|
 Seeking
A National Single Payer Healthcare System That Will Cover Everyone
In The United States |
Contacts: below Upcoming Events:
Contact Ajamu Sankofa1949@aol.com
At its November 2006 chapter meeting, NYC Healthcare-Now decided to hold a community health truth hearing in Harlem as part of its 12 month campaign to build an effective an authentically grassroots constituency that itself will move forward to demand and win the passage of HR 676 within the next two years. Three components were essential to the chapter’s vision for success: 1. the Hearing (s) must be located within communities of color or the communities of the severely economic exploited; 2. the primary speakers would be community members themselves who are of diverse backgrounds and who are experiencing substantial healthcare insecurity: lack of health insurance, lack of access to adequate healthcare, and/or injury to their health or quality of life that has resulted from healthcare insecurity; 3. that the official respondents to the speakers would be a broad range of experts in healthcare advocacy who have established credibility in the community as knowledgeable, effective, and compassionate health service providers or advocates, and finally, 4. elected officials would be encouraged to attend. The “expert” respondents assisted in the question and answer period by providing context for the need to win HR 676, in addition to responding to the specific questions of the speakers. The respondents also comprised the list of co-sponsors for the event. The co-sponsors included the NYC chapter of the Gray Panthers, the Million Worker March, AFSCME District Council 37, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Physicians for National Health Program, Latinos for National Health Insurance, Families for Freedom, Muslim Women’s Institute for Research, Metro New York Health Care for All Campaign, NYC Katrina Solidarity Committee, NYC Commission on Public Health, and Healthcare-Now. The sponsoring organizations assisted in identify NYC residents who would lead the discussion by sharing their experiences of substantial healthcare-insecurity. NYC Councilman, Oliver Koppel sent comments supporting the Truth Hearing and advocating for passage of NYC Resolution 75 that encourages the US Congress to pass HR 676. Harlem based Episcopal Minister, the beloved Rev. Kooperkamp provided the opening prayer. The esteemed Broadway Actress, Vinie Burrows mesmerized the audience by appearing as a homeless woman without health insurance due to no fault of her own. It was only after her performance that the attendees realized that she was acting. The Hearing was videotaped and has appeared several times on local NYC cable TV. We had 15 very powerful and different accounts of substantial healthcare insecurity presented to approximately 115 people in an event that lasted for three fast paced hours. This event has spawned the current organizing of three additional community health truth hearings in support of HR 676 over the next few months in NYC. Further, a subcommittee has formed as a result of this Truth Hearing to replicate the best direct action strategies of the civil rights movement. NYC/HCN succeeded in implementing its vision. Accordingly, we have decided to replicate this truth hearing model all over NYC. We are in it to win it, HR 676 by 2008.
REPORT FROM NEW YORK CITY HEALTHCARE-NOW KEEPIN’ OUR EYES ON THE PRIZE: LET’S HIT CRITICAL MASS (Suggestions for 12 month action plan to pass HR 676)
Submitted by Ajamu Sankofa and Billie Spaight
OF ALL THE FORMS OF INEQUALITY, INJUSTICE IN HEALTH CARE IS THE MOST SHOCKING AND INHUMANE.
We must educate in a style that inspires, organizes, and mobilizes the political power to win passage of HR 676.
We must demonstrate as a form of intelligent agitation Use the civil rights and anti-war movements as a model. Although we do not have the numbers, we can do strategic actions that simultaneously give us higher visibility, communicate our message, and mobilize our forces:
Paramus, NJ, November 18th, Dear Health Reform Activist:
We hope to see you on November 18. The United Labor Agency is located at 205 Robin Road, Suite 220, Paramus, NJ. .
The following will be discussed at the meeting:
1) A 10/26 meeting with Rep. Steven Rothman (D-CD 9). How he agrees with us 100% on the need for universal health care but doesn't want to co-sponsor HR 676, Rep. John Conyers' National Health Insurance Act. The attached <.jpg> file shows our delegation with the Congressman (he's the one in the suit).
2) Progress of the Ed Purtill Memorial Education Fund's high school essay contest. The attached <.pdf> file is a paste-up of the announcement of the contest in its monthly newspaper, "The Reporter." This file will also soon be accessible on . . .
3) Our new Web Site is up and running. Its URL is http://www.hcfanj.org. It contains more info on the essay contest, including short bios of its judges. The meeting will discuss adding content to the site.
4) The New Jersey Health Care Access Study Commission, established by legislation we supported, has finally been appointed. Among its members is a representative of HCfA/NJ. A report on its initial meeting will be presented.
5) The impact of the November 7th elections on prospects for health reform, and
6) Anything else you would like to discuss. Princeton, NJ, October 15th, Forum, Healthcare, a Right, Not a Business Princeton Community Democratic Organization Post Office Box 481 r Princeton, New Jersey 08542
Contact: Toby Israel (609) 683 1317
HEALTHCARE POLICY COMMITTEE OF PCDO TO SPONSOR A FORUM HEALTHCARE - A RIGHT, NOT A BUSINESS: IS IT TIME FOR A NEW MODEL?
(Princeton Borough) – The Healthcare Policy Committee of The Princeton Community Democratic Organization (PCDO) is sponsoring a forum on Sunday, October 15, 2006 at 7:30 pm at the Suzanne Patterson Senior Center, which is located behind Princeton Borough Hall at the intersection of Route 206 and Nassau Street (Route 27). The public is invited.
The event marks the launch of a proactive citizen’s campaign spearheaded by the committee to achieve healthcare reform in New Jersey. Speaking at the event will be Steven M. Goldman, Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance as well as two New Jersey healthcare policy experts, Dr. Mark Schlesinger, a NJ resident and Professor of Public Health and Fellow of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies,Yale University and Joel C. Cantor, Sc.D., Director of the Center for State Health Policy and Professor of Public Policy at the Edward J. Bloustein School, Rutgers University.
The forum will raise awareness about healthcare policy issues and challenges facing New Jersey as well as identify healthcare initiatives that could lead to reform in this state. The public will be given the opportunity to consider the merits of the variety of healthcare models to be discussed by these key experts and express their ideas regarding healthcare policy challenges. During the forum Dr. Mark Schlesinger will discuss possible universal healthcare models in the US. Joel C. Cantor, Sc.D., will talk about potential policy initiatives in New Jersey. Commissioner Goldman will discuss the reality/fiscal implications of healthcare policy reform for our state. The panel discussion will end with a question and answer period. Refreshments will be served. More information about this event and other activities of the Princeton Community Democratic Organization (PCDO) are on the Web at www.princetondems.org or by contacting Toby Israel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Holyoke, MA - Saturday, October 21, 2006, 1:00 to 4:00 PM ----The Holyoke, MA Single Payer Network (WMSPN)* is organizing a public hearing in Western Massachusetts to bring national health care reform to the attention of the public and our elected officials. This event will focus on Representative John Conyers’ bill – HR 676 – to establish a universal, single payer, national health care plan for the United States. Please visit ww.house.gov/conyers/news_health_care.htm. Almost the entire Massachusetts Congressional Delegation has signed on in support of this legislation. Hearings like ours are being held throughout the country. Congressional Representatives listen as people describe their experiences with the current health care system and what to do about it. We would like Western Massachusetts to show its strong support for this effort. The hearing will be held on Saturday, October 21, 2006, at Holyoke Community College in The Forum auditorium from 1:00 to 4:00 PM. Representative Conyers and other epresentatives have been invited to attend. Representative John Olver will be their Chairperson. Former Northampton Mayor Mary Ford will moderate. Ajamu Sankofa of Healthcare-NOW will talk about single payer national healthcare. Our objective is to convey the urgent need for a universal solution to this universal crisis. We hope to have a broad coalition behind this effort, including labor unions, faith-based groups, immigrants’ rights group, social justice advocates, seniors, small business owners, youth, and health care providers. Jon Weissman, Hearing Committee Chair Western Massachusetts Single Payer Network Members as of August 5, 2006: Franklin/Hampshire Health Care Coalition; League of Women Voters (Amherst); Massachusetts Public Health Association; Physicians for a National Health Plan (Western Massachusetts); Social Workers for Peace and Justice; Vermont Citizens Campaign for Health; Western Massachusetts Jobs with Justice. If your group would like to join this network, which meets quarterly to share strategies for winning universal single payer health care, please let us know! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Brooklyn, NY, Sunday, October 15, 11:00 A.M. Ethical Culture Society, MarthaKlein speaking on The Healthcare Crisis: Problems and Solutions BSEC invites you to a Platform in which the complications of health care will be made startlingly clear by our guest speaker. Sunday, October 15 @ 11am: "The Crisis of Health Care: Problems & Solutions." Speaker, Martha Klein, RN, MPH. Martha, a passionate advocate and volunteer for health care justice for many years uses public speaking at colleges, television and radio interviews among other things, to further the cause in support of a national Single Payer plan. She is a founding member of Healthcare-NOW's New York Chapter, www.healthcare-NOW.org. Special guest musician – cello played by Martha Siegel. A screening of the short film to which she was an advisor, "Don’t Be A Chicken" about health care, follows platform.
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New York City, Wed, Oct. 25, 7:30pm -Seventh Annual Forum on Medical Student Activism with Cassandra Barnette Donnelly, Jay Bhatt, Lara Bishay, David Marcus, Ayana Jordan, and Oliver Fein, MD. The Seventh Annual Forum on Medical Student Activism: Challenges and Successes in Organizing Medical Students Today, How Do Free Clinics and Community Service Relate to the Movement for Universal Health Care? with Cassandra Barnette Donnelly, Political Action Liaison, Region IX, Student National Medical Association (SNMA), 3rd Year Medical Student, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, School of Osteopathic Medicine; Jay Bhatt, President, American Medical Student Association (AMSA); Currently taking time off from his 4th year at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) to work with AMSA; Lara Bishay, 2nd-year medical student at NYU working with NYU’s New York City Free Clinic as volunteer, fundraiser, and recruiter of physician volunteers' and David Marcus, Member, Board of Directors, PNHP-NY Metro Chapter; Second Year Medical Student, SUNY Downstate College of Medicine; Secretary, SUNY Downstate Medical Student Council. CO-CHAIRS Ayana Jordan, Fourth year MD-PhD Student, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Member, Board of Directors, PNHP-NY Metro Chapter and Oliver Fein, MD Chair, PNHP-NY Metro Chapter. The forum will be held at Beth Israel Medical Center, Phillips Ambulatory Care Center, 10 Union Square East, (between 14th and 15th Streets), Second Floor Lecture Hall, Free. SPONSORED BY Physicians for a National Health Program-NY Metro Chapter CO-SPONSORS: New Yorkers for National Health Care, Metro New York Health Care For All Campaign, New York City Health Care Now, Avery Institute for Social Change, Public Health Assn of New York City, Student National Medical Assn (Region IX), American Medical Student Assn (Region 2), New York City Free Clinic, Weill Cornell Community Clinic, Einstein Community Health Outreach (ECHO) Free Clinic, Queens College Urban Studies Dept. For further info, contact PNHP-NY Metro at pnhpnyc@igc.org, 212 666-4001 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Manhattan Television --Oct 12, Nov 9, Dec 14 (all Thursdays) - 6:30 pm new TV show "Single Payer: Health Care For All Show" under advisement of PNHP, with a time slot this fall! The mission is to educate and motivate people to take action for single payer, national health insurance. It will air on channel 57 in Manhattan, 2nd Thursday of the month, at 6:30 pm (1 Hour show). This station is Manhattan cable access - MNN (Manhattan Neighborhood Network). The show is also broadcast live on www.mnn.org so you can watch it there you don't get Manhattan cable – just click on the "channel 57" icon on the home page. Check out the show and please contact Debby Feuerman (producer) dfeuerman@gmail.com if you have ideas, would like to be interviewed as a medical professional, or put it on public access airwaves where you live. Individual shows can also be produced in addition to the regular monthly slot.
EPISODE 2 - 11/09/06, Channel 57, 6:30 PM (1 hour) – Health Care For Everyone Concert And Speakers. Amazing music including Sunny Meadows (Americana) and The Hudson Dusters (Roots Blues/Rock) and speakers from groups including American Medical Student Association, PNHP, Healthcare-Now. This entertaining event was in Bay Shore, Long Island, hosted by Bill Breitenback and Chris Hagel.
Reports from Recent Previous Events in the Northeast Region
Beacon, New York-- NAACP/ Healthcare-NOW Meeting, September 30th The Beacon NAACP/Healthcare-NOW event on September 30th exceeded all expectations. The turnout was excellent, nearly 60 people. The house was full. Speakers, Actress Vinie Burrows and Healthcare-NOW representative Ajamu Sankofa each got standing ovations after they spoke. The most important feature of the event was the energy sparking creative ideas for building the branch of the NAACP. The United States National Health Insurance Act, HR676, John Conyers' bill in support of a national healthcare system will be the centerpiece of its work according to the sitting president. The branch was urged to build active coalitions with other Branches and produce a national HR676 action plan proposal to be submitted to the next NAACP National Convention for passage. Healthcare-NOW New York City chair, Sankofa, has pledged to work with them to develop it. In addition several activists began planning work on a jobs creation initiative for youth of color in Beacon. This energy arose from the joint presentations and a q&a that extended through dinner. The challenge is to maintain the momentum. A petition campaign in support of H.R. 676 was started. Beacon is a progressive little town with a liberal tradition. The national healthcare campaign is a shot in the arm for action by the chapter.
The Ithaca Journal - www.theithacajournal.com - Ithaca, NY Rally cry outside debate hall: Universal health care (excerpt) ITHACA — The crowd that gathered across the street from Cornell University's Bailey Hall on Tuesday afternoon made it quite clear what they wanted. One speaker equated it to “demolishing” the insurance industry and huge segments of the pharmaceutical industry along with it. The buzzwords are single-payer, universal health care. What it means is government-funded health insurance that would cover all citizens and replace the privatized health care industry the United States operates within today. “It is 2006 and it is about time,” said Marlene Ramos, 19, a Cornell sophomore.More than 100 people attended a rally downtown and later across the street from Tuesday night's gubernatorial debate inside Bailey Hall between Republican John Faso and Democrat Eliot Spitzer. The universal health care rally was the main action outside, where supporters for the two candidates also gathered. Instead, the focus was off the candidates — though the crowd and its speakers largely supported Spitzer — and on universal health care, a movement that has grown in numbers in Tompkins County. “People are Dying to be Insured” read one sign outside Bailey Hall. “Single-Payer Health Care for All” read another. At times they chanted “People not profits” to express their dislike of the privatized health care system. They believe a single-payer system could alleviate many of the ills that plague the current system and finally bring all citizens in the richest nation in the world some type of health care coverage. “What makes me optimistic about the issue is that it is hitting across a broad spectrum of the population,” said Rebecca Elgie, who works on the issue for the Tompkins County Workers' Rights Center... Toting signs that said “I am a health care voter,” the rally began at The Commons and later in the afternoon moved near Bailey Hall. Speakers voiced their displeasure with the current system through a loud bullhorn in hopes that Spitzer and Faso would hear the message. Rumors circulated during the day that Spitzer himself would address the rally, but he did not appear in public prior to the debate. Faso made the short walk from his tour bus to a side entrance in Bailey Hall, his only pre-debate appearance... But with companies cutting back on health insurance benefits as the prices for top-notch programs escalate, all workers need to rally around the issue, even students, said Alex Berg, 19, a Cornell sophomore who works for the Cornell Organization for Labor Action. “We are privileged students in an Ivy League school who are ready to enter the workforce,” she said. “Many of us expect to get full benefits, but there are no guarantees.”
Philadelphia, PA, September 20th Unitarian Society of Germantown, Social Action Committee "It's Time for Universal Healthcare in the USA! Dr. Gene Bishop gave a power point presentation to about 50 congregants at the Unitarian Society of Germantown, Wednesday, September 20. Most of the participants seemed favorably disposed to the proposition of single payer insurance, but had their conviction bolstered by Dr. Bishop's well documented talk. None of those who spoke seemed to prefer the privatized health insurance we now endure. Some insightful questions showed that the talk stimulated thought about the urgency of the situation in this country, and concern for the disparities of coverage among the population. What we would like to do now is get the congregation involved in the action phase; we are writing to congressmen and state representatives, and plan to confront those who have taken negative positions. Check out this Sample Flyer with Cartoon Brooklyn, NY “We want the word ‘profit’ taken out of health care,” insisted Rep. Conyers. “That is why the first issue on my agenda is a national health care plan.” According to data provided by the congressman, the United States National Health Insurance Act would be funded by a modest payroll tax of 3.3 percent, with a five-percent health tax on the top five percent of income earners, a small tax on stock and bond transfers, closing corporate tax loopholes and repealing President George Bush’s tax cut. Furthermore, under HR 676, the average costs to employers for an employee making $30,000 per year would be reduced to $1,155 per year, less than $100 per month. Boston,
MA Faneuil Hall, September 1st, 2005
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