Impractical Proposals: Medicare

Showing posts with label Medicare. Show all posts

Is there a generic drug for outrage fatigue?

Resource: Defending Medicare

HandsOffOurMedicare.org is intended as the hub for a Campaign to Preserve and Protect Medicare. In an action similar to his designation of six conservative senators to craft a health care bill, President Obama has created a Deficit Commission to decide how to reduce the Federal deficit that is packed with conservatives: not surprisingly, the commission has put Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security on the chopping block, while ignoring the elephant in the room, military spending. On the site, you can email or call your congressmembers and tell them not to cut social programs. There is also a breakdown of Deficit Commission members and their support for cutting and/or privatizing Social Security and Medicare.

Health Care Reform: House vote on Medicare For All cancelled

This has just been released by Healthcare-NOW!:

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 co-authors of HR 676, that they do not think that this is the right time for a vote on national single-payer legislation. They made this statement despite the extensive mobilization in support of this vote across the country. In addition, Speaker Pelosi felt that offering a single-payer amendment would open the floodgates to amendments proposed to limit abortion funds, restrict immigrant access to healthcare, and other regressive legislation.

Let us remember that the potential vote on Congressman Weiner's single-payer amendment resulted from holding fast to our principles of universal, comprehensive healthcare with no financial barriers. These efforts have brought truth and clarity to a national debate on healthcare reform that has been polluted by the corporate influence over Congress. While the private insurance industry has sent 3,000 lobbyists to Capitol Hill this year, spending 1.4 million dollars a day to shape reform that protects their profits, our calls, faxes, and demonstrations have created the momentum to bring legislation based on HR 676 to the floor of the House and Senate.

The vote for Congressman Weiner's single-payer amendment would have allowed advocates to have their representatives on record as single-payer supporters.

But this legislative battle is not yet over. Our focus can now turn to two remaining efforts for single-payer in this Congress. Sen. Bernie Sanders will introduce S 703 in coming weeks, and we understand that he is considering editing it to be more like HR 676. We will have the opportunity again to see the first ever vote on single-payer in this Congress. In addition, Rep. Kucinich's amendment to allow states to more easily implement a single-payer system may be reinserted into the bill during the conference committee between the House and Senate.

All of these efforts are crucial to building the movement for the only solution to our healthcare crisis - single-payer national healthcare.

If this Congress passes inadequate legislation, there will no doubt be emboldened state movements in the coming years. We welcome them. But let us not forget the movement to push our federal legislators to meet the demands of the people, not roll that responsibility onto the states.

Healthcare-NOW! and the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care remains committed to a national, single-payer solution to the healthcare crisis.

Comprehensive, quality healthcare is a right that should be extended to every U.S. resident.

At this important time, let us not forget how far we have come. Either now or later, a single-payer national healthcare system must come to the table. We will keep building the movement to make that happen.

For healthcare justice, Healthcare-NOW!

Physicians for a National Health Program
Progressive Democrats of America
Public Citizen
Healthcare for All Texas
Western PA Coalition for Single Payer
Alliance for Democracy

Action: Donate to Healthcare-NOW!

Health Care: We Can Have Obama's Staggeringly Complex Plan to Save the Insurance Industry

Or we can have Medicare for All.

See: The Simple Solution to the Health Care Crisis: Medicare for All by Dave Lindorff (CounterPunch 2009-07-24)

Health Care Insurance Reform: Medicare Scare-Mongering

"...far from harming elderly Americans, the various reform bills now pending should actually make Medicare better for most beneficiaries — by enhancing their drug coverage, reducing the premiums they pay for drugs and medical care, eliminating co-payments for preventive services and helping keep Medicare solvent, among other benefits." -- Medicare Scare-Mongering (editorial: The New York Times 2009-09-26).

Health Care Reform: Medicare Truth Squad

From National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare:

America’s seniors have a huge stake in the national health care reform debate. Unfortunately, well-financed misinformation campaigns have led many to believe health care reform will destroy Medicare. Nothing could be further from the truth!

The National Committee’s Truth Squad is mobilized to arm seniors with the facts about health care reform’s impact on Medicare.Without health care reform, Medicare will continue to suffer from skyrocketing costs

associated with general health care costs, until neither seniors nor the government will be able to afford the program. This inevitably will lead to unprecedented cuts in Medicare-cuts that unlike current health care reform proposals-will directly target Medicare beneficiaries.

National health care reform provides an historic opportunity for us to improve Medicare by closing the Part D doughnut hole, allowing government negotiation of drug prices in Part D and eliminating billions of dollars of wasteful subsidies to private insurers in Medicare Advantage. Ignoring Health Care Reform is not an option.

The Truth Squad tool kit is available on our website to anyone who’s tired of the misinformation and wants the truth about health care reform and seniors. It includes: links to Health care reform policy analysis, “EntitledtoKnow” health care blog posts, a link where you can download your own myth busters badge and our Truth Squad video series.

We hope you’ll share the Myth Busters badge with friends and wear it proudly to town halls and meetings with your members of Congress. Because as President Franklin Roosevelt said: “Repetition does not transform a lie into truth”.

The National Committee is mobilized to fight health care reform fiction with fact…we hope you’ll join us.