single payer would eliminate private insurance, saving nearly $400 billion annually on insurance and provider paperwork, enough to cover the uninsured and plug the gaps in coverage for those with insurance.
In 2007, 62 percent of U.S. bankruptcies occurred in the wake of medical illness, and 77 percent of those in medical bankruptcy had health insurance (usually private insurance) when they first got sick.
Close
Private health insurance is a defective consumer product, and Congress has no business forcing uninsured Americans to buy it.
In order to get the bill out of committee, Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised single-payer supporters, led by Representative Anthony Weiner of New York a floor vote in the fall. This is a tremendous victory for single-payer supporters like my group, the 16,000-member Physicians for a National Health Program. Members of Congress, many of whom say they personally support single payer, must now go on record on the eve of the 2010 electoral cycle. Constituents take note!
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Thursday, September 17, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
All in it together Universal Health
American culture simply has never been based on caring about what happened to your neighbor.” Unfortunately, this is ultimately what this health care debate comes down to. “I’ve got mine; the fact that you don’t have yours is not my problem” is the thinking.
There is a right and ethical way to do things in this world, and the ethical thing to do here in one of the richest countries in the world is to provide health care for all Americans, regardless of whether they can individually pay for it or not.
Yes, socialized medicine is one way to describe it, but what exactly is wrong with that? Who do the opponents of a public health care option think make the medical decisions about health care? The insurance companies do. They are far more concerned about their profit margin than the government will ever be, if it is ultimately to make these same decisions.
And, at least, with universal coverage, we will all have the option of having someone make those decisions, whether the government or insurers, rather than just some of us.
There is a right and ethical way to do things in this world, and the ethical thing to do here in one of the richest countries in the world is to provide health care for all Americans, regardless of whether they can individually pay for it or not.
Yes, socialized medicine is one way to describe it, but what exactly is wrong with that? Who do the opponents of a public health care option think make the medical decisions about health care? The insurance companies do. They are far more concerned about their profit margin than the government will ever be, if it is ultimately to make these same decisions.
And, at least, with universal coverage, we will all have the option of having someone make those decisions, whether the government or insurers, rather than just some of us.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
What is Universal Single Payer Health Care?
MOST COST LESS MASS CARE Massachusetts Campaign for Single Payer Health Care
UNIVERSAL SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE WOULD:
COST LESS THAN CURRENT HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
COVER ALL MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENTS
ALLOW CHOICE OF HEALTHCARE PROVIDER
COVER A FULL RANGE OF BENEFITS FOR EVERONE
HAVE ONE AGENCY PAY(SINGLE PAYER) FOR EVERYONE'S CARE
SAVE 60%OF CURRENT ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.
THE HEALTH CARE MELT DOWN
Over 630,000 people in state did not have helath insurance in 1998
Older patients are being dumped by their HMO'S
Many people have lost the right to choose their health provider.
The United States is the only industrialized country with no national
health insurance.
Health care costs in the United States are higher than anywhere else
in the world, but our health ranking is declining.
Drugs are twice as expensive in the U.S. than in Canada
Health care insurance premiums are increasing by 10%-15% per year.
Increasing layoffs of nurses threaten the quality of hospital care.
1500 insurance plans and greedy drug companies are bankrupting
health care in America.
SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE.
is a fair and simplified way to pay for health care. It would set up a SINGLE PUBLIC FUND which would pay all health care providers for all health care bills for all residents.
The fund would collect all health care monies now being spent. It would negotiate rates and pay providers.
This public fund would cut at least 15% from health care by cutting the RED TAPE AND WASTE CAUSED BY THE 1,500 DIFFERENT INSURANCE PLANS
The fund would be ACCOUNTABLE to the public, unlike private insurance companies, which are accountable to stockholders.
A tax, similiar to Medicare or Social Security, would replace all spending for health care needs.
All Massachusetts residents would be covered for the same FULL RANGE OF HEALTH BENEFITS.
UNIVERSAL SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE WOULD:
COST LESS THAN CURRENT HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
COVER ALL MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENTS
ALLOW CHOICE OF HEALTHCARE PROVIDER
COVER A FULL RANGE OF BENEFITS FOR EVERONE
HAVE ONE AGENCY PAY(SINGLE PAYER) FOR EVERYONE'S CARE
SAVE 60%OF CURRENT ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.
THE HEALTH CARE MELT DOWN
Over 630,000 people in state did not have helath insurance in 1998
Older patients are being dumped by their HMO'S
Many people have lost the right to choose their health provider.
The United States is the only industrialized country with no national
health insurance.
Health care costs in the United States are higher than anywhere else
in the world, but our health ranking is declining.
Drugs are twice as expensive in the U.S. than in Canada
Health care insurance premiums are increasing by 10%-15% per year.
Increasing layoffs of nurses threaten the quality of hospital care.
1500 insurance plans and greedy drug companies are bankrupting
health care in America.
SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE.
is a fair and simplified way to pay for health care. It would set up a SINGLE PUBLIC FUND which would pay all health care providers for all health care bills for all residents.
The fund would collect all health care monies now being spent. It would negotiate rates and pay providers.
This public fund would cut at least 15% from health care by cutting the RED TAPE AND WASTE CAUSED BY THE 1,500 DIFFERENT INSURANCE PLANS
The fund would be ACCOUNTABLE to the public, unlike private insurance companies, which are accountable to stockholders.
A tax, similiar to Medicare or Social Security, would replace all spending for health care needs.
All Massachusetts residents would be covered for the same FULL RANGE OF HEALTH BENEFITS.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Massachusett Health Care Reform Bill?????????
Hello Single Payer Supporters - There are a number of extremely important announcements this week, and there are two important things you can do to help.
Yesterday over 500 Massachusetts physicians signed an open letter asking Congress not to use the Massachusetts health reform as a model for the nation, and calling for single payer health reform. On the same day a letter signed by over 40 labor leaders in Massachusetts said the same thing: Massachusetts reform is not working for working people, and we need effective relief from rising health care costs and eroding benefits. If that wasn't enough, Public Citizen and Physicians for a National Health Program released a detailed analysis of the Massachusetts reform in practice, arguing that it has had a modest impact on residents' access to care, and that it is costly and will be unsustainable for the state in the long-run.
All of these documents are available from the Public Citizen web-site here: http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=28
HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP! The largest circulation papers in Massachusetts have not covered this story, or have only covered it online.
Send the Public Citizen press release to your local papers, or write an op-ed yourself! Please cc us at info@masscare.org so we can follow all the great work you're doing.
COMING UP ON WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 25, FROM 2PM - 4PM in WASHINGTON, DC:
Mass-Care is helping to host an important briefing to Congress on whether the Massachusetts health reform is an adequate model for the nation. The forum will bring testimony from a Massachusetts doctor, nurse, state senator, labor leader, small business health administrator, municipal expert, and a Boston-based economist.
HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP! Ask your Congressperson and his or her health care aide to attend this important forum. Members of Congress can join the committee, chaired by Congressman Eric Massa from New York, that will ask questions of the witnesses. Below is an open invitation to the briefing, along with a letter to Members of Congress asking them to join the panel committee. Give your Congressperson's D.C. office a call and ask them to learn more about what lessons state reform has to offer for the nation!
Announcement of the Forum:
http://www.healthcare-now.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/announ.pdf
Invite your Representative to Attend
http://www.healthcare-now.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/inv.pdf
_______________________________________________
Mass-Care: The Massachusetts Campaign for Single Payer Health Care
33 Harrison Ave - 5th floor
Boston, MA 02111
Ph: 617-723-7001
Fx: 617-723-7002
Em: info@masscare.org
Yesterday over 500 Massachusetts physicians signed an open letter asking Congress not to use the Massachusetts health reform as a model for the nation, and calling for single payer health reform. On the same day a letter signed by over 40 labor leaders in Massachusetts said the same thing: Massachusetts reform is not working for working people, and we need effective relief from rising health care costs and eroding benefits. If that wasn't enough, Public Citizen and Physicians for a National Health Program released a detailed analysis of the Massachusetts reform in practice, arguing that it has had a modest impact on residents' access to care, and that it is costly and will be unsustainable for the state in the long-run.
All of these documents are available from the Public Citizen web-site here: http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=28
HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP! The largest circulation papers in Massachusetts have not covered this story, or have only covered it online.
Send the Public Citizen press release to your local papers, or write an op-ed yourself! Please cc us at info@masscare.org so we can follow all the great work you're doing.
COMING UP ON WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 25, FROM 2PM - 4PM in WASHINGTON, DC:
Mass-Care is helping to host an important briefing to Congress on whether the Massachusetts health reform is an adequate model for the nation. The forum will bring testimony from a Massachusetts doctor, nurse, state senator, labor leader, small business health administrator, municipal expert, and a Boston-based economist.
HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP! Ask your Congressperson and his or her health care aide to attend this important forum. Members of Congress can join the committee, chaired by Congressman Eric Massa from New York, that will ask questions of the witnesses. Below is an open invitation to the briefing, along with a letter to Members of Congress asking them to join the panel committee. Give your Congressperson's D.C. office a call and ask them to learn more about what lessons state reform has to offer for the nation!
Announcement of the Forum:
http://www.healthcare-now.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/announ.pdf
Invite your Representative to Attend
http://www.healthcare-now.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/inv.pdf
_______________________________________________
Mass-Care: The Massachusetts Campaign for Single Payer Health Care
33 Harrison Ave - 5th floor
Boston, MA 02111
Ph: 617-723-7001
Fx: 617-723-7002
Em: info@masscare.org
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