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RALLY FOR SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE FOR ALL

P4P requests that you join us in Harrisburg on Thursday, June 11 for a RALLY FOR SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE FOR ALL on the Capitol Steps beginning at 11AM. Directions to the Capitol...

The day will be devoted to a rally and lobby day for health care reform. We will be lobbying for Single Payer Health Care for Pennsylvania: House Bill 1660 and Senate Bill 400.

Entertainment begins at 11 AM with Anne Feeney (Unionmaid, hellraiser, and labor singer) and Mike Stout (The World’s Grievance Man).

View flyer...

Pennsylvania Can Lead the Way! Rally for Single-Payer Healthcare At the Capitol on June 11th
By Jerry Policoff

This coming Thursday morning hundreds of citizens of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth will descend upon the Capitol Building in Harrisburg, Pa. to make our voices heard.  An impressive group of speakers and representatives of mainstream organizations representing millions of Pennsylvanians will raise their collective  voices in the Capitol Rotunda to demonstrate to our elected representatives that the single-payer movement has gone mainstream.  We will not be dismissed as a rag-tag band of Utopians.  We are the majority, and they ignore us at their peril.  Please join us. Read more from OpEdNews...

Pay to Play Politics is Unacceptable for Health Care Reform

On Thursday, May 7th, eight doctors, lawyers and other activists stood up for single payer health care during a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee.  The hearing was designed only to hear from the insurance industry, pharmaceutical companies, HMO’s and business interests.  They did not want to hear about a real national health care plan. The pro-national health care advocates were rejected from the hearing.

The Senate Finance Committee which has taken millions from the insurance industry, HMO’s, pharmaceutical industry – those that profit from health care in America only scheduled their donors to speak. It was pay to play on display in Washington, DC before the corrupt Senate Finance Committee.

View the video report from MSNBC...

CIVILIZED HEALTHCARE FOR ALL

The Family & Business Healthcare Security Act provides prompt, quality, comprehensive healthcare for all. It is paid for using existing State and Federal funds and a 3% personal and 10% business health and wellness fee. Most individuals and businesses realize substantial savings over what they currently pay for insurance premiums, administrative costs, prescription drugs, co-pays and deductibles. The plan covers all permanent and temporary legal residents of the Commonwealth.

Publicly funded, privately provided, quality, comprehensive healthcare that covers all Pennsylvanians is cost-efficient, practical and proven, will revitalizes the Commonwealth's economy, aid Pennsylvania businesses and and promote job growth.

Support SENATE BILL 400 and HOUSE BILL 1660. Read more...

(A Cure For) The Pennsylvania Healthcare Blues

by Donald W. Gallagher, Jr.

THE MEDICAL CAUSES OF HOME MORTGAGE FORECLOSURES
a review by Jerry Policoff

There appears to be a substantial link between medical foreclosures and medical issues.  I reviewed the study and thought its findings were startling and important enough to share with this group in greater detail.  I’ve included extracts below containing what I think are the central findings, and you can read the entire 41-page pdf if you follow the url at the end.

I believe this study demonstrates that one of the primary causes of our financial meltdown and continuing foreclosure crisis is our medical system.  The study found that:

• 49% of all foreclosures are caused by medical problems.

• 69% of families that are in foreclosure experienced significant medical distress in the two years preceding foreclosure.

• About a third of respondents and their spouses lacked health insurance, a rate nearly double the population in general.

• Even households where both the respondent and spouse were insured, the household experienced significant out-of-pocket medical expenses that exceeded those households that were uninsured.

• 33.8% of the uninsured households attributed their foreclosure to medical problems; and a similar number, 30.4% of insured households also attributed their foreclosures to medical problems.

• The study found that “most of those suffering medical foreclosures are solidly in the middle class, with apparently affordable homes, and health insurance to boot.”

• The study concludes that “the middle class in America is financially insecure, both because they are living too close to the margins, and because they are now exposed to risks that can push them over the edge.”  “Those who cited medical bills as the cause of their foreclosure were hit, on average, with over $15,000 in uncovered expenses [that were] apparently too much for them to handle, and it pushed them into foreclosure.”

• The study concludes that “mortgage foreclosures are not just the result of bad loans, bad properties, or bad borrowers.  Instead, many mortgage foreclosures are the result of unpredictable medical disruptions…”

While this study does not address single-payer healthcare, the inferences are obvious.  If we had a single-payer healthcare system this study suggests that nearly half the home foreclosures in this country could be avoided.  It also suggests that establishing a single-payer healthcare system would go a long way toward putting us back on the road to financial recovery.

Read more...

We don't need a 60-vote supermajority
Jerry Policoff

We keep hearing about how nice it would be if the Democrats held 60 seats in the Senate because they would then be able to prevent the Republican minority from blocking Democratic legislative initiatives.  First of all, that magic “60” is really meaningless because it assumes Democrats and Republicans always vote as a united block.  In fact, many Democrats often vote with the Republicans on key issues, and it is really impossible to invoke “cloture” unless at least a few Republicans join with the Democratic majority to “cut off debate.”  But moving past that fact, our current “silent filibuster” rule is only the most recent evolution of filibuster and cloture rules in the Senate, and the Senate can, and often does, change its rules.  It requires a simple majority vote to do so.

Based on the nonsense that emanates from the Senate Leadership and the corporate media one would think that the current rules are an ancient Senate tradition that we dare not tamper with for fear of offending the spirits of our Founding Fathers.  In fact, there is nothing in the Constitution about the filibuster.  The concept grew out of the tradition that members of the Senate had the right to “unlimited debate,” (debate in the House of Representatives has been limited for nearly two centuries) when legislation was being considered.  This tactic allowed a small minority of Senators (or even one Senator) to literally talk a bill to death. 

In 1917 the Senate adopted Rule 22 that allowed the Senate to end a debate (or a “filibuster”).  The first time this rule was invoked was not in the early days of our Republic, but in 1919 when it was used to kill a filibuster against the Treaty of Versailles.  Still, the filibuster remained an effective, if rarely utilized, tool because of the difficulty required to get two-thirds of the Senate to vote for cloture.  In 1975 the Senate again changed its rules, reducing the cloture requirement from a two-thirds vote to three-fifths vote, and sanitized the process by requiring that 41 Senators need only state an intention to filibuster in order to block legislation.  These are the rules in place to this day.  Are they set in stone?  No.  In fact you may recall the Republican threat only three years ago to invoke the so-called “nuclear option” which would have in effect banned “filibusters” on judicial nominations and allowed a simple majority to confirm George W. Bush’s appointments without fear of the Democrats blocking them.

So is the victory of Saxby Chambliss in Georgia really any obstacle to the Democratic dream of a “filibuster-proof” majority?  Not really.  An Al Franken victory is still very much a possibility, perhaps even likelihood in Minnesota.  With 58 or 59 (if Franken wins) Democrats in the Senate it will not be all that difficult to come up with 60 votes for cloture even if some Democrats are in opposition to the legislation in question.  But how is this for a “radical” suggestion?  How about changing the rules? 

It would be an easy matter for the Senate to change the rules so that only 55 votes were required for cloture, but that would inspire a firestorm of criticism that would not be easily overcome.  Instead, why not make the filibuster “visible” and “unsanitary” once again?  Why not once again require Senators bent upon blocking legislation to stand up in front of those C-Span cameras and talk the bills to death?   I can’t help but wonder how many Senators would be willing to rush to that podium before the eyes of the world and their constituents to so publicly obstruct the legislative process.

It is quaint to see Harry Reid lament the ability of a 41-vote minority to obstruct important legislation, but he has the power to obstruct the obstructionists by simply shining the light of C-Span cameras upon them.  They will still be able to block legislation by mustering the same 41 votes, but now they’ll have to do it in the open with the cameras rolling.  60 Democrats in the Senate would not guarantee freedom from filibusters, but you can bet your ass we’d pass a lot more legislation with 58 Senators and this simple rule change.  Of course the gutless Democratic Leadership prefers “invisible” obstruction to upsetting the Republican minority, so resign yourself to 41 Senators continuing to kill many pieces of progressive legislation. When that happens I, for one, will blame the Democrats, not the Republicans.

Healthcare conference: Single-Payer Guaranteed Healthcare For All
Thursday, September 18, 2008, 7-9:30 PM atFranklin & Marshall College

On September 18, 2008, Progressives For Pennsylvania held their second forum on the health care crisis in Pennsylvania. This time, the focus was on passing Pennsylvania's  HB 1660 and SB 300, both of which would provide health care to all Pennsylvanians in a Medicare model of health care delivery.

This delivery system is publicly funded and privately delivered, and includes the free choice of physicians. The bill does not fall under that category of socialize medicine, which is publicly funded and publicly delivered.

The first panelist to speak was Jim Ferlo, State Senator from Pittsburgh, PA., and prime sponsor of HB 1660. He said that Single Payer is like a prairie fire that once it ignites you can't put it out, and it just spreads exponentially. Social reform movements are never easy, Ferlo said, citing the Safety For Workers Act (Osha), Social Security and Medicare. He also said that the National Media did not attend our event because they've been bought off by insurance companies.

Kathy Manderino, Pennsylvania State Representative  for the past 16 years, and another prime sponsor of the bill, said that nothing breaks her heart more than when a constituent comes into her office after losing her job and health insurance, with white knuckle fear gripping that person's psyche. She said that lack of health care coverage (now upwards of 48 million people nationwide and 1,220,000 in PA alone, according to the latest census bureau results), is a domestic threat, similar to a terrorist attack.

Our job is to educate Pennsylvanians about our bill, Kathy said. We have to convince our family, friends, neighbors, card playing partners, book club members, AARP and local clubs that if Single Payer is good for the rest of the world, then it is good for us, and why. Manderino said that if we can't pass Single Payer, than we must realize that incremental change will bring us ultimately to a Single Payer system.

Dr. Walter Tsou, the next presenter, and co-writer of the bill, said that with all due respect to Ms. Manderino, Mitt Romney's Massachusetts Health Care Plan, and Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington State and Maine not to mention Governor of PA Rendell's plan all have caved in to Insurance Companies thus driving their States into greater debt. We cannot spend less money as long as insurance companies are involved in the delivery of health care, Walter Tsou said. In the next 5 years, employers will no longer pay for health care and the burden will shift 100% to the employee under our present very sick system. In 5 years, individuals will be paying 100% of your health care costs under the present system. This will more than double the number of uninsured in this country.

Bill George, President of the AFL-CIO made a video tape for the conference, giving the audience the pleasure of his passion regarding Single Payer. He said that the health care delivery system that keeps the Health Insurance Industry in place is not working. The Health Insurance Companies are the problem with their CEO salaries, their advertising budget, their ever increasing denial of claims to pay for their bottom line of greed: this also contributes to our ailing economy. 37 cents to every (health care) dollar is the current health care spending compared to the cost of Medicare which is 3 cents to every health care dollar. The single payer alternative would save 32 cents on every health care dollar.

Dawn Ali, RN, was the next speaker, who serves on the Executive Board of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied professions (PASNAP). She also co-owned and operated the first African American nurse  owned dialysis facility in Philadelphia for ten years. She said she sold the business because of the drain on her energy in always having to fight to get the health insurance companies to pay for services rendered, which they were constantly trying to get out of paying. She also said the nursing shortage is largely due to the impossible working conditions that most bedside nurses have to work  under: mandatory overtime, large patient loads, not to mention the suffering caused by the refusal of health insurance companies to pay the bills.

Donna Smith, star of Michael Moore's SiCKO, and now Community Organizer for the California Nurses, said her job with the California Nurses is to ferret out patient stories and to follow up and advocate for these people. She told one story of a 30 year old woman diagnosed with Chrohn's disease earlier in her life. First she was on her Mom's insurance then when she moved out, her pre-existing condition made it impossible for her to get insurance, and to pay for her mounting doctor bills. Donna said this young woman told her story before an audience, saying, "I wonder what I might have become."

The Reverend Sandra L. Straus, director of Public Advocacy for the Pennsylvania Council of Churches, gave a moving talk about Jesus, who healed the sick and raised the dead unconditionally. Right-wing fundamentalist so-called Christians fail to be good stewards to our citizens. What would Jesus do? Weston Scott Fisher, third year medical student at Penn State University Medical College in Hershey, PA, sent out a plea to the audience  to attend the second lobbying day at the State Capitol in Harrisburg,  PA for Single Payer and HB 1660. 14% of all medical students are trained in Pennsylvania, but only 7% stay. These students lobby the legislators by telling them that if they pass HB 1660, they will gladly stay and practice medicine in Pennsylvania.

Dr. Tom Gates followed Wes. He said that our current system of health care delivery is broken beyond repair. He said this is due to lack of access and to the fact that 56 million  Americans are medically disenfranchised. They do not have a medical home. They use only the Emergency Room for care and often when it is too late. The cost of health care world wide is 4 trillion dollars and the cost of  health care in the US is 2 trillion. America consumes 50% of the health care  dollar, yet we have an ever increasing infant mortality rate and an ever  decreasing life expectancy.

Morton Mintz, media critic and the journalist who originally exposed the Thalidomide and Dalkon Shield scandals 40 and 20 years ago, said that Single Payer would prevent 100's of thousands of bankruptcies and yet the media refuses to cover this amazing story. Mintz called this a grave sin of journalist omission and neglect. And finally, our Mayor, Rick Gray stood up during the Q&A and said that if we can prove to him, by showing him the numbers, how Single Payer would save our town and every town and city and rural municipality in PA millions of dollars, he's in. And he will tell all the other mayors in PA. What he may not know is that the US Conference of Mayors June 23rd of this year adopted a resolution endorsing HR 676, the National Health Insurance Act, the National Single Payer bill introduced by Democrat Representative John Conyers of Michigan. Progressives For Pennsylvania will make a point of meeting with our mayor very soon.

Kate Loving Shenk

Grassroots Support for Single Payer
Some in the media find their rallies worthy of coverage
By Trudy Lieberman 06/24/2008

Crossing what has become the acceptable boundary for discussion about health reform, the media turned out last Thursday to cover rallies in nineteen cities—organized by numerous groups that support a Medicare For All approach to curing the nation’s health care ills—marking a National Day of Action against insurance companies. (All but ignoring the activities of single payer advocates, the media have instead largely allowed the presidential candidates—none of whom have expressed much love for the concept—to dictate their health care coverage.)

The AP issued two small stories that were picked up by many California outlets. Places like Forbes, CNNMoney.com, Condé Nast Portfolio, and MSNMoney also covered the rallies. In New York, a camera crew from Bill Moyers Journal came to shoot some video of Ralph Nader, standing on a shaky stool and proclaiming that America has “a commercialized health care system that is a pay or die system.” In Jacksonville, the Florida Times-Union noted that “some passing motorists honked to the demonstrators’ invitations to acknowledge problems with health insurance.” Non-traditional media weighed in too: A Detroit woman named Adrian picketed Michigan BlueCrossBlue Shield and put footage of her protest sign on YouTube; bloggers like like Arun Prabhakaran at opednews.com captured the spirit of the Philadelphia rally. Read more...

Missing: Single-Payer in Pennsylvania
What David Brancaccio, and the rest of the press, left out
By Trudy Lieberman 04/30/2008

The Pennsylvania primary may be over, but one of the campaign’s hottest and most fiercely contested issues—whether the state on its own can reform health care and cover some portion of the uninsured— is not. Right before the primary, David Brancaccio on his weekly public affairs show NOW recognized that this reform debate is very much alive in Pennsylvania. Called "Health Care Meltdown: Looking for Solutions," the NOW segment began by citing an all-important and alarming stat—health-care costs in the state are running 11 percent higher than the national average, and they’re rising twice as fast as the average wage. To personalize the numbers, Brancaccio offered up Philadelphia coffee bar owner Joe Cesa, who said he could not afford to cover his baristas, though he does help them pay small doctor bills. To personalize the numbers even more, NOW presented a couple in the insurance business, Diane and Sean Doherty, who pay $1,000 a month for coverage and still face higher deductibles, larger co-payments, and more out-of-pocket expenses. Many Americans feel similar pain. Read more...

Single Payer and Lancaster City Government
by Jerry Policoff, 07/08/2008

The Lancaster City budget for 2008 is approximately $45 million.  Half of that goes to payroll.

The projected budget for health, vision, and dental insurance is $ 8,453,256 which equates to 19% of the budget and an astonishing 38% of payroll (our insurance costs are projected to increase by “only” 5% in 2008 versus 2007)..  The city expects to spend another $800,000 for workers comp insurance.

If HB 1660 and SB 300 were enacted the city would pay only a 10% payroll tax or roughly $2.25 million.  In addition it is estimated that workers comp costs would be reduced by half resulting in an additional $400,000 savings to the city.

Current Lancaster City cost of health insurance + worker’s comp: $ 9,250,000 (rounded down)

Projected Cost if HB 1660 and SB 300 were law:  $2,650,000

Savings to the City of Lancaster: $ 6.6 million (this savings represents 15% of the budget, enough to produce a substantial surplus without tapping into past savings.  The city of Lancaster could expand services and cut taxes  and still reduce the size of the budget). 

Any questions?  All opposed to single-payer please say aye.

HealthCare for ALL Pennsylvanian’s Is Possible!

P4P has Yard Signs for the single-payer health care initiative sponsored by P4P and Healthcare4AllPA.

They are high-quality signs with support rods that fit into corrugated openings in the bottom of the signs and then insert firmly into the ground. 

P4P is not charging for the signs, but contributions are welcome and appreciated (make checks payable to Health Care for ALLPA.org.  Cash is also accepted). 

Contact Jerry Policoff at jpolicoff@comcast.net, or 717-295-0237.