We’ve heard President Obama assert during his campaign that if he were starting from scratch he would implement a single-payer plan. He recently stated: “I want to cover everybody. Now, the truth is unless you have what’s called a single-payer system in which everyone’s automatically covered, you’re probably not going to reach every single individual.” In addition, President Obama knows that we have to get the spiraling healthcare costs under control.
The current bills before the House and Senate can neither cover everyone nor make healthcare affordable. Only Improved Medicare for All, a national single payer plan such as HR 676, can do the job.
If we don’t make serious change to our healthcare financing and delivery, the United States will continue to pay more than any other country in the world and get less. Just look at this graph from National Geographic that shows how US healthcare spending is off the charts.
Send the message to President Obama now, “It’s time to start from scratch. The people want real change – Improved Medicare for Everyone. Single-payer universal healthcare is the only way to get our health, our jobs, and our economy back on track.”
Email your message here, and easily make a call to the White House here.
We urge you all to see this week’s Bill Moyers Program: “Wendell Potter on Profits Over People”
Scroll down and link to the interview. As Rick Ford says, “. . . it is an eye-opener you should send to all your friends who don’t yet follow this debate.”
This week on the JOURNAL, Bill Moyers spoke with Wendell Potter, a former health insurance executive who left the industry to become an advocate for health care reform.
“With almost 20 years inside the health insurance industry, Wendell Potter saw for-profit insurers hijack our health care system and put profits before patients. Now, he speaks with Bill Moyers about how those companies are standing in the way of health care reform.
“Looking back over his long career, Potter sees an industry corrupted by Wall Street expectations and greed. According to Potter, insurers have every incentive to deny coverage — every dollar they don’t pay out to a claim is a dollar they can add to their profits, and Wall Street investors demand they pay out less every year. Under these conditions, Potter says, “You don’t think about individual people. You think about the numbers, and whether or not you’re going to meet Wall Street’s expectations.”
Watch the video here.
On May 22nd, Bill Moyers Journal interviewed Donna Smith, of California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, Dr. Sidney Wolfe, of Public Citizen, and Physicians for a National Health Program’s Dr. David Himmelstein.
See Donna Smith’s interview here.
See the interview with Dr. Sidney Wolfe and Dr. David Himmelstein here.
Single-payer is really the only truly viable and sustainable option if we wish to attain universal coverage.
President Obama, early in his political career, on single-payer healthcare.
Sing along with the healthcare pirates… brought to you by our Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care partners Consumer Watchdog.
For HR 676 One Plan, One Nation Campaign and
Regarding Health Care for America Now, “The Trojan Horse”
On July 8, 2008, a coalition of organizations called Health Care for America Now (HCAN) announced a campaign for healthcare reform. A spokesperson for the group stated that they plan to run a multi-million dollar ad campaign and will promote affordable health care reform that offers a mix of public funding and private insurance.
The New Jersey State Industrial Union Council (IUC) will not advocate continuing the for-profit system, and allowing the Insurance Companies unabated control and power over the people of New Jersey and this Country. The HCAN coalition is trying to fool many of you who also work with us to promote single payer non-profit health care as embodied in HR 676, The National Insurance legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers. This is not the time to compromise our principles on HR 676, what we all consider to be the Crown Jewel of healthcare plans.
