tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23646151060604525932024-02-18T21:19:08.194-05:00Healthcare-NOW! GeorgiaHealth Care NOW! Georgia is a coalition based in Atlanta, GA of people and organizations dedicated to a single-payer reform of the US Health Care System. Where all are given access to affordable quality health care.
Contact us at healthcarenowga@yahoo.comHealthcare NOW! Georgiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17402876960277945986noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-14972278717317619232010-05-18T10:25:00.002-04:002010-05-18T10:27:15.934-04:00A Discussion on Healthcare Reform: For Patients or For Profits?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZyQjYMhEB1o_FYZgDz4OjiYdipL2xrYcj7RIEw7Bvi4dASAayKThrpaYTecrXS91pJk_6MMCUYACUwZFa2mqyYkBYfjNTaWSAK7Y_jBO3scbUkV-2BLhkK5hv1GNzCRY2QNQxZms0u40/s1600/Healthcare+Reform+Discussion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZyQjYMhEB1o_FYZgDz4OjiYdipL2xrYcj7RIEw7Bvi4dASAayKThrpaYTecrXS91pJk_6MMCUYACUwZFa2mqyYkBYfjNTaWSAK7Y_jBO3scbUkV-2BLhkK5hv1GNzCRY2QNQxZms0u40/s640/Healthcare+Reform+Discussion.jpg" width="492" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00080400252470099424noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-45435395256916240822010-02-23T13:01:00.003-05:002010-02-23T13:06:48.354-05:00Healthcare-Now! outreach at Five Points Station this Thursday Feb 25th at 5pm<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">Hello everyone. we will be handing out flyers and talking to people outside the <b>Five Points Station this Thursday, Feb 25 at 5pm</b> in conjunction with Obama having his negotiating conference with the Republicans. We will be n<b>ear the corner of Peachtree St. and Alabama St.</b> look for us and a Healthcare-Now banner.<br />
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We want to educate more people in Georgia about Single Payer/Medicare for All Healthcare and how it could reshape the health system and our nation for the better.<br />
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So everyone who is free this Thursday at 5pm please come out to Five Points and help us spread the message that we could have a better health system with everybody in and nobody out.</span><br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="480" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=peachtree+st+and+alabama+st.&daddr=&hl=en&geocode=FU0IAwIdj0r4-ikFZ8NVgQP1iDH4Mu-zILmiqg&gl=us&mra=mr&sll=33.753728,-84.390471&sspn=0.003474,0.004544&ie=UTF8&ll=33.753728,-84.390471&spn=0.004282,0.006866&z=17&output=embed" width="600"></iframe><br />
<small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=embed&saddr=peachtree+st+and+alabama+st.&daddr=&hl=en&geocode=FU0IAwIdj0r4-ikFZ8NVgQP1iDH4Mu-zILmiqg&gl=us&mra=mr&sll=33.753728,-84.390471&sspn=0.003474,0.004544&ie=UTF8&ll=33.753728,-84.390471&spn=0.004282,0.006866&z=17" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">View Larger Map</a></small>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00080400252470099424noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-89417733002151578292009-11-17T16:54:00.016-05:002009-11-17T17:17:00.485-05:00CNA/NNOC Statement on the House bill on healthcare<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro<br />
For Immediate Release<br />
November 9, 2009</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Of all the torrent of words that followed House passage of its version of healthcare reform legislation in early November, perhaps the most misleading were those comparing it to enactment of Social Security and Medicare.</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sadly no. Social Security and Medicare were both federal programs guaranteeing respectively pensions and health care for our nation's seniors, paid for and administered by the federal government with public oversight and public accountability. </span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">While the House bill, and its Senate counterpart, do have several important reform components, along with many weaknesses, neither one comes close to the guarantees and the expansion of health and income security provided by Social Security or Medicare.</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">By contrast, if the central premise of Social Security and Medicare was a federal guarantee of health and retirement security, the main provision of the bills in Congress is a mandate requiring most Americans without health coverage to buy private insurance. </span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In other words, the principle beneficiary is not Americans' health, but the bottom line of the insurance industry which stands to harvest tens of billions of dollars in additional profits ordered by the federal government. Or as Rep. Eric Massa of New York put it on the eve of the House vote, "at the highest level, this bill will enshrine in law the monopolistic powers of the private health insurance industry, period."</span><br />
</div><a name='more'></a><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Further, while Social Security and Medicare, two of the most important reforms in American history, were both significant expansions of public protection, the House bill actually reduces public protection for a substantial segment of the population, women, with its unconscionable rollback of reproductive rights in the anti-abortion amendment.</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Why then so much cheerleading by many progressive and liberal legislators, columnists, and activists? </span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">1- Passage of the bill was a clear defeat for the Republican opposition and those on the right who have so mischaracterized what boils down to modest reform that looks more like a "robust" version of the Medicare prescription drug benefit or the state children's health initiative.</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">2- Proponents of the bill, starting in the White House and running through the Democratic leadership in Congress, with the assistance and support of many in labor and liberal and progressive constituency groups, have so lowered expectations on healthcare reform that with eyes wide shut they can call this a sweeping victory.</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">To be sure there are commendable provisions in the House bill that bear note. Among the most important are:</span><br />
</div><ul style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">Expansion of Medicaid to millions of low income adults. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Reduction of the "doughnut hole" in the Medicare drug coverage law making drug costs more affordable for many seniors. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Increased federal funding for community health programs, such as home visits for nurses and social workers to low income families. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Additional regulation of the insurance industry, mostly targeted to people who are presently without coverage rather than those with existing health plans. Those include limits on insurers ability to drop sick enrollees or refuse to sell policies to people with prior health problems, extending the age that dependent children can be on their parents' plan, and repeal of the anti-trust exemption for insurers. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Extending the same health benefit tax benefits available to married couples to domestic partners. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">A progressive tax to help pay the bill through a surcharge on wealthy earners and required contributions from large employers, in sharp contrast with the Senate proposal to tax health benefits on misnamed "Cadillac" plans, comprehensive coverage available to many union members, for example.</span></li>
</ul><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But the acclaim now flowing from some quarters would have been better deserved had these provisions been enacted on their own -- not accompanied by the many shortcomings of the legislation. To cite a few:</span><br />
</div><ul style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">Healthcare will remain unaffordable for many Americans. The bill does not do nearly enough to control skyrocketing insurance, pharmaceutical, and hospital costs. Indeed, by various estimates, with no effective limits on the insurance industry's price gouging, out-of-pocket costs for premiums, deductibles and other fees by some estimates with eat up from 15 to 19 percent of family incomes by several accounts. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">No meaningful reform of the rampant insurance denials of medical treatment the insurers don't want to pay for. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Little assistance for individuals and families who presently have employer-sponsored health plans and face frequent erosion of their coverage and health security. No help for the healthcare cost-shifting from employers to employees. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Minimal expansion of consumer choice. The much debated public plan option will be available only to about 2 percent of people under age 65, mostly those now not covered who buy insurance on their own (it may or may not be expanded in 2015). Further, no additional plan options for those in the many markets dominated by one or two private plans, and no additional choice of doctor or hospital within existing plans. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">The new limits on abortion extended to poor women.</span></li>
</ul><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ultimately, the combination of the mandate to buy insurance, federal subsidies to low income families to purchase private plans, failure to adequately control insurance prices or crack down on the abuse of insurance denials make the House bill -- and its Senate counterpart -- look a lot like a massive bailout for the private insurance industry. </span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Don't be misled by the howling from insurance industry which has been spending some $1.4 million a day to steer the direction of legislation. They would have preferred the status quo, but will be more than happy to count the increased revenues coming their way.</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As Rep. Dennis Kucinich said on the House floor, "we cannot fault the insurance companies for being what they are. But we can fault legislation in which the government incentivizes the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening, of the for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem."</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">While some people will have improved access, the final accounting will be an even firmer private insurance grip on our healthcare system, with the U.S. remaining the only industrialized nation which barters our health for private profit.</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Months ago, the Obama administration pre-determined this outcome by ruling out the most comprehensive, most cost effective, most humane reform, single payer, or an expanded and improved Medicare for all. Single payer proponents were shut out of White House forums, blocked from most hearings in the Senate, and single payer amendments stripped from the final House bill. Yet, through grassroots pressure, single-payer advocates forced consideration by the House of an improved Medicare for all until the very end.</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But nurses and other single payer proponents who have heroically fought for this reform for years will continue the campaign, next in the Senate, where single payer amendments are expected to be introduced. The scene will also shift to state capitols, where vibrant single payer movements remain active and will escalate.</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Proponents of comprehensive reform will never be silent, and never stop working for the real change we most desperately need. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Original Article at: <a href="http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/press-releases/2009/november/statement-by-cna-nnoc-executive-director-rose-ann-demoro-on-the-house-bill-on-healthcare.html">http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/press-releases/2009/november/statement-by-cna-nnoc-executive-director-rose-ann-demoro-on-the-house-bill-on-healthcare.html</a><br />
</span><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00080400252470099424noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-19346684427754214722009-11-17T00:02:00.004-05:002009-11-17T00:04:51.715-05:00Healthcare-NOW! GA 2nd Strategy Meeting: Wed, Nov 18 - 5pm at AFSC<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>We will be having the second part of our Strategy Session this Wed Nov 18 at 5pm at the American Friends Services Committee in Decatur at <a href="http://healthcarenowga.blogspot.com/2009/10/healthcare-now-meetings-now-every-week.html">at 189 Sams St. Decatur, GA 30030</a>.</b><br />
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We will be continuing our discussion on strategy by brainstorming which groups we can expect to become allies for our campaign. Also we will discuss tactics we will use to educate people about single-payer healthcare to build a base of organizers and allies and tactics to exert power over those who can enact a single-payer health system.<b> </b><br />
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<b>So we ask everyone to come with a list of:<br />
1. potential allies for our Single-Payer Campaign</b><br />
<b>2. tactics to conduct popular education to build a movement and tactics to exert our power to enact reform</b><br />
</div>Healthcare NOW! Georgiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17402876960277945986noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-61148564489777414142009-11-12T14:40:00.013-05:002009-11-16T23:53:43.802-05:00Patients Not Profits Protest - Tuesday, Nov 17th - Cancelled<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Patients Not Profits Protest is canceled for Tuesday, November 17th. Look back here for more upcoming events.<br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00080400252470099424noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-73974262409637541542009-11-04T16:42:00.002-05:002009-11-12T17:49:22.547-05:00Healthcare NOW GA Photo Sharing now on Flickr.com<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We've set up a flickr group for any Healthcare-NOW Georgia member to share their photos and videos of our events with the group and on our website. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Go to <b><a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/healthcarenowga/">http://www.flickr.com/groups/healthcarenowga/</a></b> and join this Flickr group. You can then add your pictures to our flickr site and this should automatically update the photos section of our site.</span><br />
</div>Healthcare NOW! Georgiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17402876960277945986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-23286248172704085462009-11-03T12:44:00.010-05:002009-11-03T15:26:15.600-05:00Patients Not Profits - Protest & Press Conference Nov 4th 10AM<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Patients Not Profits - Protest & Press Conference</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Healthcare-NOW! Georgia: </span></i></span><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Mobilizing for Healthcare Atlanta Style</i><b> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Wednesday, Nov 4th</b><b> 10 AM</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">At BCBS GA Headquarters - 3350 Peachtree Road, NE Atlanta, GA 30326 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">Next to the Buckhead MARTA Station/N-7 Red Line </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Blue+Cross+Blue+Shield+Atlanta&sll=33.847376,-84.368412&sspn=0.013152,0.01929&ie=UTF8&hq=Blue+Cross+Blue+Shield&hnear=Atlanta,+GA&ll=33.845398,-84.387703&spn=0.052609,0.077162&z=14&iwloc=A&cid=9943851386331771658" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" target="_blank">(Map/Directions)</a></span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Email <a href="mailto:healthcarenowga@yahoo.com" target="_blank">healthcarenowga@yahoo.com</a> if you have any questions about the event<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>.</i></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV-iKMCEAYmXYkhT3RzfPU0qUX5VfRwENIkMJHaxzKvC5GhnMy1Iqj-0PQWFPJkX8bNlVAyqj9wgCm9EmwUqrPtLhctLSgPAn7M6CKzQ-egn0iUA9uTqQi4HWSaO0hh6j6kGgPrMwVUJw/s1600-h/DSCN0950.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV-iKMCEAYmXYkhT3RzfPU0qUX5VfRwENIkMJHaxzKvC5GhnMy1Iqj-0PQWFPJkX8bNlVAyqj9wgCm9EmwUqrPtLhctLSgPAn7M6CKzQ-egn0iUA9uTqQi4HWSaO0hh6j6kGgPrMwVUJw/s200/DSCN0950.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/share.php?appid=2344061033&src=box&tid=168795492262&u=www.healthcarewnowga.blogspot.com#/event.php?eid=168795492262" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" target="_blank">Click here for the event on Facebook</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">Health insurance companies are subverting democracy and sabotaging health care reform, a citizens health care group will charge at a PRESS CONFERENCE at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4 in front of Blue Cross/Blue Shield’s Buckhead office, 3350 Peachtree Road, NE.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">“The insurance companies use our own premiums to lobby against us,” said Margie Rece of Decatur, a retired nurse and coordinator of HealthcareNow-GA. “This year alone, insurance companies and other vested health care interests have spent $263 million to oppose any reform which would threaten their obscene profits and power.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">“Unfortunately, they have bought enough members of Congress to kill for now the most logical, cost-effective type of universal health care, Medicare for All, and substitute instead a system which transfers hundreds of billions more taxpayer dollars to the insurance giants.”</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">A recent Harvard study concluded that 45,000 Americans died last year because they could not get health insurance, Rece noted. “These companies hold the power of life or death over most Americans. That’s why we call them death panels.”</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">After the press conference, the group will attempt to deliver a letter to BC/BS president Monye Connolly. They will demand that BC/BS use its policyholders’ premiums on health care, not lobbying; and stop denying coverage for “pre-existing conditions,” a death sentence for many.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">“The half-hearted reforms dictated by the insurance companies will never solve our health care crises,” Rece said. “We will continue our work until all Americans are automatically covered by Expanded and Improved Medicare from birth to death, with no co-pays, deductibles or lifetime maximums. Everybody in, nobody out!”</span><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
</div><h3 style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></h3>Healthcare NOW! Georgiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17402876960277945986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-91894969506737411532009-10-28T07:38:00.005-04:002009-11-12T18:01:07.756-05:00Can the Democrats Avoid a Populist Health Care Rebellion?<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,serif;">By KEVIN ZEESE </span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">he leadership of the Democratic Party is on the verge of passing health insurance reform. The centerpiece of the “reform” is requiring Americans to buy overpriced insurance from private corporations. But, it is evident that many in the Democratic voting base see the insurance industry as the problem – not the solution – and are getting angry about a new law that will force people to buy from corporations they don’t trust.<br />
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Just a few weeks ago the Mobilization for Health Care for All was announced (<a href="http://www.mobilizeforhealthcare.org/">www.MobilizeForHealthCare.org</a>). The Mobilization focuses on the denial of doctor-recommended care by the insurance industry. Sit-ins were planned at health insurance companies with demands that insurance corporations stop the denials. The Mobilization sought 100 people willing to sit-in at insurance corporations and risk arrest as people sat in at lunch counters two generations ago. <br />
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The response has been explosive, nearly 800 have signed up to risk arrest and thousands have signed up to join the protests. In the last 20 days 78 people have been arrested protesting the real death panels – the private insurance industry – who according to a California study deny doctor recommended care 20% of the time. <br />
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The Mobilization hoped to have “patients not profits sit-ins” in three cities last week, and instead it had them in nine cities. On the next Mobilization day, October 28th, there is likely to be twice as many cities protesting the insurance industry – just as Congress considers forcing Americans to buy insurance. This may be developing into the largest campaign of non-violent civil resistance since the Civil Rights era.<br />
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Many of the protesters supported Obama and were active in Democratic campaigns. Does the Democratic Party think that people willing to risk arrest against the corruption of the insurance industry will support Democratic candidates with time, money and votes who force them to buy insurance from these corporations?<br />
</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">These are protests the Democratic Party should not ignore. At the Washington, DC mobilization one woman, Linda from Annapolis, spoke to president Obama, said she had helped him get elected in part because he promised real change in health care. She still wants him to come through but reminded him – “we elected you, we can un-elect you.” Linda reflects the view of many Democratic Party activists who are angry at the pro-insurance bill being pushed by Congressional leaders.<br />
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As people come to understand the reform bill, which began as health “care” reform but devolved into health “insurance” reform, the anger will grow – not just from the right, but from the Democratic voting base who voted for the hope of real reform, not more of the corporate-dominated Washington, DC non-solutions to problems Americans face every day.<br />
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Indeed, Americans of all stripes will be angry. At the Washington, DC mobilization police allowed the sit-in to occur, despite it being illegal, and refused to arrest the participants. We later found out that the police had to make wage concessions to keep their health care. And, when I was arrested protesting the Senate Finance Committee hearing dominated by the insurance industry, one officer told me about his mother who had lost her job, was too young for Medicare and could not afford COBRA payments. The abuse of insurance affects all Americans and they will not be happy being forced to feed corporate gluttonous greed.<br />
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Why will Americans hate this “reform?” <br />
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First, this unnecessarily complex plan will not achieve any of the goals originally set. It will not cover all Americans, indeed tens of millions will be left without insurance ten years after it is enacted. And, it will not control costs as the insurance industry has said that their already too expensive premiums will increase by 111% in the next decade under “reform.”<br />
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Second, few Americans will benefit from the plan. In fact, the greatest beneficiary will be the insurance industry and other health care profiteers. Every ten million people forced to buy insurance by the government will give the industry $100 billion in new revenue – at current insurance rates. With 50 million uninsured that is potentially hundreds of billions in new revenue. In other words, the corporations that are the root of the problem will get rich off of the income of working Americans. This at a time when American salaries are stagnating, debts are high, costs are going up and there is constant fear of unemployment and bankruptcy. Further, those who have insurance but do not like their insurance plans will not be given any choice under the “reform.” They will be stuck with their current, overpriced insurance with rising premiums, co-pays and out of pocket expenses. This is a recipe for populist rebellion, but it does not stop there.<br />
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The plan does not create affordable health care. Families earning $90,000 will find themselves paying 20% of their income on health insurance. And, the subsidies for poor and working Americans will be insufficient. The leading source of increased poverty is America’s working poor. How can these working families afford to buy insurance – even if they are forced to by the government – when they cannot even put food on the table? Americans will ask – why are struggling workers being forced to pay the $10 million salaries of insurance executives?<br />
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By the time most of this plan takes effect in 2013, the year after the next presidential election, insurance premiums will have increased by 20% to 25%. During the election year, Americans will be looking toward 2013 and seeing increased insurance costs and realizing they will be forced to buy overpriced insurance at the threat of increased taxes. Because of the lack of cost controls and the increased insurance requirements, e.g. like requiring acceptance of people with pre-existing conditions and putting no limits on lifetime benefits, the insurance industry will be increasing rates even more quickly. The failure of “reform” will become evident before it takes effect.<br />
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The increased costs of health insurance will affect all businesses small and large. In a “recovery” that is already not producing jobs, these costs will ensure a jobless recovery. The failure to create jobs will be a rallying cry against the Obama economic and health care plans. Democrats should be concerned because Americans traditionally vote based on their wallet more than any other issue.<br />
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In fact, bottom line business people and others who can do the math, realize that the U.S. spends double per person than dozens of better rated health care systems in Europe and Asia. If the U.S. merely adopted any of these plans (almost all variations on single payer) we would save $4,000 per person EVERY YEAR. That is a savings of $1.2 trillion every year – a huge recurring stimulus with savings flowing to businesses and others who pay some or all of their health insurance. Quickly thereafter goods made domestically would be competitive again, companies would have faith in a better future and hire employees again, and America would break the stranglehold of corporate-government. None of this will happen under the Democratic “reform” because the waste, fraud and abuse of the insurance industry will continue.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">During the next four years the Republicans will use the Democratic “reform” as a political punching bag. The plans to cut Medicare by hundreds of billions of dollars based on increased efficiency will frighten senior citizens. The bureaucracy being put in place by the “reform” will be evident to all. The complexity of the law will include federal rules on what employer-based insurance plans are "qualified." All Americans will see new income tax forms for the individual mandate and to determine income eligibility for insurance subsidies. The new federal insurance bureaucracy will be ridiculed by the Republicans. <br />
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Labor unions will see good health insurance coverage they fought years to get for their members disappearing as taxes on their plans go into effect. These high taxes are likely to cause employers to cut back on the derisively labeled “Cadillac” plans, which are really the kinds of health coverage all Americans should have. The result – more people will be uninsured by employers and forced to buy health insurance on their own, or more working Americans will find themselves joining the large pool of tens of millions of Americans who are underinsured. Reform will make the problems worse for these Americans.<br />
<br />
The problem of insurance companies denying care recommended by a doctor is likely to get worse under “reform.” A recent study in California found that insurance company denials can occur in up to 40% of cases with some insurance companies. Congress could fix the problem by giving consumers the power to sue insurance companies for denial of care. But, despite lobbying by consumer advocates, they refused to do so. The industry has few ways to control costs so experts predict that there will be increases in denial of care. "There are going to be a lot of denials," said insurance industry analyst Robert Laszewski, a former health insurance executive, told the Los Angeles Times. Denial of care is the issue the Mobilization for Health Care is protesting.<br />
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During the four years it takes to put the “reform” into place, more than 100,000 Americans will die each year from preventable illness. That is the current rate of annual preventable deaths, something the U.S. leads all developed nations in, and it will not slow when Obama signs the pro-insurance reform bill. Will the Congress close its eyes and watch 400,000 Americans die during Obama’s first term? Or, will it do the obvious and open up Medicare to all during this period of transition? The Democrats paymasters in the insurance industry will urge them to quietly let Americans die so people do not experience that Medicare, America’s single payer system, works.<br />
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And, those who were shut out of the process of developing real health care reform – the majority of Americans who favor a single payer, improved “Medicare for All,” national health system – will keep organizing. The Mobilization for Health Care for All, <a class="smarterwiki-linkify" href="http://www.mobilizeforhealthcare.org/">www.MobilizeForHealthCare.org</a>, will be one of example of many. Those shut out will fight back and keep pointing out how simple and efficient the reform could have been. How the Democrats could have reduced bureaucracy instead of increased it, helped the economy rather than hurt it and made sure every dollar went to health care rather than 31% of spending going to insurance industry profits and the bureaucracy the insurance industry creates. The already popular single payer system, which Obama himself used to support, will become even more popular. The control of the Democratic Party by big business interests will become evermore evident and "reform" will be understood as a multi-hundred billon dollar corporate giveaway.<br />
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The Democrats, like generals so often do, are fighting the last war. The Clinton experienced taught them that failure to pass health care reform cost them elections. The Obama administration experience will teach them that passing legislation that is only good for the insurance industry will cost them elections and could cost Obama a second term. A bad bill will be worse than no bill, will be the new lesson.<br />
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Americans voted for Obama who said in 2005 that the country would get single payer when the Democrats won back the House, Senate and Presidency. They even prefer the Obama of the presidential campaign who promised health care for all and opposed insurance mandates. They want the Obama they supported to return and put their interests ahead of insurance company profits.<br />
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Simply expanding and improving Medicare so it covers all Americans is the only way to avert this populist revolt. Will the Democratic leadership recognize this and change course or will they steer themselves into a disaster in order to satisfy their big donors in the insurance industry? There is a single payer bill, HR 676, in the House that will be voted on when Rep. Weiner introduces it on the House Floor. Let’s hope for the sake of all Americans that the Democratic Party leadership wakes up and puts the necessities of the American people before the profits of their donors. They still have time.<br />
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For more information, to sign-up and to see videos and press reports of the Mobilization for Health Care for All visit, <a href="http://www.mobilizeforhealthcare.org/">www.MobilizeForHealthCare.org</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Kevin Zeese </b>is executive director of Prosperity Agenda (<a href="http://www.prosperityagenda.us/">www.ProsperityAgenda.US</a>), who along with Health Care NOW! and the Center for the Working Poor initiated the Mobilization for Health Care for All, <a href="http://www.mobilizeforhealthcare.org/">www.MobilizeForHealthCare.org</a>. It is being joined by more organizations everyday, if your organization wants to endorse the Mobilization please contact me at <a href="mailto:KZeese@earthlink.net">KZeese@earthlink.net</a>.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00080400252470099424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-12080504237819552692009-10-25T16:55:00.015-04:002009-11-02T15:59:47.480-05:00PROTEST Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Georgia Wed, Oct 28 at 4:30 to 6:00 pm<div style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">PROTEST Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Georgia</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b> </b></span><br />
<div style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Wednesday, October 28 at 4:30 to 6:00PM</b><o:p></o:p> </span><br />
</div></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">at Blue Cross & Blue Shield Georgia Headquarters</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p>3350 Peachtree Rd. NE - Atlanta, 30326<o:p></o:p> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">Next to the Buckhead MARTA</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: right;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="350" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=3350+Peachtree+Road,+N.E.++Atlanta,+GA+30326&sll=33.847062,-84.367165&sspn=0.0017,0.002411&gl=us&dirflg=r&date=11%2F02%2F09&time=3:48pm&ttype=dep&noexp=0&noal=0&sort=&tline=&ie=UTF8&start=0&hq=&hnear=3350+Peachtree+Rd+NE,+Atlanta,+Fulton,+Georgia+30326&ll=33.851956,-84.365816&spn=0.012474,0.018239&z=15&iwloc=A&output=embed" width="600"></iframe><br />
</div><div style="text-align: right;"><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=3350+Peachtree+Road,+N.E.++Atlanta,+GA+30326&sll=33.847062,-84.367165&sspn=0.0017,0.002411&gl=us&dirflg=r&date=11%2F02%2F09&time=3:48pm&ttype=dep&noexp=0&noal=0&sort=&tline=&ie=UTF8&start=0&hq=&hnear=3350+Peachtree+Rd+NE,+Atlanta,+Fulton,+Georgia+30326&ll=33.851956,-84.365816&spn=0.012474,0.018239&z=15&iwloc=A" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">View Larger Map</a></small><br />
</div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">Wear costumes reflecting denial of pre-existing conditions, sick patients and other healthcare horror stories. Examples: the Skeletons, Ghosts, Grim Reaper, R.I.P., coffins, blood soaked, bandaged patients etc. Use your creativity to create your costume and/or signs!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">Signs and costumes are not necessary to participate in on-going demonstrations against health insurance companies. We will provide some signs and banners.</span><br />
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<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">For more information contact:</span><br />
<a href="mailto:HealthcareNowGA@yahoo.com">HealthcareNowGA@yahoo.com</a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">404-373-7410 ext. 19</span><br />
<a href="http://www.healthcare-now.org/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">www.Healthcare-Now.org</span></a><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00080400252470099424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-62850781608190502782009-10-16T13:57:00.006-04:002009-10-25T17:01:52.061-04:0054 Arrested in Nine Single-Payer Actions on October 15th<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The <a href="http://e2ma.net/go/6528327562/208028404/209081067/28803/goto:http://www.mobilizeforhealthcare.org/" style="color: #ea6c0f;" target="_blank">Mobilization for Health Care</a> had a very strong showing in nine cities around the country yesterday. At least 54 people were arrested in the nine cities.</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In New York City, the brave protesters were supported by a crowd of 50 legal protesters. We were prepared to start the action with 10 people risking arrest, and 4 more people joined us to stand up to the corporations that steal our money, our health, and our lives.</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Our next task on October 28th is to grow the Mobilization. We want to see the number of cities with mobilizations to be at least 15 and well over 100 people risking arrest. </span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The task now is to spread the word. Let friends, families and others know about the Mobilization and urge them to sign up at <a href="http://e2ma.net/go/6528327562/208028404/209081066/28803/goto:http://www.mobilizeforhealthcare.org/" style="color: #ea6c0f;" target="_blank">www.MobilizeForHealthCare.org</a>.</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It is our job to create a political environment that makes single-payer the inevitable solution to Americas healthcare crisis. It is obvious that what is happening in Congress will not provide healthcare for all tens of millions will be without insurance ten years from now under the best estimates and will not control the cost of healthcare as the insurance industry if projecting a 111% increase in cost over the next decade of their already overpriced products.</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Here's news coverage from yesterday's actions (<a href="http://e2ma.net/go/6528327562/208028404/209081065/28803/goto:http://www.healthcare-now.org/over-54-arrested-in-nine-single-payer-actions/" style="color: #ea6c0f;" target="_blank">we'll add more as they come in</a>):</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://e2ma.net/go/6528327562/208028404/209081064/28803/goto:http://www.democracynow.org/2009/10/16/headlines%237" style="color: #ea6c0f;" target="_blank">Dozens Arrested at Sit-In Protests at Health Insurance Companies</a> Democracy Now</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Boston, MA</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://e2ma.net/go/6528327562/208028404/209081063/28803/goto:http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/x988292141/Protest-leads-to-arrest-of-11" style="color: #ea6c0f;" target="_blank">Protest leads to arrest of 11</a> Daily News Tribune</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://e2ma.net/go/6528327562/208028404/209081062/28803/goto:http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/10/16/11_charged_with_trespassing_at_health_care_protest_in_newton/" style="color: #ea6c0f;" target="_blank">11 charged with trespassing at health care protest in Newton</a> Boston Globe</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>New York, NY</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://e2ma.net/go/6528327562/208028404/209081061/28803/goto:http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/usnews/ci_13572124" style="color: #ea6c0f;" target="_blank">14 charged in NYC protest at health insurer office</a> AP</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Palm Beach, FL</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://e2ma.net/go/6528327562/208028404/209081060/28803/goto:http://postpix.palmbeachpost.com/mycapture/enlargePopup.asp?image=26209655&event=866154&CategoryID=48010&pSlideshow=1&picnum=15&move=F%23Image" style="color: #ea6c0f;" target="_blank">Sit-in protest at Humana's office</a> Palm Beach Post</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Washington, DC</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://e2ma.net/go/6528327562/208028404/209081059/28803/goto:http://www.news8.net/news/stories/1009/668931_video.html?ref=newsstory" style="color: #ea6c0f;" target="_blank">Group Pickets Health Care Provider in 9-city Protest</a> News Channel 8</span><br />
</div><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://e2ma.net/go/6528327562/208028404/209081058/28803/goto:http://www.healthcare-now.org" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" target="_blank"><img align="left" border="0" hspace="5" src="http://www.healthcare-now.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/actionalert.gif" width="33" /></a></span><br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thanks for all that you do,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Healthcare-NOW! National Staff</b></span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>P.S.</b> <a href="http://e2ma.net/go/6528327562/208028404/209081057/28803/goto:http://tools.advomatic.com/35/hc-n/" style="color: #ea6c0f;" target="_blank">Call Congress for single-payer now!</a> It's easy and toll-free.</span><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00080400252470099424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-49059974588447852262009-10-14T16:04:00.004-04:002009-11-12T18:01:38.242-05:00Now Recording Contacts with Representatives & Politicians<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We now have form on our website that allows anyone who has contacted their representative to report to us their contact. The form is located on the bottom right of the home page. When you contact a representative fill out the form and hit submit at the bottom.<br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This will automatically record each contact inputted in to the form and save this information in a spreadsheet file located on google docs. The link to the spreadsheet is: <a href="https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AhcVDS87eH3sdFdDZnBKWlRzNFo0dVJ1WkotN0dCMVE&hl=en" target="_blank">https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AhcVDS87eH3sdFdDZnBKWlRzNFo0dVJ1WkotN0dCMVE&hl=en</a><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Please everyone start recording your contacts with your representatives on the healthcare website. <br />
</div>Healthcare NOW! Georgiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17402876960277945986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-4626648841171229132009-10-08T14:38:00.030-04:002009-10-10T15:17:36.115-04:00Protest at Blue Cross Blue Shield Georgia - Oct 15 4:30 - 6:00 pm<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWn28oqQlmYZ5nIOyPEB2nrvgOTrgdIp7paMeBI3MDz7oCi4Ykuik3hgXsIlf56EfXTBlUp13yF2aMb-Iq_xoc45aRGp4ZE4HEilWXiUwt15hj7VwfWws5O6dLUs5ZPnUTStKohXMi56k/s1600-h/sitin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWn28oqQlmYZ5nIOyPEB2nrvgOTrgdIp7paMeBI3MDz7oCi4Ykuik3hgXsIlf56EfXTBlUp13yF2aMb-Iq_xoc45aRGp4ZE4HEilWXiUwt15hj7VwfWws5O6dLUs5ZPnUTStKohXMi56k/s200/sitin.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">Stop the Healthcare Horror Stories! <b> </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Thursday, Oct 15 4:30 - 6:00 pm</b><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">At BCBS GA Headquarters</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">3350 Peachtree Road, NE Atlanta, GA 30326 <br />
Next to the Buckhead MARTA Station/N-7 Red Line <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Blue+Cross+Blue+Shield+Atlanta&sll=33.847376,-84.368412&sspn=0.013152,0.01929&ie=UTF8&hq=Blue+Cross+Blue+Shield&hnear=Atlanta,+GA&ll=33.845398,-84.387703&spn=0.052609,0.077162&z=14&iwloc=A&cid=9943851386331771658" target="_blank">(Map/Directions)</a></span><b><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Health insurance companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield are preventing thousands of Americans from receiving the healthcare they rightfully deserve.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We will converge upon Blue Cross Blue Shield Georgia on Thursday, October 15th to demand an end to the profiting off the sick and the consistent denial of healthcare by the insurance companies. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We demand that our government establish Medicare for All, a new system of health insurance that eliminates the greed, waste, and callousness of the health insurance companies.</span><br />
</span> <br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We will meet at 4:30 pm outside the Blue Cross Blue Shield building located at 3350 Peachtree Rd NE Atlanta, GA right next to the Buckhead Marta Station. <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Blue+Cross+Blue+Shield+Atlanta&sll=33.847376,-84.368412&sspn=0.013152,0.01929&ie=UTF8&hq=Blue+Cross+Blue+Shield&hnear=Atlanta,+GA&ll=33.845398,-84.387703&spn=0.052609,0.077162&z=14&iwloc=A&cid=9943851386331771658" target="_blank">(Map/Directions)</a></span><b><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Healthcare-NOW! Georgia: Mobilizing for Medicare For All!</span></b><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Email <a href="mailto:healthcarenowga@yahoo.com">healthcarenowga@yahoo.com</a> if you have any questions about the event.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0BxcVDS87eH3sNjMyOGEwZGYtOGIwZC00YzExLTgyYmQtNzg0NTA5MDYxM2Vi&hl=en"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">Event Flyer in .PDF Format</span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=158452832080">Link for the event on Facebook</a><br />
</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00080400252470099424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-64884392931938195142009-10-06T15:57:00.013-04:002009-10-14T14:41:53.411-04:00PBS Frontline Documentary - Sick Around The World:<div class="maininner" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Watch online at: <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/">http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/</a><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<div class="maininner"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRtIsJbYWEa9VKxHIVnIjBYoyxwaI3nRNqf2anREjBD1jhoAa_FStTm-CJjzuI8YCoFulGNqjMxCKkEZZ2hglHxkvrMbunJIegwpMlTDeFhF1I-F9CQSRopfQPMPsRNfihUh77FyMW4dM/s200/Sicksite.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span id="goog_1254859728218"></span></a><span id="goog_1254859728219"></span><span style="font-size: small;"> In <i>Sick Around the World,</i> FRONTLINE teams up with veteran <i>Washington Post</i> foreign correspondent <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/etc/notebook.html">T.R. Reid</a> to find out how <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/countries/">five other capitalist democracies</a> -- the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Switzerland -- deliver health care, and <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/themes/lessons.html">what the United States might learn</a> from their successes and their failures.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> Reid's first stop is the U.K., where the government-run National Health Service (NHS) is funded through taxes. "Every single person who's born in the U.K. will use the NHS," says Whittington Hospital CEO David Sloman, "and none of them will be presented a bill at any point during that time." Often dismissed in America as <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/themes/socialized.html">"socialized medicine,"</a> the NHS is now trying some free-market tactics like "pay-for-performance," where doctors are paid more if they get good results controlling chronic diseases like diabetes. And now patients can choose where they go for medical procedures, forcing hospitals to compete head to head.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> While such initiatives have helped reduce waiting times for elective surgeries, <i>Times</i> of London health editor <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/interviews/hawkes.html">Nigel Hawkes</a> thinks the NHS hasn't made enough progress. "We're now in a world in which people are much more demanding, and I think that the NHS is not very effective at delivering in that modern, market-orientated world."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> Reid reports next from Japan, which boasts the second largest economy and <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/etc/graphs.html">the best health statistics</a> in the world. The Japanese go to the doctor three times as often as Americans, have more than twice as many MRI scans, use more drugs, and spend more days in the hospital. Yet Japan spends about half as much on health care per capita as the United States.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> One secret to Japan's success? By law, everyone must buy health insurance -- either through an employer or a community plan -- and, unlike in the U.S., insurers cannot turn down a patient for a pre-existing illness, nor are they allowed to make a profit.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> Reid's journey then takes him to Germany, the country that invented the concept of a national health care system. For its 80 million people, Germany offers universal health care, including medical, dental, mental health, homeopathy and spa treatment. <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/interviews/lauterbach.html">Professor Karl Lauterbach,</a> a member of the German parliament, describes it as "a system where the rich pay for the poor and where the ill are covered by the healthy." As they do in Japan, medical providers must charge standard prices. This keeps costs down, but it also means <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/themes/doctors.html">physicians in Germany</a> earn between half and two-thirds as much as their U.S. counterparts.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> In the 1990s, Taiwan researched many health care systems before settling on one where the government collects the money and pays providers. But the delivery of health care is left to the market. Every person in Taiwan has a "smart card" containing all of his or her relevant health information, and bills are paid automatically. But the Taiwanese are spending too little to sustain their health care system, according to Princeton's <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/interviews/reinhardt.html">Tsung-mei Cheng,</a> who advised the Taiwanese government. "As we speak, the government is borrowing from banks to pay what there isn't enough to pay the providers," she told FRONTLINE.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> Reid's last stop is Switzerland, a country which, like Taiwan, set out to reform a system that did not cover all its citizens. In 1994, a national referendum approved a law called LAMal ("the sickness"), which set up a universal health care system that, among other things, restricted insurance companies from making a profit on basic medical care. The Swiss example shows health care reform is possible, even in a highly capitalist country with powerful insurance and pharmaceutical companies. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> Today, Swiss politicians from the right and left enthusiastically support universal health care. "Everybody has a right to health care," says <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/interviews/couchepin.html">Pascal Couchepin,</a> the current president of Switzerland. "It is a profound need for people to be sure that if they are struck by destiny ... they can have a good health system."</span><br />
</div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00080400252470099424noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-45643377803474476012009-10-06T13:56:00.011-04:002009-11-03T15:30:00.380-05:00Healthcare-NOW! GA Meetings - Every Week Mondays at 5:30 pm<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">Healthcare-NOW! Georgia has its meetings every week on Mondays at 5:30 pm at the American Friends Services Committee located at 189 Sams St. Decatur, GA 30030. Come join us to help fight for a right to health care for all<br />
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Contact us at <a href="mailto:healthcarenowga@yahoo.com">healthcarenowga@yahoo.com</a> if you have any questions.<br />
</div><br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="350" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=189+Sams+St.+Decatur,+GA+30030+%28AFSC%29&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=189+Sams+St,+Decatur,+DeKalb,+Georgia+30030&ll=33.781858,-84.284019&spn=0.024969,0.051498&z=14&iwloc=A&output=embed" width="600"></iframe><br />
<small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=189+Sams+St.+Decatur,+GA+30030+%28AFSC%29&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=189+Sams+St,+Decatur,+DeKalb,+Georgia+30030&ll=33.781858,-84.284019&spn=0.024969,0.051498&z=14&iwloc=A&source=embed" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">View Larger Map</a></small>Healthcare NOW! Georgiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17402876960277945986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-44026143024247867362009-09-15T21:19:00.037-04:002009-11-12T17:50:04.822-05:00Press Release: AFL-CIO Convention Endorses Single-Payer<div style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>Unanimous Vote for Medicare-for-All Reform</i></b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">PITTSBURGH – In a historic vote that adds the nation’s leading voice of American workers to a broad national campaign, the AFL-CIO voted unanimously at its national convention here today to endorse the enactment of single-payer, universal healthcare for all Americans. The resolution was sponsored by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and the Alameda County (California) Central Labor Council. In urging its support, CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro, an AFL-CIO National Vice-President, noted the recent death of Crystal Lee Sutton, the real-life union organizer from the film Norma Rae who died last week after a long battle with cancer, exacerbated by her own three-year fight with her insurance company. “No one should spend the last days of their life fighting with their insurance company,” said DeMoro. “We should not make choices of who gets healthcare based on their ethnicity, gender, or economic status. But I am addressing the labor movement, not Wall Street. And we all know what is the right thing – the moral thing – single-payer healthcare.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">It marks the first time in perhaps two decades that the AFL-CIO has been formally on record in support of single-payer, which would essentially expand and improve Medicare to cover all Americans. Labor unions around the country have been in the forefront of grassroots actions around the nation in support of single-payer and many labor bodies submitted resolutions to the national convention in support of an endorsement. The resolution notes that “the experience of Medicare (and of nearly every other industrialized country) shows the most cost-effective and equitable way to provide quality healthcare is through a single-payer system. Our nation should provide a single high standard of comprehensive care for all.” It also sites specific single-payer bills, including HR 676, which has 86 cosponsors in Congress.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">The vote came shortly after the convention was addressed by President Obama who repeated his call for comprehensive healthcare reform, and will accompany another AFL-CIO resolution supporting other Congressional efforts to pass comprehensive reform. It also followed a reception hosted by CNA/NNOC and other unions Monday night featuring filmmaker Michael Moore whose previous film SiCKO presaged the current national debate with its indictment of the healthcare industry, and was on hand to premiere his latest film, Capitalism: A Love Story to the AFL-CIO convention. In his speech Moore recalled that 65 years ago President Franklin Roosevelt proposed a second bill of rights which called for a right to universal medical care, a fight that continues. He noted that every day the healthcare industry spends over $1 million to block reform while thousands of Americans continue to lose coverage, and urged labor and community activists to keep up the fight. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Regardless of the outcome of the current healthcare legislative action, said United Steel Workers President Leo Gerard, “we’re going to continue the fight for single-payer. I’m not in favor of universal insurance, I’m in favor of universal healthcare. We are going to fight to make sure every single American gets high quality healthcare.” “We know the patient care crisis, we see it every day,” said CNA/NNOC co-president Zenei Cortez, RN at the reception. “We will not rest until we get rid of the private insurance companies that profit off of suffering.” Greg Junemann, president of International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers and chair of the HR 676 Labor Caucus, which has won similar endorsements from hundreds of international and local unions and state and local labor federations, noted to the convention the unity of labor in fighting for real reform. He also cited the ongoing fight of workers every day to protect the health coverage many have now. “The labor movement needs to set our flag on the top of the mountain, and that we will not rest until we have single-payer healthcare for all,” said Junemann. DeMoro welcomed the many international guests in the convention, and noted how most of them represent industrial nations where no one dies from lack of health coverage or goes bankrupt or loses homes due to un-payable medical bills. “The reason? Because they have single-payer or other national healthcare systems, and because your labor movement led the fight for healthcare. Here insurance companies are at the apex of power, controlling our lives. It is not the public option we should be questioning, it is the private option and its horrendous power over our families,” DeMoro said. “When we meet again in four years, perhaps if we adopt single-payer, we will be like all our international brothers and sisters in this room, and no longer be the richest nation in the world but just 37th in healthcare,” DeMoro said.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Press Release Link: <a href="http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/press-releases/2009/september/afl-cio-convention-endorses-single-payer.html">http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/press-releases/2009/september/afl-cio-convention-endorses-single-payer.html</a> </span><br />
</div></div></div>Healthcare NOW! Georgiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17402876960277945986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-49098785834955378702009-09-08T01:08:00.005-04:002009-09-08T01:16:46.847-04:00Sick and Wrong: "How Washington is screwing up health care reform – and why it may take a revolt to fix it" - Rolling Stone<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29988909/sick_and_wrong#" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Click here for: Sick and Wrong - Rolling Stone Article by Matt Taibbi</a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00080400252470099424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-69076687734425157972009-09-05T21:29:00.004-04:002009-09-05T22:19:37.204-04:00HEALTHCARE PICNIC PANEL: Saturday, Sept 12th 11am-2pm<span style="font-size: small;">HEALTHCARE PICNIC PANEL</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Saturday SEPT 12<sup>th</sup></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">11am-2pm @ FIRST ICONIUM BAPTIST CHURCH</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">542 Moreland Ave SE: <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=FIRST+ICONIUM+BAPTIST+CHURCH&sll=33.743434,-84.348199&sspn=0.013917,0.032895&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=A">Click for Map/Directions</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">HEALTHCARENOWGA - Contact: </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="mailto:denisewoodallksu@yahoo.com" target="_blank">denisewoodallksu@yahoo.com<br />
</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">WHAT DO WE WANT? HEALTHCARE!! WHEN DO WE WANT IT? NOW!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Please reply to this post with your "must haves" ideas. Let me know what you demand in healthcare reform. So far we have:</span><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-size: small;">A strong public option that extends to EVERYONE in America who wants it one that honors patient choice</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">No more pre-existing condition clauses </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Ending incentives for employers to fire their sick workers (to lower premiums)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">A plan that does not cut into medicare or medicaid</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Restriction of the insurance companies profit motives<br />
</span> </li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">No mandatory purchasing of insurance (not increase the insurance companies client base) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Reduction of the administrative costs created by the different procedures of 1300 insurance companies. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">A focus on prevention (provide incentives for preventative healthcare)</span></li>
</ul><span style="font-size: small;">We will also be tallying who is for a single payer system, who is not, and who thinks the public option will lead to single payer. The Weiner amendment will be up for a vote which replaces the entire section A of HR3200 with single payer text. If you support that ... wonderful. Let us know on our tally boards. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">We will be discussing and tallying everyone's ideas surrounding all these issues on this day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">In regards to legislation that is currently in Congress (items that are not single payer) we want to have some minimum requirements as a community... these are a few of the 'must haves' that we collected from some folks at the sept 3rd rally at the capital. So glad for everyone who was there to support!!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Our goal of the picnic panel (besides to eat, to have fun, learn and to mingle among the progressive community) is to build a list 10 - 15 points and demands for healthcare legislation that we (as a community) will support. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Send me your ideas and we'll put them on a big community board at the picnic...we'll tally up the responses at the end and see what items are most important to our community in regards to our healthcare. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="mailto:denisewoodallksu@yahoo.com" target="_blank">Email these to denisewoodallksu@yahoo.com</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Bring your questions for our diverse panel!!! See you on Saturday. Stay tuned for more updates</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b> Unifying to bring Healthcare to all.</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Bring your questions, your input, and your appetite for lunch and a unique panel of guests: </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Jeff Ingram with Organizing for America</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Henry Kahn with Physicians for a National Health Program</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Rita Valenti with Grady </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">& </span><span style="font-size: small;">Debra Greenwood with ABLE.</span>Healthcare NOW! Georgiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17402876960277945986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-84123753191957472512009-09-04T22:37:00.024-04:002009-09-04T23:22:06.724-04:00Top Ten Ways To Tell Your President & His Party Aren't Fighting For Health Care For Everybody<h2 class="subtitle" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>by Bruce Dixon</b></span><span style="font-size: small;"> (</span><span style="font-size: small;">Published on Friday, July 31, 2009 on <a class="external" href="http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/top-ten-ways-tell-your-president-his-party-arent-fighting-health-care-everybody" target="_blank">Black Agenda Report</a>)</span></h2><h2 class="subtitle" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"></h2><h2 class="subtitle" style="color: #351c75; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: navy;"> </span></b></span></h2><h2 class="subtitle" style="color: #351c75; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: navy;">With the corporate media relentlessly distorting the public discussion around health care reform, it time for some clear, bright lines to help us tell who is doing what to whom, and whether any of it leads to health care for all of us. Here are ten of them.</span> </b></span></h2><h2 class="subtitle" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"></h2><h2 class="subtitle" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"></h2><h2 class="subtitle" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></h2><h2 class="subtitle" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">Barack Obama and Democratic majorities in the House and Senate were swept into office on a promise they would deliver affordable and accessible health care for all Americans. But the corporate media journalism limits the national health care conversation to what insurance companies, drug companies, for-profit health care professionals, their executives, lobbyists and politicians of both parties and other hirelings have to say. So it isn't as easy as it ought to be to tell what the politicians are doing about accomplishing health care for everybody. Hence we offer these ten points. This is how you can tell whether your president and his party are fighting for the health care you deserve.</span></h2><h2 class="subtitle" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/07/31" target="blank">Click Here to View Full Article</a></span></h2><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00080400252470099424noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-16166940078568167622009-09-04T14:18:00.013-04:002009-09-04T23:02:02.931-04:00Who's Blocking Health Care Reform Now? Blue Dogs? Senate Dems? House Progressives? Or the White House Itself?<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;"><a href="http://www.blackagendareport.com/images/stories/152/healthcare-meeting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img align="left" alt="health care again" border="0" height="131" hspace="5" src="http://www.blackagendareport.com/images/stories/152/healthcare-meeting.jpg" vspace="5" width="200" /></a><span style="color: navy;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">By BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon</span></b></span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.06in;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">In less than a year, Democrats have transformed themselves from the party of change to the party of excuses. Republican birthers and teapartyers, blue dog Democrats, rogue donkey and elephant senators, and even progressives favoring single payer or the shadowy “public option” have all been blamed by the White House for holding up health care --- or is it health insurance --- reform. But with the end of the August recess, the ring is closing and the clock is ticking... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://blackagendareport.com/?q=content/whos-blocking-health-care-reform-now-blue-dogs-senate-dems-house-progressives-or-white-house" target="_blank">Click Here to View Full Article</a></span></div>Healthcare NOW! Georgiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17402876960277945986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-84257966886528338212009-09-02T13:16:00.008-04:002009-09-16T01:08:41.743-04:00Rally for Medicare for All: Sept 3rd - 11:30 a.m. Thursday at the Capitol<div style="color: navy; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Rally for Medicare for All Sept 3 - 11:30 a.m. Thursday at the Capitol (Washington Street side).</span></b></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Do you believe health care is a basic human right, not a commodity to be bought and sold by profiteering, parasitic health insurance companies? Then join HealthcareNOW-GA at what is being billed as "the biggest rally of the year [in Georgia] for health insurance reform" this Thursday, Sept. 3 at the Capitol (Washington Street side).</span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Although this rally was called by "public option" advocates, we will be there to raise the banner of REAL health care reform -- Improved and Expanded Medicare for All, as codified in Rep. John Conyers' bill, H.R. 676, and Senator Bernie Sanders' companion bill, S. 703. </span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We (HealthcareNOW-GA) will meet at the corner of Washington St. & Martin Luther King Dr. at 11:30. Wear orange if you have it. Bring handheld signs & banners (signs or banners on sticks not permitted at the Capitol). We will have plenty of flyers. Suggested sign slogans: "Medicare for All - H.R. 676"; "Health Care is a Human Right -- H.R. 676"; "Health Care YES -- Insurance Companies NO," "Everybody In, Nobody Out -- H.R. 676." For more ideas, see the attached 2-sided flyer or a brief summary of H.R. 676 at <a href="http://www.healthcare-now.org/hr-676/" target="_blank">http://www.healthcare-now.org/hr-676/</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">If you would like to join the ongoing struggle for Medicare for All, join HealthcareNow-GA and receive regular action alerts and educational articles. Email <a href="mailto:healthcarenowga@yahoo.com">healthcarenowga@yahoo.com</a> and you will be added to the listserv.</span></div>Healthcare NOW! Georgiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17402876960277945986noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-16340937713545253842009-09-01T03:07:00.009-04:002009-09-05T00:11:15.641-04:00Money-Driven Health Care Video<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08282009/watch.html" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="70" src="http://www.moneydrivenmedicine.org/templates/MDM-home-page/images/logo.png" width="420" /></a></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><br />
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These are the links to this past weekend's Bill Moyers Journal which showed the movie Money-Driven Health Care.<br />
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<a href="http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08282009/watch.html" target="_blank">http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08282009/watch.html</a></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08282009/watch2.html" target="_blank">http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08282009/watch2.html</a></div>Healthcare NOW! Georgiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17402876960277945986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-16218302168192353082009-08-19T12:53:00.002-04:002009-09-04T14:56:59.837-04:00Sign Petition to Endorse HR 676: Single-Payer Bill!<a href="http://www.healthcare-now.org/petition/"target="_blank">www.healthcare-now.org/petition</a>Healthcare NOW! Georgiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17402876960277945986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-64889123628737193702009-08-19T12:07:00.005-04:002009-11-02T16:08:22.907-05:00Healthcare-NOW! GA Organizing Meetings<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">Healthcare-NOW! Georgia has its meetings every week on Mondays at 5:30 pm at the American Friends Services Committee located at 189 Sams St. Decatur, GA 30030. Come join us to help fight for a right to health care for all <br />
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Contact us at <a href="mailto:healthcarenowga@yahoo.com">healthcarenowga@yahoo.com</a> if you have any questions.<br />
</div><br />
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<small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=189+Sams+St.+Decatur,+GA+30030+%28AFSC%29&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=189+Sams+St,+Decatur,+DeKalb,+Georgia+30030&ll=33.781858,-84.284019&spn=0.024969,0.051498&z=14&iwloc=A&source=embed" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">View Larger Map</a></small>Healthcare NOW! Georgiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17402876960277945986noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2364615106060452593.post-43964360535371296532009-08-19T03:07:00.001-04:002009-11-12T18:01:58.371-05:00Health Care Now Georgia Blog Now Up<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Health Care Now Georgia's blog is now up and running!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Look for more posts and updates soon.</span>Healthcare NOW! Georgiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17402876960277945986noreply@blogger.com3