Why Healthcare-NOW?
Here I am, Marilyn Clement – sick as a dog! I helped found Healthcare-NOW some four years ago when we held a national conference with people from all over the country. Now, despite adversity of the worst kind, I am still here, but dependent on you to push forward this great movement that we have built.
“Your health is everything.” How often have you heard that said? “Your body is your temple.” “You are nothing without your health.” “You are so lucky to have your health.” SOUNDS LIKE MY MOTHER.
SOUND LIKE YOUR MOTHER. TOO? BORING…until you get sick with something like multiple myeloma cancer, or caught in a train wreck, or swept up by a hurricane or tornado. The cancer is the one that surprised me in June of this year, and buried my activities as the National Coordinator of Healthcare-NOW. The train wreck happened on September 15th when 23 people died and untold others were crushed and hospitalized and injured for life. Hurricane Ike killed and ruined thousands of people. These calamities are on top of the 50,000,000 who had no health insurance at all that week. As the financial marketplace staggers, even more millions won’t be able to afford healthcare for themselves and their families.
THERE IS AN EASY ANSWER to the crisis of inadequate coverage and the overwhelming dilemma of no coverage at all for millions more.
The answer is Medicare for All. Enhanced and Improved Medicare will give us a national healthcare system that will cover everyone with the best possible health care for the least amount of money. As a nation, we can afford it. The answer is to end the privatization of health care. With the amount of money our nation now spends on healthcare, we can cover everybody – and with better care. Healthcare should belong to all of us … just see what a difference it made in the economies of the most progressive countries – Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden.
Try being sick in one of those countries and see how easy it is to get the healthcare you need – whether in a hospital or from a private doctor – with full choice of treatment and doctor at every level.
YOU CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN. This is what we want. This is what we can have. Just check the items on these pages to see what you can do to help us win single-payer national health insurance under a Congressional bill already in the House of Representatives – HR 676.
Thanks for clicking on www.healthcare-now.org. We need you!
Marilyn Clement
National Coordinator, Healthcare-NOW
“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane.”
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I want to speak my mind to say that, as civilized people, and as Barack Obama says, that health care is a RIGHT, not a “responsibility” or “you’re on your own” kind of a thing. If this country were to experience universal, single-payer health care for its citizens, I would know that my efforts had not been in vain, after all these years of preaching against the despicable status-quo.
I like the way you said it; “as civilized people.” That is also words of one of my songs;
Let us join the world at insisting that we,
ARE WORTHY OF CIVILIZED LIVING THAT IS FREE,
make a society that celebrates life, we can,
doesn’t profiteer from the sufferings of man.
I also have another, not yet finished:
We must fix our broken healthcare, here is how we can!
But after all! What are we? BARBARIANS?
I will continue my work, my songs expressing the need for HR-676.
Congratulations to everyone who has supported Healthcare-Now, and especially to Marilyn. Thank you for your tenacity in the face of so many obstacles. I am so sorry to hear about the cancer, and wish you a speedy and lasting remission.
Best wishes,
Cindy
Marilyn you give me hope that we can and will have Universal health care in the USA and soon. I am so sorry to hear of your illness. I trust that you are in remission and can continue in the critical work you are doing. Thank you, thank you, thank you. This crisis of healthcare is close to me. My darling niece Susan has brain cancer, has no health insurance, and is losing her home in the Boston area where she has lived and worked until she lost her job and insurance. We need you Marilyn more than ever to keep on, keep on, working for healthcare freedom. With love, Genevieve
I would like to provide my support of universal affordable healthcare. Difficulty obtaining and keeping health insurance is terrible today. Those with pre-existing conditions are unfairly discriminated against in insurane eligibility, limitations, exclusions, redflagging, upcharging and other health insurance issues. At the same time health care access, coordination, delivery and quality is deficient in my opinion. I applaud your unending efforts to bring the United states back to the leader in healthcare for the World. We must all assert this most vital initiative to our legislators, President and health care organizations. A completed unified voice must be heard before it is too late. Please continue your efforts.
Why, why, why haven’t Democratic candidates, since the demise of John Edwards and Hilary Clinton, spoken up more about universal health care. For so many working class Americans, health care is at the very center of economic security in this country. It is a an economic issue with an almost impossible dollar value to any family facing serious disease or injury issues. And equally important is the fact that pro-universal health candidates have not debunked the idea that it would make government bureaucrats the arbiters of our health, not doctors and ourselves. Does anyone not know that those decisions are now made by greedy insurance companies with profit as their sole motivation?
Wake up, America!
Marilyn, bless your steadfast advocacy for Universal Single Payer Health Care Modle. I hope that you have access to the treatment and care that you need.
I am reminded of an interview of Dr. Sidney Wolf by Phil Donahue on his MSNBC program in ealy 1990’s. The virtues of Single Payer health care were being emphasized by Dr. Wolf and Phil Donahue asked Dr. Wolf, ” Do you think we will ever have Single Payer health care available to the citizens in the USA?” With the tragic economic events of the past two weeks Dr. Wolf answered perhaps prophetically, “Yes we will because it will be the only kind we will be able to afford!”
That’s the smart thinking we could all beinfet from.
Please e mail, write, telephone your local tv stations, newspapers, state representatives, senators, governor, etc. etc. demanding endorsement for HR 676. Not just once, do it every month……….
Marilyn, thank you for your dedication and total commitment to HR 676. You are truly an inspiration.
We must stand in unity and demand a single payer plan.
Marilyn, Good to hear from you. We just taped and delivered the lecture from Oli Fein in Albuquerque, where they are re-forming NHP (2). Dr Fein spoke to medical people and med students, and at least one admitted to being won over.
Good luck in your healthly recovery.
Marilyn,
Our prayers are with you as you go through your treatment. Now it’s time for you to take a break from the marathon work you have done over the past 4 years.
I am flattered that Katie Robbins encouraged me to attend the Nov. 15 meeting in Chicago. This is the year for us to push for Single Payer with the new Congress and Obama. IN California we got our SP bill, SB840, through 2 houses of the legislature twice with no paid staff-all volunteer like Health Care Now! Grassroots works. We just need to get all the supporters out there to join us. If 60% of doctors now support SP and a majority of the public WE WILL WIN!!
The newly designed website is awesome!
Best wishes, Lynn
Shame on the private insurance company who loves to play with the health care of the american citizens. My wife, was denied a simple MRI with back pain and was forced to go through physical therapy. Afterwards, an x-ray confirmed that she had four fractured vertebre in her back. Now she cannot work, and we are unknown of the permanent damage done due to a insurance company that did not care about her health. it is time for them to go! It is time to put them out of business! With the profits they have, no one should suffer, but they do. i applaud your efforts, and state that all congressman, and senators should be contacted and told to pass such a bill. Thank you
Marilyn, I love you.
Attention All Seniors. Regarding Medicare:
Would you like to get rid of your need for a Medicare supplement insurance policy?
Would you like to get rid of deductibles?
Would you like to get rid of copays?
Would you like to get rid of coinsurance?
Would you like to eliminate the paperwork?
Would you like to have full coverage for prescriptions?
Would you like to have coverage for necessary dental work?
Would you like to have coverage for necessary eyeglasses?
Would you like to have freedom of choice of healthcare providers?
Would you like to have your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren covered?
Would you like to have long term care coverage?
If you answered yes, then support congressional bill HR 676.
Tell your representatives in the U.S. Congress House and Senate that you support HR 676.
Tell the AARP that you support HR 676.
We can have full coverage healthcare for all. And everybody saves money (except insurance companies).
We simply have to convince enough members of Congress that it is the best thing for America.
See on the internet: Healthcare-NOW.org
We already have national health care for all. It is called Medicaid. You have to spend your own money first. How do you think government is going to pay for your proposed “Medicare for All”? Or do we just pick more money off the federal money tree? A Dollar doesn’t just exist… it is created and is the direct result of one person’s labor.
Ask Canadians how they like their nationalized health care. Ask them if they like rationed health care, a shortage of qualified doctors and long waiting times.
A system that gives the reward of profit provides more innovation and more consumer friendly options at a lower cost. In order to fix our problems, we must get government substantially out of the health care industry – not wrap ourselves in bigger government. Government has to stop mandating how business packages and provides health care benefits, health insurance needs to be seperate from the employer-employee relationship (i.e. portability) and consumers require full array of choice. Your idea of bigger father government is a disaster.
In response to Jean Esslinger:
Blah Blah.. “choice”…”big government”…blah blah…”bad Canadian Health Care System” …the same old lies and crap! Fact is the Canadian people wouldn’t dream of changing their system for a private “for profit” system. The fact is we here have to wait sometimes for months (personal experience) to see a “specialist” … and the referrals.. and the paperwork…what a mess!! That’s our non-governmental run, for profit, “sick care” system. It’s broken, getting worse and can’t be fixed.
The fact is, here in the U.S. the money is all there, billions of it, … it’s just being spent on the wrong things and being wasted! Over a trillion will be spent on the Iraq war. The pentagon budget is more than all the combined military budgets of the rest of the world and consumes over half of our national budget. This is a crime against humanity and it leaves the people of the U.S. fighting over whatever financial crumbs are left. The bloated Pentagon budget and huge tax cuts to the wealthy and to corporations have drained our treasury of our national wealth.
People like you always leave this out of the economic equation. People like you are really not concerned about health and care for all of our fellow human beings.
Thanks to all those who care and are working for Single Payer Nation Health Care!
Let’s keep fighting until we get it!
Why doesn’t the Democratic majority in the California leislature now meeting in special session, pass a resolution (it only requires a simple majority) calling on the new congress to federalize health care i.e. adopt a universal single-payer plan, which would free-up billions in state and local government monies currently dedicated to health care.