November 2009 – Page 2 – Healthcare-NOW

Study: Over 2,200 US Veterans Died in 2008 Due to Lack of Health Insurance

From Democracy Now – On Veterans Day, a new study estimates four times as many US Army veterans died last year because they lacked health insurance than the total number of US soldiers who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in the same period. A research team at Harvard Medical School says 2,266 veterans under…

Lieberman Gets Another Visit from the Grassroots for Single-Payer

By Kevin Gosztola for OpEdNews – The grassroots organization, Mobilization for Healthcare for All, returned to Sen. Joe Lieberman’s (I-CT) D.C. Office on Tuesday morning and confronted Lieberman for taking money from insurance companies and opposing healthcare as a human right. Sam Pullen, who engaged in a sit-in at a Blue Cross office in Los…

Health Care Advocates Remain in Jail, Take Action To Support their Cause Now

On Thursday, Mobilization for Health Care for All made another urgent demand to get insurance money out of our democracy so that real reform will not be blocked in America. It is unacceptable that 45,000 Americans die every year because of lack of access to health care. Nine advocates for Medicare for All were arrested…

Is the House Health Care Bill Better than Nothing?

By Marcia Angell, M.D. for Huffington Post – Well, the House health reform bill — known to Republicans as the Government Takeover — finally passed after one of Congress’s longer, less enlightening debates. Two stalwarts of the single-payer movement split their votes; John Conyers voted for it; Dennis Kucinich against. Kucinich was right. Conservative rhetoric…

Statement on the Withdrawal of Rep. Weiner’s Single-Payer Amendment to House Bill

Dear Healthcare-NOW! Supporter: On the eve of what could have been the first vote on single-payer legislation in our nation’s history, we have just learned that because of last minute developments, the vote and debate on Congressman Weiner’s single-payer amendment will not happen. Speaker Pelosi received a statement from Rep. Kucinich and Rep. Conyers, the…

Action Alert: 9 people arrested at Sen Lieberman’s office!

Dozens of people held a sit-in at Senator Lieberman’s Capitol Hill office this morning to demand that Senator Lieberman pledge to stop taking health insurance company campaign contributions and free up funds so they can be used to pay for patient care. For 30 minutes, demonstrators requested to talk to Senator Lieberman and chanted “Patients…

Call Now: Vote on Single-Payer Soon

We just got word from Congressman Weiner’s office that because of your phone calls, faxes, and demonstrations, Speaker Pelosi is keeping her promise to allow the Weiner single-payer amendment full debate and vote on the floor of the House. After nearly being shut out of the discussion completely, single-payer Medicare for All is being heard…

Our Last Chance on State Single Payer Option

This is a letter form Rep. Dennis Kucinich Dear Friends, Thank you for all of your efforts on behalf of the Kucinich Amendment for a state single payer option which would protect the right of states to pursue a single payer health care system. Unfortunately, the House Leadership has rejected the many appeals on behalf…

Action Alert: Make Pelosi Keep Her Promise on Single-Payer

Today, 12 brave activists were arrested because they entered Nancy Pelosi’s office in California to get some answers. They wanted to know why she broke her promise to hold votes on two single-payer amendments this fall. They weren’t leaving until the single-payer amendments were put back on the table. Pelosi refused to speak to them.…

Remember Medicare for All in the healthcare reform debate

By Kay Tillow for the Hill Blog – We are in danger of losing the opportunity to bring Improved Medicare for All, a single payer plan, before the Congress. Last July Congressman Anthony Weiner and six of his colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee attempted to substitute the real public option—HR 676, a single…