Why aren't single payer people invited, again!, to sit at a discussion table for Health Care Reform?? Could it possibly be because Single Payer, Improved and Expanded Medicare for All would drastically reduce the need for the FOR PROFIT Health insurance industry? I am having a really hard time believing that, once again they are being shut out. Remember the Baucus 8/13? How many watched Margaret Flowers ten days ago on Bill Moyers?
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02052010/watch3.htmlWhy are so many people happy that the Senate bill is being revivified? Do they want to pay fines? Do they want to wait over three years for any of it to come to fruition? Do they want to see costs continue to rise?? Do folks really want to see insurance companies continue to profit on people's health?
From my email today:
Browse > Home / Action Alerts, Healthcare-NOW! Updates / President Obama: the Answer is Medicare for All – Healthcare-NOW!
President Obama: the Answer is Medicare for All
February 17, 2010 by Healthcare-NOW!
Filed under Action Alerts, Healthcare-NOW! Updates
Talking points below.
Once again the president and congress are not including any discussion of the only real solution to America’s health care problems – expanding and improving Medicare to cover everyone in America. On February 25th, the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care will be holding a “Sidewalk Summit for Improved Medicare for All” outside the Blair House in Washington, DC before the Democrats and Republicans have their session. If you are able to be in Washington, DC meet us at 9 AM at the White House. Specific meet up details will be announced as the event gets closer.
If you can’t join us in DC, consider taking bold action for the health care we need and organize a local “Sidewalk Summit” in your area. Check out these talking points, responding to each of the goals President Obama has set for health reform in his State of the Union Address, “But if anyone…has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know.”
The President’s goals and our responses:
1. Expand coverage and provide more Americans health care – Improved Medicare for All will provide comprehensive medical, mental, dental, vision and prescription coverage to all people (everybody in, nobody out) living in the United States from birth to death without gaps. No system based on private insurance can make the same guarantee.
2. End insurance company abuses – Improved Medicare for All will remove the expensive and bloated private insurance bureaucracy from our health care system and effectively end their profit-driven practices of denying and restricting coverage. All people in America will enjoy the same sense of security that those with traditional Medicare currently feel in knowing that necessary care will be covered and that their coverage cannot be taken away. Medicare is accountable to the public, rather than to investors.
3. Control health care costs – Improved Medicare for All is the only solution with built-in cost controls. There will be immediate savings of $400 billion per year simply by removing the high administrative and marketing costs that come with having over 1,300 different private insurance plans. Additional savings will arise through negotiations for fair pharmaceutical prices as Walmart does now.
4. Decrease the deficit – Improved Medicare for All is the only solution which will put the brakes on our health care costs which are spiraling out of control. Further positive effects on the economy will occur as businesses are relieved of the financial burden of paying for health benefits allowing them to focus on building their business, raising wages and competing in the global market. Having less volatility in health care prices will allow businesses to hire more employees, thereby spurring job growth.
5. Stabilize Medicare – Improved Medicare for All will finally relieve the financial stress which is placed on Medicare from providing coverage for those who have the greatest health care needs – those who are disabled or who are 65 years of age and older. Everybody, healthy and ill, will contribute to the Medicare fund throughout their lives knowing that Medicare will be there for them when they need it.
We urge brief presentations a few minutes long, video taped by independent video as well as notification of the media and articles written by real health care advocates. Hold the event at an appropriate federal building or other landmark and share your videos with us to circulate. Let us know what you’re planning and we can help provide you with talking points, press lists, and help spread the word about your event. For more info, email us at info@healthcare-now.org.
This is an opportunity for us to clearly show how our solution – a national health system funded by a single payer; improved and expanded Medicare for All – is the best alternative and the only one that can meet all of the president’s goals. Hold your own summit. Video tape it and share it with others. Write about it on blogs and websites and in your local papers. Make yourself heard.
No matter what the Congress and president do, if anything, the time is now to lay the foundation for a real health care reform movement that cannot be ignored.
Please be in touch with us if you want to organize an event locally, or if you plan to join us in DC on February 25th.
www.healthcare-now.org
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