April 2009 – Healthcare-NOW

A funeral dirge for private health insurance?

Do Not Resuscitate: Why the Health Insurance Industry is Dying, and How We Must Replace It By John Geyman, M.D. Common Courage Press, 2008 Softcover, 251 pp. Book review by A.R. Strobeck Jr. Dr. John Geyman, a longtime physician and professor emeritus of family medicine at the University of Washington, has written several books about…

IATSE Locals in St. Louis, Boston & Sacramento Endorse HR 676

Three more IATSE local unions have endorsed HR 676, single payer health care legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI). Stage Hands Local 6 in St. Louis, Stage Hands Local 11 in Boston and Local 50 in Sacramento all endorsed HR 676, reports Robert Score of IATSE Local 1 in New York City. Score is…

State Legislators Launch Effort to Push HR 676

A group of state legislators has initiated a nationwide effort to publish an Appeal to President Obama and members of the 111th Congress to support HR 676, single payer healthcare legislation introduced in Congress by Representative John Conyers, Jr. and 75 co-sponsors. Twenty four state legislators, from 16 states, have sent a copy of the…

“Dems Have Super-Majority To Demand Single-Payer Universal Health Care”

On The Ed Show, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders talks about the Arlen Specter defection to the Democrats, and how the grassroots now has to rise up and demand single-payer universal health care if they want it.

Action Alert: Make Single-Payer Part of Senate Roundtable Discussions

We need your help getting a single-payer supporter into Senate Finance Committee roundtable discussions on healthcare reform. The Finance Committee (Led by Sen. Max Baucus – MT) is holding three roundtable discussions on healthcare reform in the coming weeks. The first discussion, titled “Reforming America’s Health Care Delivery System,” on April 21st, had thirteen witnesses.…

Health care reform with no reform

By Marie Cocco for the Denver Post— Every so often, I remember Ronald Reagan fondly – not for his policies but for his skill at the art of persuasion. Right now, for example, I’d like to call the Gipper back to cock his head, give us that quizzical look, and say “there you go again.”…

Montanans for Single Payer forms to promote universal coverage

A new statewide group has formed to affect the current national debate on health care reform. Montanans for Single-Payer is committed to true universal health care, a Medicare-type system where everyone is in and no one is out, according to the group’s spokesman, Phil Campbell. Campbell said that Montanans for Single-Payer is convinced the only…

Big health insurer’s calls to members draws criticism

By Bobby Caina Calvan for The Sacramento Bee— WellPoint, the nation’s largest health insurer, has launched what could be the start of a campaign for the hearts and minds of the American public as the country prepares for debates over reshaping its much-maligned health care system. The company, which operates in California as Anthem Blue…

Saratoga Springs backs universal healthcare, HR 676

By Andrew J. Bernstein for the Saratogian— After a vote Tuesday, the City Council threw its support behind universal health care, passing a resolution to back federal legislation to establish a new paradigm for medical insurance. If passed through Congress, the HR-676 will create a single-payer health care system administered by private entities and funded…

Cost control, universal care impossible without single-payer health system

Policy expert challenges effectiveness of lesser reforms at House panel With President Obama and congressional leaders vowing to pass a health reform bill by the end of the year, a prominent Harvard-based health policy analyst warned a House subcommittee Thursday that the leading incremental models for reform, including those patterned after the Massachusetts plan, are…