed, Mr. Daschle could end up being the point man on any efforts to overhaul the country’s health care delivery and insurance system, a tall order, health policy experts say, given the current economic situation.
Mr. Daschle’s book about health policy “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis” came out in February. In it he proposes creating a Federal Health Board, similar to the Federal Reserve System, and the merging of employers’ plans, Medicaid and Medicare with an expanded federal employee health benefits program that would provide universal coverage.
End of Excerpt
Source: New York Times
I've always liked Daschle, good choice.Tom Daschle will be the next Health and Human Services Secretary. Daschle has... more
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One election promise from the Obama Team is to give us universal healthcare. There are very valid arguments on both sides of the aisle, and many foreign citizens with a government sponsored health plan have horror story after horror story. However, regardless of how you feel about this major initiative, I have gone out and found what the plan entails, straight from the horse’s mouth.One election promise from the Obama Team is to give us universal healthcare. There are... more
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the author brilliantly describes the difference between the two, for he watched his fiancee be 'repeatedly denied coverage by traditional insurance companies, and is covered under what is termed the state "high risk pool".'
Well what's the difference between getting insurance and just health care?
Well insurance is going to cost you way more. If you're sick and you get some kind of basic insurance plan under a new administration, it may not cover way you need - that kind of insurance will require much more money, especially depending on how in "risk" you are.
"It's simple really. This need is being driven by the profit motive, rather than the altruism of the first fire departments, or the "protect and serve" motive of our police departments. Why is that? How did it come to be that altruism is not the driving factor of the practice of medicine? I don't really know, and in all honesty, it's not why I come before you today. Rather, I come to you simply with the proposition that health care IS properly a basic need that is at least as important as fire and police protection. In both those instances, you do buy recovery insurance, and perhaps there is a place in my grand scheme for health recovery insurance. I contend though that the quality of treatment of a life threatening condition should not be determined by what you can afford to pay. The time you spend waiting for diagnosis should not be determined by the inverse of your bank balance. No family should ever be forced to choose between being at the side of a gravely ill loved one and being able to pay for the best possible care."the author brilliantly describes the difference between the two, for he watched his... more
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matea
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1 year ago
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This is an old article, but I placed it here because it lists some of the costs to provide illegal immigrants with health care, which many U.S. citizens are denied because of age or status. Such as:
Not over age 65
Not under age 18
Not pregnant
Not from another country...
For 12 states, the government pays hospitals for providing emergency services to illegal aliens. In 2005, the state of California got $70 million to help with dismal shortfalls. California's San Diego County was about $100 million in the red and Los Angeles County about $140 million.
70 million for illegal immigrants to cover a shortfall. I am probably going to piss some people off, that is ok. Makes people talk, that is good. Even if they are yelling to some extent. So, why did I post this? As a person who lives in poverty, yes I do, as I bring home 1234.00 a month. I have no insurance. Yet I pay taxes and I am not covered. I don't want to pay more taxes either, I can't afford it, no matter how it is packaged. So....I'd like to know WHY I might have to pay TWICE to get something the second time around? I believe, my humble, humble, opinion, which I know is going to offend and for that I am truly sorry, that we should not provide people from another country, who are not here LEGALLY, any insurance benefits at all. Would the 100 million used in San Diego not help cover those who are citizens, who do not have coverage and already pay taxes (unless a child of course) without the need to raise taxes yet again? I know I would vote for it in a heart beat, but if you were to ask me to pay more taxes with the possibility, still again, of no coverage at all? Hell no. This particular issue is one that really, really gets my blood boiling...many want it, raise more taxes, yet I and many others ALREADY PAY AND DO NOT BENEFIT.
Posted mainly as an exercise in discussion...hope this is permitted.This is an old article, but I placed it here because it lists some of the costs to... more
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Deborah Burger: Obama's plan is incomplete because it leaves the fox in the hen house. Part 2
In the second part of our interview with Deborah Burger, Deborah explains why nurses are supporting HR 676 as the solution to the health coverage problems of the US. Deborah explains how the inclusion of private insurance companies in the provision of health care has created the problems that the US has, that other countries do not. For this reason, Obama's plan cannot resolve the problem as it does not remove the insurance companies from the picture.
Deborah Burger is a Registered Nurse and President of the California Nurses Association (CNA), a union dedicated to achieving a single standard of health care for all Americans. Burger is also maintains a blog for The Huffington Post. Burger has been nursing for over thirty years, in almost every hospital unit, and currently specializes in diabetes care management in Santa Rosa, California.
See Part 1 at: http://current.com/items/89424498_is_health_care_a_right_or_a_responsibility
Deborah Burger: Obama's plan is incomplete because it leaves the fox in the hen house.... more
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