Tag: Single Payer

Since the GOP is fond of saying that “the USA has the Best Health Care System in the World”, I decided to do a little Fact Checking. … And according to the World Health Organization:

Health Performance Rank By Country

United States of America:

Performance: On level of health : 72nd

Performance: Overall health system: 37th

Health expenditure per capita in international $’s

Country Rank:  USA: 1st

http://www.photius.com/ranking…

We’re Number One! alright — BUT only in terms of HOW MUCH WE PAY PER PERSON, for our Health Care! (1st in the World, in terms of Cost)

That’s sounds like a contest, that we just don’t want to keep winning!

With the final betrayal of the progressive left still stinging like salt rubbed into a raw wound and the Pope of Hope’s filthy Judas administration in full damage control mode after Sunday’s slip by Health and Human Services Secretary Katherine Sebelius that the public option was about to have its life support unplugged. The public option (without it any ‘reform’ of health care is no more than garbage)was the feckless fallback position for the corporate puppet Obama rather than the right thing which would be national single payer insurance and in true form the white flag was already run up by the reigning lord of the jackass party. You would think with armed thugs now carring assault weapons prowling Obama town halls that he and his rotten liar cabal of Wall Street and insurance water carriers that he would be a bit less likely to alienate those who are the true base but once again it is made evident of how much we are all being played for fools and chumps and have been ever since the DLC decided to throw in with the Reagan Revolution.

As promised, I’m posting Thom Hartmann’s excellent suggestions for REAL Health Care Reform.  I’m posting this now to save time.  I’ve got to go away for a bit, but I’ll be back to edit with more information.

The Hartmann letter, like many good things, is beyond the flip….. It begins with the letter I added to e-mail to my lists….

Embark on Cross Country Care-A-Van to Demand Single-Payer from Congress

Frustrated with the health care ‘options’ coming out of Washington, D.C., six “Mad as Hell” Oregon physicians are taking an unprecedented road trip across America to lobby Congress for a single-payer health care system.

Portland, OR (PRWEB) August 13, 2009 — Frustrated with the health care ‘options’ coming out of Washington, D.C., six “Mad as Hell” Oregon physicians are taking an unprecedented road trip across America to lobby Congress for a single-payer health care system. A big part of their plan is to take the entire country with them.

If you’re lucky enough to still have Insurance —

1 in 7 Americans Don’t have that Luxury, by the way —

Well you might not feel so Lucky, after learning how much more of the Insurance Premium tab, you have been picking up, over the last several years.

Health Insurance is a “Benefit” of Employment — yeah Right!

A Benefit to the Employer, to keep you locked in your lousy Job.

A Benefit to the Insurer, who has a guaranteed source of Income, every time you get a paycheck!

That “Lucky Insurance Policy” has been to costing you more and more, each year, while promising you less and less, in terms of coverage … this squeeze has been happening for years!

Something is seriously wrong with this Nation’s Broken Health Insurance system …

Medical bills prompt more than 60 percent of U.S. bankruptcies

By Theresa Tamkins — CNN, June 5, 2009

This year, an estimated 1.5 million Americans will declare bankruptcy. Many people may chalk up that misfortune to overspending or a lavish lifestyle, but a new study suggests that more than 60 percent of people who go bankrupt are actually capsized by medical bills.

Bankruptcies due to medical bills increased by nearly 50 percent in a six-year period, from 46 percent in 2001 to 62 percent in 2007, and most of those who filed for bankruptcy were middle-class, well-educated homeowners, according to a report that will be published in the August issue of The American Journal of Medicine.

1.5 million Americans x 60% = 900,000 Americans

that’s about 2500 more people per day

… going bankrupt from medical bills, which were NOT covered by our broken Health Insurance system

An amendment introduced by representative Anthony Weiner, which would have created national single payer, has been traded in for a vote on the House floor in September, as a part of the deal between liberal and conservative members of the Democratic Party. The case – in support of single payer – made by some Democrats during the mark-up echoed the speeches given at a rally, which took place in the Upper Senate Park on Thursday, July 30th. That same day a number of members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus held a press conference on the Capitol Hill where they announced their intent to fight for a robust public option. The Real News spoke to David Swanson from Democrats.com who attended both the rally and the press conference.

Real News Network – August 3, 2009 – 9 minutes

Some members of Congress are going to fight for a robust public option and a single-payer amendment

David Swanson is the creator of ImpeachCheney.org, co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org and Washington Director of Democrats.com A writer and organizer, Swanson has worked for ACORN, the International Labor Communications Association, Dennis Kucinich’s 2004 presidential campaign and many others.

Former CIGNA Exec Wendell Potter, says Michael Moore was right!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

WENDELL POTTER: I thought that he hit the nail on the head with his movie.

But the [Insurance] Industry, from the moment that the Industry learned that Michael Moore was taking on the health care industry, it was really concerned.

BILL MOYERS: What were they afraid of?

WENDELL POTTER: They were afraid that people would believe Michael Moore.

The Speaker of the House, took a break from serious legislation, to spell out their plan for Messaging …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

Nancy Pelosi:

You see CEOs of these Industries making millions of dollars a year — indeed many of them a million dollars a month — for their ‘Leadership’ in withholding benefits, to people in NEED of Health.

let the Drum beating, begin …

NB: I don’t know if this is allowed or not, so if it is not, someone please let me know and I will delete.

David Swanson wrote an excellent diary late last night at dkos. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/7/31/232625/243  It disappeared with about seven comments and I think it is well worth reading so am transplanting it over here.  I doubt David will mind.  

I think there is a lot to take away from this, but I’ve highlighted what I see as the key graphs.  What really impresses me is David’s ability to strategize and see the forest through the trees.  Rather than gloom and doom, he sees an upside and possibilities (although he titled his diary “Downside to Weiner’s Deal”).  I think we can moan and groan and say that we are likely to end up with something worse than we already have or we can continue to fight.  I saw some great energy in that press conference and I was moved to tears when I heard them use the language we have been using. I got the sense that the Progressive Caucus gets it – even if they are compromised by dint of the fact they serve in Congress – and I think they get it because we have been shoving it down their throats.  

If you haven’t been calling or writing, please push like hell during August so that we drown out the other side.  I acknowledge that I can be a bit of a Pollyanna, but I think at times it comes from being engaged.  Calling Reps’ offices this week and getting into discussions with press persons made me realize how critical it is that we make the calls and create the message because we sure as hell aren’t going to get MSM coverage to do it for us.  I was happy to see each of the reps I called standing in solidarity at the press conference or at least a signator on the letter.  As David says in so many words below, we are all in this with the same goal and it is and can make a difference.  As buhdy says in so many words and so eloquently, YELL LOUDER!  So now we have to YELL EVEN LOUDER in August.

Friday evening in in the House Energy and Commerce Committee health care markup session, Anthony Weiner (D-NY) extracted a promise from Nancy Pelosi that the full House will debate and vote on a single payer plan after the summer recess.

The promise was made after Weiner agreed to withdraw a proposed amendment to H.R. 3200, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s version of a health care reform bill, which the panel passed by a vote of 31 to 28 late Friday, to create a universal Medicare system for the entire nation.

According to the New York Daily News:

“The Brooklyn-Queens Rep. looked a little surprised when Chairman Henry Waxman said Pelosi would allow that vote, and made Waxman repeat the deal to be sure it was clear and on the record. It’s an especially big deal for advocates of a single health care system – who see it as cheaper and simpler than the complicated measure being drawn up – because they have been complaining that they have not even been able to get an airing of their position.”

as reported on Rachel Maddow’s Thursday show:

Congressman Weiner’s bluff-calling, put-up-or-shut-up amendment to the House health care bill (H.R. 3200):

Really Republicans, don’t like Publicly run Health Care?

Would you care to put your Vote where your rhetoric is,

to eliminate a very successful Public Health Care Program — Medicare?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

So what happened?

Will Medicare be relegated to the “junk heap of history” as another “failed idea” of the Liberal Agenda? … well in a word, HARDLY!