The following was written by Dave Lindorff and published at Counterpunch:

When Obama came to my neighborhood this week to press for public support for his health “reform” bill, he wasn’t just greeted by teaparty hecklers. Speaking to a large group of mostly supportive students and local residents at Arcadia University in Glenside, the president at one point mentioned that “people on the left” want “single-payer.” But before he could add that that approach wasn’t going to happen, he found himself drowned out by cheers calling for Medicare for all and single-payer.
That kind of says it all.

I’m with Marcia Angell, editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. The Obama plan for health care “reform”, as well as the two versions passed by the House and the Senate, are all devious disasters that do nothing to solve the nation’s burgeoning health care crisis, and in fact, will make it worse.The only thing to do at this point is to take the whole stinking pile of paper and put it in the compost heap. Kill it.
This whole effort was never about reform from the day last March when the new president called on Congress to begin deliberations on health care reform. It was about catering to the wishes of the big players in the Medical Industrial Complex--the big pharmaceutical multinationals, the hospital companies, the physicians and, most of all, the insurance industry. People and their health care needs had little or nothing to do with this.
That’s why we’ve ended up with proposals that would do nothing to control costs, that would force health young people to buy unregulated, high-cost and high-profit plans that would be money in the bank for the insurance industry, and that would finance any subsidies for the poor by cutting back on benefits for the only group of Americans who currently have a form of single-payer insurance--the elderly with their Medicare.President Obama began this whole obscene nightmare with a lie, when he said that even though single-payer systems clearly work to open access to all and keep costs down while providing better overall health results in places like Canada and some European countries, they cannot be applied in America “because that would mean starting over from scratch.” He knew when he said it that this was a lie. America already has a well-run and successful single-payer healthcare program in place that is bigger than the entire Canadian health care system, and that’s Medicare, which was established in 1965, and which currently finances the care of 45 million Americans. You just have to be 65 or disabled to be eligible for it.

As Dr. Angell pointed out on a recent Bill Moyers Journal segment, the simplest way to solve America’s health care crisis would be to just start a gradual expansion of Medicare, say by lowering the age of coverage to 55, and then 45, and then 35, until everyone was covered and the insurance industry was pushed out of the health sector. The right-wing couldn’t use their scare tactics about a “government takeover of your medical care,” because the elderly love Medicare, and besides, far from “inserting a government bureaucrat between you and your doctor,” Medicare gives the elderly a freer choice of physician and treatment than any but the most gold-plated private insurance executive health care plan.

Single payer fight moves to states.

Rep. Grayson Introduces Bill Which Allows Anyone To Buy Into Medicare At Cost.

Dr. Dean on Reconciliation: "(Medicare Buy-In/Public Option) Should Be Done. It's Smart Politics."

PHIMG's March Street Action - Save the Date!
Tuesday, March 23rd, 5pm to 7pm

Whether Obamacare passes or not, we'll take to the streets to show that the growing and vibrant Medicare for All movement will not be marginalized by the passage of placebo reform. This time we'll outside in the early spring weather -- chanting, waving our signs, passing out flyers -- the whole shebang.

Location: Wall Street area (check back to phimg.org for specific location)

Message:

Obamacare is fake reform that puts the needs of Wall Street first. Little wonder why, Big Insurance is one of the biggest institutional investors on Wall Street. Obamacare is another bailout for fat cats - it mandates profits for the abusive private insurers - needless middlemen who do not produce health care, only waste.

Medicare for All is real healthcare reform that puts the needs of the American people first by providing everyone in America  a real Cadillac health care plan, with no restrictions on providers, no out of pocket expense, and guaranteed, uninterrupted, cradle to grave coverage.

We'll send out another announcement with full details closer to the date, or check phimg.org.

PHIMG Film Series presents - ¡Salud!
Saturday March 27, 7PM

A timely examination of human values and the health issues that affect us all, Salud! hits the road with some of the 28,000 Cuban health professionals serving in 68 countries, and explores the hearts and minds of international medical students in Cuba -- now numbering 30,000, including nearly 100 from the USA.  Their stories plus testimony from experts around the world bring home the competing agendas that mark the battle for global health—and the complex realities confronting the movement to make healthcare everyone’s birth right. Looks at the curious case of Cuba, a cash-strapped country with what the BBC calls ‘one of the world’s best health systems.’  From the shores of Africa to the Americas. Corrected link --> View the trailer.

The venue is a private home on the UWS of Manhattan.

Please RSVP to info@phimg.org for the address.


PHIMG April General Meeting
Sunday, Apr. 11th, 2010
1:00 PM
25 W 43rd Street, 18th Floor

 

The only thing worse than the Democratic Party's sell out on Healthcare "Reform" is the depths the Republicans and their tea party allies have stooped to in order to prevent the Democrats from scoring a political victory in passing Obamacare. These Scare tactics are satirized by the hilarious video below: 

PHIMG opposes Obamacare as a bailout for the very private insurers that are the cause of our healthcare crisis. Obamacare will delay genuine sustainable reform - Improved Medicare for All.

The blatant Orwellian scaremongering now directed at Obamacare by the right-wing will be directed at Medicare for All when our movement forces Congress to finally debate this proposal.

"Ignore Public Option and Medicare for All at your peril."



I like this clip but is this another example of the MSM tryng to co-opt "Medicare for All" by using it in close proximity to "Public Option?"

 

Terri Carlson has a lifetime preexisting condition and her COBRA benefits run out in a year. After that she won't be able to get an individual policy. In the video below she weighs her options and concludes a sham marriage is her best bet. It would be funny if it wasn't so tragic.

From her website:

My name is Terri Carlson. I am 45 and was born with a genetic immune disorder C-4 complement deficiency. I am currently on cobra health insurance (from my divorce, 2 years ago) but it runs out in a year. And now my current situation is that I can't buy health insurance because of my pre- existing condition.

It is not easy living with my disease and now that I have the genetic answer for my health issues, every insurance company uses the information to deny me insurance coverage. You know, I am not happy I was delt this deck of cards in my life. However, if I don't fight for myself nobody will. While the goverment fights over healthcare reform people like me suffer. I will continue on this crusade for healthcare reform. And yes, as drastic as it sounds, I will marry for health insurance!
In his video Ms. Carlson joins progressive talk radio host Thom Hartmann:

What's worse -- Privately Run healthcare or government run healthcare?

Fair and balanced Fox News gathered four conservatives to debate one liberal and the conservatives still lost.

Help refute the conservatives b.s. talking points in the comments.

Kucinich enrages condescending Fox News spokesmodel for staying on message - Medicare for All. 

"The next revolution will not be by 63 yr. old fat white men & women... you are looking at the next revolution's citizens. They'll be young and aware." - comment on Democratic Underground.

A generation of Americans is being raised with access to the internet and are steering clear of the corporate media bullshit and seeking out the truth.

Allow me to introduce you to one of them -- Justin Jones, age 16. He is a Video Blogger. He posts rants on the video sharing service YouTube to share with friends.

Justin's lives with his grandmother, a cancer survivor with a mountain of unpaid medical bills from the treatement that saved her life. She's now self-rationing the medical care she receives for her early stage liver failure because she has no health insurance, and is years from Medicare eligibility.

Naturally, Justin has a lot to say about healthcare reform - calling out obstructionist Republicans, crazy teabaggers, and even "sellout" Obama for standing in the way of the passage of healthcare reform, even modest incremental reform like giving people the option of buying into a publicly run insurance plan.

Unfortunately, Justin doesn't seem to be aware of the Medicare for All solution. This points out a need for the movement to do more outreach on the internet, on sites like YouTube and other sources of progressive news.

Justin laments: "This one hits home. My 62 year old grandmother has not a drop of health-care insurance... If we sold this house and all of our land..if we sold all of it we would still not have enough to pay for all the health-care expenses we've compiled in the past three years."

Watch the videos below. The kids are alright!

August 11, 2009

August 12, 2009

 

August 19, 2009

Port Authority Action
Monday, Feb 8th, 5:20 PM
Gather Northwest corner of 40th St. and 8th Ave., NYC

Following up on our successful Grand Central actions in November and December we're moving to Port Authority where we'll march inside spreading the message - Yes Obama, there is a better way -- Medicare for All.

If you get to the gathering place after 5:20 and the group has gone inside already, just wait in the main hall of the south building (40th & 8th) until you see a crowd with single-payer signs and shirts. The group will be doing repeated loops inside the buildings, so don't worry if you don't see us right the way, we'll loop back.

Download Announcement Flyer to post and distribute.
Download Action Flyer if you can print them and bring them with you the day of the action to distribute.

ACS Healthcare Debate
February 11th, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm, reception to follow.
Columbia Law School, Jerome Greene Hall, 435 W. 116th Street (Off Amsterdam Avenue), NYC
Jim Dean (Democracy for America), Jonathan Tassini, and some right wingers from the Manhattan Institute and American Enterprise Institute will debate Healthcare reform. We'd like a lot of single payer supporters in the room obviously. Click here for full details.

Upcoming PHIMG General Meetings
Sunday Mar. 7th, 1pm.
Sunday Apr. 11th, 1pm.
Location for all three: 25 W. 43rd Street, 18th Floor, NYC. 
As always our monthly meetings are open to the public. Bring a friend!  

Jeff Cohen, founder of FAIR - Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, answers the question : Why did swing voters abandon the Democratic Party in Massachusetts?

"The only thing Democrats can be counted on doing after being elected is demotivating their base."  "Democrats strategy - Fake Left, Move Right."
 

If you are a Democrat, declare yourself a Medicare for All Democrat and declare your intention to only support candidates for office that will forcefully fight for Medicare for All. 

In this video recorded by Single Payer Action, Dr. Margaret Flowers (Congressional Fellow, PNHP) attempts to deliver to the White House a packet of information on Medicare For All in response to Obamas State of the Union address.

 Dr. Flowers was turned away on Anthrax/Security fears. 

Undeterred, "Dr. Flowers joined colleague Dr. Carol Paris to try again to get their message to President Obama, but this time by going to the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel, where the president was meeting with House Republicans, with a large banner reading, "Letting you know: Medicare for all."

Because they wouldn't leave the hotel sidewalk and refused to have their message marginalized again, they were both arrested. The two physicians were briefly taken into custody by law enforcement officials, issued a citation and then released. "

When Democratic elected officials say Single Payer or Medicare for All isn't politically viable they really mean that the Democratic Party won't be politically viable if they make a serios go at single payer. This is because they will lose all the campaign donations they get from the PROFIT Driven elements of our healthcare system.  It's not a secret that the Democratic party is addicted to cash from the very elements who are destroying our healthcare system - big pharma, big investor-owned hospitals, and the insurance company jackals.

But the cost of all those contributions goes farther then not supporting Single Payer. They had to BURY single payer. No CBO score, no debate, no votes.

Why? If Congress had taken a serious look at Single Payer they would have widely publicized the selling points of single payer, and exposed the beltway consensus plan for the expensive joke it is.

Single Payer:

1. Saves billions in eliminated waste. $180-300 billion a year. That is money that will not need to be raised in new taxes. Single Payer is the most fiscally conservative reform plan there is.

2. Single Payer gives 100% of Americans a Cadillac plan. Not tied to your employer. No deductibles, no copayments, no guessing what is covered or what is not covered, no need to consult a list of providers to see where you can go. No claim denials. No murder by spreadsheet.

Let's contrast that to the consensus plan.

PAY-TO-PLAYer Healthcare Reform:
(aka Mandate and Subsidize)

1. Force every American to buy a defective financial product from big insurance (which are basically Wall Street firms)

2. Add more toothless, hard to enforce regulations for the insurers, increasing complexity and costs.

3. Allow insurers to continue to offer "affordable" Pinto plans that leave you vulnerable to bankruptcy, deny claims, find new ways to screw over small community hospitals, deny care to patients, tie up doctors in red tape, etc.

4. Shovel trillions of tax payer dollar subsidies to the hugely profitable big insurers.

The consensus plan is another bail out for the Financial Sector and it is a SCANDAL that this has been foisted upon the Democratic party by Wall Street and it is a scandal that so many "Good" Democrats just went along with this for the sake of "unity".

So now you see why Baucus had to avoid these comparisons by taking single payer off the table and having the Baucus 8 arrested.

 -- Christopher Blair

R.A.T.S. = Roberts Alito, Thomas, Scalia.


Partial Transcript:Fascism is a word that is overused when one political interest group is describing the bad conduct of another opposition political interest group. The politics of fascism is not difficult to understand. But I have heard plenty of college professors complicate the definition of fascism to the point that it would be tough to recognize if it knocked on your front door. At the core of fascism, you will always find unchecked power of big money industrialists controlling the messages of mass media. You could search the history books forever and you would never find an instance where those two essential elements of fascism were not present. Typically, it occurs when a powerful political leader gains the backing of monied industrialists and together with force they silence the watchdog voice of mass media. But last week, it was the U.S. Supreme Court that laid the groundwork for a powerful political leader to join well-financed industrialists and gain control over America's airways. The Court determined that a company like Exxon could use as much of their $40 billion annual profits as they chose to wage limitless corporate media campaigns against any political opponent who opposes Exxon's gluttonous view of the world.

 

 

 

New York Times via PNHP Blog:

A front in the national health care battle has opened in New York City, where a major hospital chain and one of the nation’s largest insurance companies are locked in a struggle over control of treatment and costs that could have broad ramifications for millions of people with private health insurance.

The fight is between Continuum Health Partners, a consortium of five New York hospitals, including Beth Israel Medical Center and St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, both major teaching hospitals, and UnitedHealthcare.

The prestigious hospitals and the major health insurer have been in bitter contract negotiations, not just over rates but also over UnitedHealthcare’s demand that the hospitals notify the insurance company within 24 hours after a patient’s admission. If a hospital failed to do so, UnitedHealthcare would cut its reimbursements for the patient by half.

UnitedHealthcare says the proposed rule is meant to improve the quality of care and cut costs by allowing insurance case managers to jump in right away. The hospitals say that having their reimbursement cut in half is too much to pay for a clerical error, and that the revenue drain would ultimately hurt their patients.

The dispute signals a “ratcheting up” of a long tradition of insurers trying to cut costs, said Jeffrey Rubin, an economics professor at Rutgers University.

Introduction from Michael Moore:

When Nataline Sarkisyan was denied the liver transplant her doctor thought could save her life, her mother and father brought her fight to the doorsteps of CIGNA insurance. By her side was American SiCKO Donna Smith and the California Nurses Association. The media picked up on the story which quickly became a public relations nightmare for CIGNA because of the real nightmare the Sarkisyan family was living. With no other choice, CIGNA finally approved Nataline's liver transplant but it was too late. Nataline died two hours later.

Wendell Potter was a CIGNA executive at the time. He saw the Sarkisyan's struggle from the inside of the profit-making company and knew that CIGNA would do whatever possible to protect the bottom line. Previously, potter had attended the premiere of 'SiCKO' with a large group of other insurance insiders set with the task of debunking the movie. But, instead, Potter was swayed and later said, "When I saw the movie, Ill be honest: I thought it was a real good documentary. I knew from my own studies of other healthcare systems that it was an accurate portrayal of those systems and how they are able to provide universal coverage."

Nataline Sarkisyan's death was the last straw for Potter. He resigned from CIGNA, blew the whistle on the industry, and became an activist for health care reform.

Here he is face-to-face with Nataline's family for the first time.



For TRANSCRIPT click read more.