The watered-down reform is a gift to the insurance industry.
They still call the shots, set the prices, and have retained
their exemption from laws which prohibit monopolies.
We, the richest nation on the planet, still will have
18 million Americans with no access to healthcare.
The bill also contains inappropriate language that
may restrict a woman’s access to reproductive health services.
Federally funded abortion coverage for people purchasing
insurance through the exchanges will be banned under the
bill now passed by Congress.
The public option was stripped out at the demand of insurers,
and the provision that the president wanted to establish a federal
board to oversee premium hikes was also stripped by insurance companies.
Now there is nothing to control costs. This president and Congress
"settled" for a privately run, for-profit system through which insurers can’t
wait to gain 31 million new customers. And they will set whatever price
the market will bear.
We still need single payer to make real headway.
Kucinich is one of the co-authors of
H.R. 676,
which would create a single-payer,
Medicare-for-all health care system. It currently has 78 co-sponsors. We must
continue to advocate for such a system. The profiteering must end. The bill
which was just passed will not make that happen.
Here is what the doctors say:
"...the president's proposal would ship hundreds of billions of taxpayer
dollars
|to the private health insurance industry in the form of subsidies," Young
said.
"And to help finance this, it would impose a new tax on health benefits of
workers,
especially those in high-cost states. Its individual mandate would force
millions of
middle-income uninsured Americans to buy insurers' skimpy products - insurance
policies full of gaps like ever-rising co-pays, deductibles and premiums. Such
policies
already leave middle-class American families vulnerable to economic hardship
and
medical bankruptcy in the event of a serious illness like cancer...Even so, at
least
23 million people would remain uninsured. We know that being uninsured raises
your chance of dying by about 40 percent," he continued, citing another recent
study. "That translates into about 23,000 unnecessary deaths each year. As
physicians, we find this completely unacceptable...In short, this proposal is
an
insurance company bonanza, not good, evidence-based health reform.
The president would do better by abandoning the insurance and drug companies
and instead taking up the single-payer approach."
Joe Wilson was out of line. Hollering
at the president during his congressional
address was improper. Kind-a like
Dick Cheneys' famous string of
profanities on the floor.
But
regardless of who Joe Wilson is or what
he meant... he was in some perverse way
correct.
The president lied.
His program
for mandatory contributions to the
insurance industry is untenable and
unworkable. Forcing Americans to pay
insurance companies who have been
denying coverage, refusing to pay
claims, raising rates, and increasing
co-payments at will is insanity.
Even IF congress passes such a
bill.. and IF insurance companies
are forced to insure people and pay
claims... those same self-interested
companies will still control the
costs. And they will continue to
over-pay corporate CEO s and waste
resources on marketing and
advertising which could be used to
save lives and provide
health care for 46-50 million Americans
who have no access.
We need to take the
corporate graft and corruption out of
the healthcare formula. We need
non-profit healthcare.
The president speaks well, but
his abject surrender is not acceptable.
We need Single-payer:
Nobody out, Everybody in.
Obama was elected to deliver it.
Here is what he said: "I
happen to be a proponent of a single
payer universal health care program.
I
see no reason why the United States of
America, the wealthiest country in the
history of the world, spending 14
percent of its Gross National Product on
health care, cannot provide basic health
insurance to everybody. And that’s
what Jim is talking about when he says
everybody in, nobody out.
A
single payer health care plan, a
universal health care plan.
And that’s what I’d like to see. But
as all of you know, we may not get there
immediately. Because first we have to
take back the White House, we have to
take back the Senate, and we have to
take back the House.”
Well... we took back the White
House, we took back the Senate and we
took back the house. Now it is time for
Mr. Obama to deliver.
But after
hearing his capitulation to the
insurance industry on September 9th,
2010,
Joe Wilson was right. While Joe
was out of line hollering at the
president...
he cannot be faulted for
accuracy. Barack lied to us.
He
betrayed those who elected him. And
now it is up to us to make him tell the
truth. tmf
If the Democrats fail to pass real changes in the health care system
this year - rather than a sham that mimics and mocks reform - they will have
nobody to blame but themselves. Or at least nobody to blame but other
Democrats, notably those in the White House who have never been committed to
this most venerable and fundamental aspect of party policy.
...
The ultimate responsibility for this sorry state of affairs belongs with
the president, who vacillates between speaking out boldly for a "public
option," and permitting his aides and appointees to undermine his
message by
confiding their plans to sell out.
More than three out of every four Americans feel it is important to
have a "choice" between a government-run health care insurance
option and private coverage, according to a public opinion poll
released on Thursday.
Single Payer should be on the table. And any bill passed, must at
least include a public option.
Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold In Support of a Public
Health Insurance Option
“A public option is a fundamental part of ensuring health care reform
brings about real change. Opposing the public plan is an endorsement of the
status quo in this country that has left tens of millions of Americans
uninsured or underinsured and put massive burdens on employers. I have heard
too many horror stories from my constituents about how the so-called
competitive marketplace has denied them coverage from the outset, offered a
benefit plan that covers everything but what they need or failed them some
other way. A strong public option would ensure competition in the
industry to provide the best, most affordable insurance for Americans and
bring down the skyrocketing health care costs that are the biggest
contributor to our long-term budget deficits. I am not interested
in passing health care reform in name only. Without a public option,
I don’t see how we will bring real change to a system that has made good
health care a privilege for those who can afford it.”
The Democratic health care reform plan most resembles
the system in Switzerland, despite comparisons to the approaches
taken in Britain and Canada.
If an action isn't already in your city, plan your own day of action! It
can be a town hall meeting, demonstration in front of a local insurance
company, film showing, vigil, or your own unique idea.
Let us know what you'd like to start planning by contacting info@healthcare-now.org.
47 million Americans are uninsured. Private insurance rates are rising
faster than inflation and our incomes. By 2025 the cost of private health
insurance will exceed our projected income.
We must find a way to protect our nation and our children.
A national, single-payer healthcare system is the only reform that will cover every American resident while saving billions of dollars.
The majority of Americans want it. The majority of physicians want it.
Labor
Leaders Wary As Democratic Allies Weigh Health Reform Proposals
Kaiser Health News -
Washington,DC,USA Unions are not ruling out harsh ads like the one they ran against
Wyden in Oregon. “We would prefer to be positive and have a
message that rallies people ... See all stories on this topic
Money-Driven Medicine, inspired by Maggie Mahar's book by the same name,
is the important and explosive new film exploring the medical-industrial
complex and the consequent high cost and poor performance of America's
health care system and its often perverse fee-for-service incentives.
Is US
Healthcare a Constitutional Right? by Tim Flanagan, facilitator for www.WritingResource.info
Preamble to the US Constitution "We the People(1)of
the United States, in Order to form a
more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic
Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote
the
general welfare,(2) and
secure the Blessings of Liberty to
ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America."
The Preamble declares that:
"We the People of the United States ....
do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of
America."
The meaning is clear that all authority originates from the People.
"general welfare," as used in the Constitution, refers to: "health, happiness,
or prosperity; well-being. [Middle English wel
faren, to fare well]"
We pay more for less
Life expectancy for those born in Canada is about two years higher than for
those born in the USA. Medical costs as a percentage of GDP are 15 percent
in the USA and 10 percent in the Canadian single-payer system.
American
"health care" costs 2 trillion dollars and leaves upwards of 50
million
Americans uninsured: 24 million Americans are diabetic,
5.7
million have forms of congestive heart failure, 17 million have coronary
artery
disease, 22 million have asthma, and 18 million suffer from depression.
Michael Morrow, (American Federation of Teachers VP for Political Action,
Local 2277) recently noted that, "The
right-wing has convinced people
that
these are personal issues." But lost work days,
reduced productivity, and
costs to families, businesses, and communities
makes our failed system
a national security
issue. The United States of America is the
only western
industrialized country
which does not provide universal, government-supported
healthcare for the
well-being of all citizens.
Ricardo
Alonzo -Zaldiver, writing for the Associated Press, reminds us that
if
the
50 million "uninsured were a political lobbying group, they would be
larger
than
AARP.” Yet too many characterize going without health insurance as
a personal issue, a misfortune, or “ achoice.”
Yet
when problems related to health and our healthcare delivery system
impact our nation’s ability to compete in the global marketplace, this must
no longer be seen as some unfortunate personal choice. Many of the uninsured
and
under-insured do not have the time or resources to lobby for solutions, but
there are advocates for these millions of uninsured Americans. Unions and
aging Americans are taking action. Health Care for America Now plans
to bring 15 thousand or more Americans to Washington this year to lobby
Congress for guaranteed health insurance. This is a start.
Perhaps Health Insurance is the Problem
Others say health insurance may itself be our biggest problem. Incremental
reforms in multi-payer financing systems, which require expensive marketing
and
prohibitive administrative costs, will not help the growing number of
Americans who have no insurance and no place to turn. Leonard Rodberg noted in The Portland Observer that
"Multi-payer systems are unable to control costs. The only way
to assure cost containment is to adopt a unified financing mechanism
that has the leverage to negotiate lower prices."
A unified single payer system can provide the necessary pool of people
to lower costs, plus
budgeting and planning
tools which will save money
while protecting
all of our people, all of the time.
40
percent of American working people (including those with insurance)
are
struggling to pay medical bills. Yet most leading Democrats,
including President
Obama, would continue to allow transnational
insurance
cartels to define, control, and set the costs for our health
care
delivery system.
The
administrative cost savings of a single-payer system would
be
enough to cover all of the uninsured as well as lower costs for
those who are currently
insured. This approach is favored by working
people,labor
unions, and medical doctors. This "expanded Medicare”
has
majority support and more of our legislators are taking a closer look.
A Man with A Plan
Dennis Kucinich and other legislators have proposed a plan for reconstructing
our health care delivery
system so that it is more in synch with the social, political,
and economic realities of today. Kucinich explains:
"The
underlying problem is that we treat health care like a market commodity
instead of a social service. Health care is targeted not to medical need, but
to
the ability to pay. Markets are good for many things, but they are not a good
way
to distribute health care…"
Mainstream"
writers like Ph. D. economist and columnist for the New York
Times Paul Krugman now agree with those doctors and Dennis that "covering
everyone under Medicare would actually be significantly cheaper than our
current system. "They all recognize that we already spend enough to
provide
national health care to all but lack the political courage to make the tough
decisions that doctors, nurses and medical professionals must run our health
care system, – not "for profit" insurance companies who make money by
denying health care.
It
is time to recognize that all the civilized countries have a solution that we
must adapt to this country. American businesses can no longer be competitive
shouldering the entire cost of health care. Health care is a right that all
Americans deserve."
The United States ranks
37th in the World Health Organization’s
rankings of the world’s health systems (below Malta, Iceland, Saudi
Arabia, and numerous other countries that might surprise you) This means
36 poorer and less-developed countries take better
care of their people. We can do better.
HR 676 has been endorsed by 521 union
organizations in 49 states. Endorsers include 127 Central Labor
Councils and Area Labor Federations and 39 state AFL-CIO's (KY, PA,
CT, OH, DE, ND, WA, SC, WY, VT, FL, WI, WV, SD, NC, MO, MN, ME, AR,
MD-DC, TX, IA, AZ, TN, OR, GA, OK, KS, CO, IN, AL, CA , AK, MI, MT,
NE, NY, NV & MA).
The following 20
international/national unions have endorsed HR 676:
USW, UAW, NEA, ILWU, NALC, IAM, UA (Plumbers & Pipefitters),
AFM (Musicians), UE, CNA/NNOC, SMWIA, IFPTE, OPEIU, UTU, SEIU,
AFT, AFSCME, CSEA (California
School Employees Association), UWUA, & CWA.
HR 676, a bill for comprehensive health care for all Americans, has now been
endorsed by 24 Oregon unions and other labor groups. We are building a movement for real reform of our broken system.
For more information and to RSVP, call Jobs With Justice 503 236 5573
24 Oregon labor organizations now endorsing HR 676:
Oregon
AFL-CIO, Salem /
Southern Oregon Central Labor Council, Central Point
Central Oregon Labor Council, Bend /
Marion, Polk, and Yamhill Counties Central Labor Council, Salem
Local 206, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Portland
Local 48, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, IBEW, Portland
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757, Portland /
Carpenters Local 247, Portland
United Steelworkers Local 8378, McMinnville /
Local 290, United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters, Portland
Oregon AFSCME Council 75, Salem /
Local 5 International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), Portland
Oregon Area District Council, ILWU, Portland
Local 483, Laborers International Union of North America LIUNA, Portland
Southern Oregon Area Local, American Postal Workers Union (APWU), Medford
Local 7901, Communications Workers of America CWA, Portland
AFSCME Local 3214, Eugene /
Branch 82, National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Portland
Portland State University Faculty Association, AFT Local 3571, Portland
The Active Ballot Club, Political Arm of Local 555, UFCW, Tigard
Local Unions attending the Regional Council of United Steelworkers (USW) in
Oregon, Washington and other states /
Portland Community College Faculty Federation, AFT Local 2277, Portland .
Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice, Ashland /
Portland Jobs with Justice, Portland
