Would You Support A Single-Pay(triot) Act?

[BLUSH]

Welcome to our humble website to bring about a cost-effective, single-payer system of publicly-financed, privately-delivered healthcare that ends private health insurance (and its waste, denials of care, bureaucracy, propaganda ads, lavish executive salaries, and profiteering). We are talking about National health insurance . . . enhanced Medicare for All as described in HR676 and S. 703. Single payer is a system in which one institution pays for all, or most, of health care.

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No more stress and worry over paying for health care, no more pre-condition denials, no more deductibles, no more complicated medical billing systems, no more in network/out of network, no more complicated insurance forms, no more medical debt, no more staying on a job just for the healthcare, no more crazy-complicated insurance forms, no more workers comp, no more insurance clerks getting between you and your doctor. Single Payer national health insurance is simply the best solution for America (HR 676 and S 703).

http://www.singlepayusa.com

[LostInAnomie]

1. Who the fuck came up with that stupid ass name?

The words "Patriot Act" scare me away from almost anything.

[BLUSH]

2. Even some Republicans are finally "getting it" (though still too few)

Former Jasper County Republican Chairman on Single Payer

Beware health-industrial complex

By Jack Bernard
Ledger-Enquirer
August 23, 2009

I am a Republican, former chairman of the Republican Party in Jasper County, Ga., and chair of that county commission. ...

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In my view, it is unpatriotic to continue to lie to the American public about the situation facing us. Over the last 10 years, wages have gone up by about one-fourth. Health insurance premiums have gone up well over 100 percent. We cannot continue along this path to fiscal destruction. Inaction is not an option.

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The mark of a great nation is not how well it treats its privileged, but rather how well it treats its downtrodden. On this measure, we fail miserably; strange for a nation that prides itself on being the most religious democracy in the world.

Very few health or insurance professionals advocate for a single-payer system, the best way to control costs and ensure access. I hear all sorts of reasons: rationing (really, like HMOs do not do that now), paperwork (apparently insurance company bureaucracy does not count), socialism (come on — practitioners will still be independent and we all know it) and so forth. It is rare that we hear the underlying cause openly stated: greed. It will cut my income.

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It is high time we put the country ahead of ourselves and establish a single-payer system.

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/august/former_jasper_county.php



In other words, Single Payer IS Patriotic!


:patriot:

[HillbillyBob]

3. It would certainly alliviate some inequities

in fact some of the worst iniquity that is a problem in this country today.
I have my own personal story and have seen others where timely medical care in a non emergency, setting would not be broke and broken them under the cost of care when the insurance says..oh we won't pay that, after saying they would or cannot afford insurance, or get good coverage, or in my case I cannot get coverage at any price. By non emergency such as getting preventative type care before it becomes an emergency.

[BLUSH]

4. Single-Payer Now!

August 26, 2009

By George Erickson

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So why are these people so afraid of a Canada/European single-payer program, a plan that is far superior to our for-profit system that leaves 47 million Americans with no insurance and millions more with inadequate coverage via policies that let the insurance company which procedures will be allowed and which will be denied?

Here's why: Health is a lucrative business. Medicare, a single payer system that lets you choose your MD, has low overhead costs that run around 3%. In comparison, our much-vaunted private health care system admits to spending an average of 20% of your premium dollar on what they call “operating costs.”

Those who run Medicare receive modest salaries, but in 2002, Norman Payson, the CEO of Oxford Health Plans took home $76 million, Leonard Schaeffer, the CEO of WellPoint received $21 million and D. Mark Weinberg, the executive VP of WellPoint: was forced to make do with a mere $14 million. That's per year!

In fact, the twenty highest-paid health insurance executives in 2002 received $237 million. Add another $1.1 BILLION in stock options (for a total $1.75 billion for TWENTY people) and it becomes obvious why these “for-profiteers” have no interest in change.
They don't care that the US ranks 33rd in health care – just behind Castro's Cuba. They don't care that we have a higher infant mortality rate than single-payer countries like Canada, the UK, Australia, France, Germany, Japan and Sweden, and they don't care that we spend twice as much per person on health care (but live shorter lives) than citizens of those countries.

In contrast to the for-profit system, where insurance company employees are rewarded for finding loopholes in company policies that permit the denial of coverage, single payer systems exist to deliver health care, not deny it. Instead, we Americans are saddled with a system that works very well if you are a member of Congress or if you are wealthy enough to pay for deluxe coverage, but for most of us, that's just a dream, as evidenced by the fact that more than 60% of all personal bankruptcy filings involve unaffordable health care costs.

continues:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Single-Payer-Now-by-George-Erickson-090826-658.html

[BLUSH]

5. Rep. Anthony Weiner's Single-Payer Amendment

August 31, 2009

Please Support Rep. Anthony Weiner's Single-Payer Amendment

Use the form below to automatically send a letter supporting Rep. AnthonyWeiner's single-payer amendment to your U.S. representative. We have sample text already in place, but feel free to modify it (e.g. by adding some details of your own experience or locale). After you have entered in your address information (so we know which representative to send your letter to), just click "Send My Message."


Dear Representative,

I write to urge your support for the Weiner Single-Payer Amendment to HR 3200, which will receive a floor vote in September.

The Weiner amendment would replace Division A of HR 3200 with the text of HR 676, the “U.S. National Health Care Act,” sponsored by Rep. John Conyers. This would effectively transform HR 3200 into single-payer legislation. Single-payer is a superior reform to HR 3200 in many ways:

* Single payer would provide universal and comprehensive coverage for all medically necessary services. Unamended, HR 3200 would leave millions uninsured or with skimpy coverage.

* Single payer allows patients free choice of doctor and hospital. Under HR 3200, insurance companies would continue to deny care and restrict access to services.

* Single payer pays for itself by eliminating $400 billion in insurance company administrative waste and redirecting it to care. HR 3200 requires $1 trillion in new revenue in the next decade.

* Single payer establishes proven and effective cost-containing mechanisms to ensure that benefits are sustainable over the long run. HR 3200 lacks effective cost controls.

The Weiner amendment presents an historic opportunity for Members to register their support for single-payer national health insurance as the best way to solve the U.S. healthcare crisis. It additionally will provide a vote that Members can stand by when approached by constituents.

While we recognize the political imperative to pass healthcare reform, it is important to remember that the purpose of reform is to ease the burden for all Americans. Only single-payer healthcare meets that goal—both medically and economically. The Weiner Amendment deserves your vote.

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/307/t/9290/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27743

[ThomWV]

6. I think it is a wonderful graphic and clever too

and that is why I recommended this post.

[BLUSH]

7. Just Makes No $ense ...

MONEY-DRIVEN MEDICINE

August 28, 2009
BILL MOYERS

The film MONEY-DRIVEN MEDICINE reveals how a profit-hungry "medical-industrial complex" has turned health care into a system where millions are squandered on unnecessary tests, unproven and sometimes unwanted procedures and overpriced prescription drugs.

Learn more about the film.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08282009/watch.html

[BLUSH]

8. Dems backtrack on single-payer bill

August 31, 2009

Some House members who have previously backed a single-payer healthcare reform bill say they will not vote for a similar measure when it hits the floor this fall.

Of the 12 serving House members who co-sponsored Rep. John Conyers’s (D-Mich.) single-payer bill (H.R. 676) in the last Congress but not in this Congress, four have indicated they will vote no on a single-payer bill to be offered by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.).

The four members are Reps. Joe Baca (D-Calif.), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), David Scott (D-Ga.), and Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.).

“It’s a whole new ballgame,” said Baca spokesman Mike Trujillo. “ supports a public option and not a single-payer system at this time.”

In an interview with The Hill, Scott said, “I support a public option. It’s an excellent compromise and the best vehicle to garner enough votes to pass….Single-payer isn’t going to get the votes. A public option is the best shot we have to lower costs and provide coverage to most Americans.”

Johnson adopted a similar tone in a statement to The Hill: “I have supported legislation like H.R. 676 in the past, but this year I support America’s Affordable Health Choices Act because it has a much better chance of becoming law.”

America’s Affordable Health Choices Act is the lead healthcare reform bill moving in the House.

Reps. Andre Carson (D-Ind.), Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.), Betty Sutton (D-Ohio), and James Moran (D-Va.), all previous co-sponsors of a single-payer bill, but not co-sponsors this year, did not comment for this article.

Moran was asked his position on Weiner’s amendment by a constituent during an Aug. 25 town hall meeting.

“I don’t know,” said Moran. “It will depend on what it takes to get the bill out of the House. Now that the president has endorsed a bill, I’m inclined to support that bill.”

continued:

http://www.healthcare-now.org/dems-backtrack-on-single-payer-bill/

[BLUSH]

9. The Drive for Single Payer

The Drive for Single Payer

by Ralph Nader
Tuesday, September 1, 2009

After several weeks of protests at Senate hearings and health care events by single payer advocates (visit singlepayeraction.org), six physicians from Oregon, with 191 years of combined real-world medical experience, are crossing the country in a 27-foot Winnebago making stops in nearly 30 cities, to debate, educate and advance full medicare for all. Everybody in, nobody out.

Calling themselves "Mad as Hell Doctors," these physicians are already drawing crowds and expect thousands to turn out at each city that they visit, culminating in a large arrival demonstration in front of the White House around October 1. (Visit www.madashelldoctors.com)

They have written President Obama asking for a meeting "to discuss the future of health care as well as the moral, social, and fiscal imperative of enacting a single-payer system for America at this moment in our history."

The White House turned them down flat, not even leaving the door open for reconsideration. Mr. Obama has met countless times with the CEOs of large corporations, whose greed and callousness causes so much of this crisis. Though he believes in single payer "if we started from scratch," he has yet to meet with any single payer delegation.

more:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/09/01-0

[BLUSH]

10. more single pay sites ...

http://www.singlepayeraction.org

http://www.healthcare-now.org

http://unionsforsinglepayerhr676.org