Profit-Driven Healthcare Is Killing Young People's Dreams, But They're Fighting Back
Profit-Driven Healthcare Is Killing the Dreams of Young People. Young People Are Fighting Back. "I feel so passionate about this movement and winning Medicare for All. People shouldn't be going bankrupt and dying. We're the generation that's going to get this done." By NNU, National Nurses United, Common Dreams, Feb. 9, 2019.
As the *MEDICARE FOR ALL-WEEK OF ACTION ramps up Feb. 9–13*, with 150 “barnstorm” organizing events across the U.S., meet some of the young people who are leading the fight for Medicare for All. (*To find the date & time of your local barnstorm! Click Link, https://medicare4all.org/actions/).
Briana Moss, 30, grew up in Dyersville, Iowa, site of the “field of dreams” (from the 1989 movie). Despite the reputation of her hometown, her own life dreams feel on hold. At age 30, when many young people are getting their careers off the ground, Moss’ life choices are guided by one thing: the need for insulin. “I know of people with diabetes literally dying because they cannot afford their insulin. It’s very scary and very real,” says Moss, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 12.
She hadn’t yet finished college when her family insurance ended at 26, and after a few frantic months of insulin rationing, she found coverage through Iowa Medicaid. That’s where she remains, doing secretarial work at a family business, afraid to make any big life changes — which could be deadly.
Emily Hibshman, of Allentown, Pa., 25, has spent her post-college years fighting for change, as an organizer for social justice organizations and a labor union. The path forward, however, seems to have a “stop” sign in it. With her budding career often pinned to campaign cycles, she laments her approaching 26th birthday and subsequent loss of family insurance, explaining, “If I had that social safety net of knowing I had health care, I might be able to continue doing organizing work.”
Moss and Hibshman have more in common than feeling their life choices are limited by a broken, profit-driven health care system. They also share a commitment to standing up and fighting back, as young leaders in the movement to win Medicare for All. Here’s more on why Moss, Hibshman and two other young women are standing up for health care as a human right..
- Brianna Moss, age 30, with the supplies she needs to survive type 1 diabetes.
Dubuque, Iowa barnstorm host Briana Moss, 30:
“When I was younger, my mom was always pounding into my head: ‘You have to get good grades, so you can go to a good college, so you can get a good job, and get good health coverage.’ This really put a fear in me. What if I fail? Am I going to die? Diabetes is a life-changing illness. Stress, hormones, things you can’t control all affect your diabetes.
When I got taken off my mom’s insurance, that was really scary for me. I wasn’t finished with school. How would I afford health insurance? Profiting off sick people is sick. Having health care tied to your occupation really holds everybody back. In what should be the greatest country in the world, there’s no excuse. The money is there, we just don’t have our priorities straight.
Medicare and Medicaid are the most popular health plans in the country. You’re already paying. Why not pay just a tiny bit more, and have it now instead of waiting until you’re 65? And why not do it for everybody?”- Read More...
MORE, https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/02/09/profit-driven-healthcare-killing-dreams-young-people-young-people-are-fighting-back
- Despite ACA, Study Shows 2/3rds of Personal Bankruptcies Still Caused By Illness, Medical Bills, Feb. 7, 2019.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/07/despite-promises-aca-study-shows-two-thirds-personal-bankruptcies-still-caused
- The Case For MEDICARE FOR ALL, Public Citizen
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016226131
- When Robyn Gottlieb, 29, of Portland, Ore., married her fellow Medicare for All champion husband in 2017, they marked their big day with a big message. The couple that fights for Medicare for All together stays together!
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Feb. 9. 'People Shouldn't Be Going Bankrupt and Dying': Nationwide Week of Action Aims to Build Mass Movement Behind Medicare for All. "As nurses, we understand the need for guaranteed healthcare for everyone. That's why we are fighting to win Medicare for All and joining thousands at barnstorms across the country." Jake Johnson, Common Dreams.
With Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) expected to introduce the Medicare for All Act of 2019 in the coming days, nurses, progressive activists, and ordinary people who have felt firsthand the crushing weight of America's for-profit healthcare system took part in nationwide "barnstorms" this weekend to build grassroots support for transformative change.
From Texas to Kansas to California—around 150 total locations across the country—Medicare for All supporters gathered to discuss the necessity of a single-payer system that leaves no one behind, at a time when *over 30 million Americans are uninsured and two-thirds of personal bankruptcies are caused by medical bills*...more.
*30 Million People In The US Are Uninsured.*
MORE, https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/10/people-shouldnt-be-going-bankrupt-and-dying-nationwide-week-action-aims-build-mass
- Folks are gathering to talk about the plan to win guaranteed healthcare.Next steps involve knocking on doors, phone banks—various ways of engaging our communities to get involved," said National Nurses United executive director Bonnie Castillo.
