Hundreds in Florida, 1,000 in D.C. Rally for Health Care Reform

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. 

The only thing missing is the political will in Washington.  
Improved Medicare for All: We can do it!  
Onward Oregon Updates:  Healthcare and more...

Sponsored by: The Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care
Healthcare-NOW!  www.Peaceresource.org   Progressive Democrats of America
CNA/National Nurses Organizing Committee   Physicians for a National Health Program
Americans for Democratic Action   Green Party
Two Quick Actions for Single Payer!

Health Care Update!

 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."

Notes:    http://healthcareandeducation.blogspot.com/

1. 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.
2. "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.

Take a look at this Healthcare Press-release on a PDX Heathcare Forum
and here is a place to explore Universal Health Care Issues & Options
Onward Oregon on Healthcare / An update!

Union Endorsers of Single Payer Healthcare

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