By KEVIN ZEESE
The 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.
Just a few weeks ago the Mobilization for Health Care for All was announced (www.MobilizeForHealthCare.org). 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.
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.
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.
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?
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
PROTEST Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Georgia Wed, Oct 28 at 4:30 to 6:00 pm
PROTEST Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Georgia
at Blue Cross & Blue Shield Georgia HeadquartersWednesday, October 28 at 4:30 to 6:00PM
Next to the Buckhead MARTA
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!
Signs and costumes are not necessary to participate in on-going demonstrations against health insurance companies. We will provide some signs and banners.
Friday, October 16, 2009
54 Arrested in Nine Single-Payer Actions on October 15th
The Mobilization for Health Care had a very strong showing in nine cities around the country yesterday. At least 54 people were arrested in the nine cities.
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.
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.
The task now is to spread the word. Let friends, families and others know about the Mobilization and urge them to sign up at www.MobilizeForHealthCare.org.
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.
Here's news coverage from yesterday's actions (we'll add more as they come in):
Boston, MA
Protest leads to arrest of 11 Daily News Tribune
11 charged with trespassing at health care protest in Newton Boston Globe
Protest leads to arrest of 11 Daily News Tribune
11 charged with trespassing at health care protest in Newton Boston Globe
Thanks for all that you do,
Healthcare-NOW! National Staff
Healthcare-NOW! National Staff
P.S. Call Congress for single-payer now! It's easy and toll-free.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Now Recording Contacts with Representatives & Politicians
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.
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: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AhcVDS87eH3sdFdDZnBKWlRzNFo0dVJ1WkotN0dCMVE&hl=en
Please everyone start recording your contacts with your representatives on the healthcare website.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Protest at Blue Cross Blue Shield Georgia - Oct 15 4:30 - 6:00 pm
Stop the Healthcare Horror Stories! Thursday, Oct 15 4:30 - 6:00 pm
At BCBS GA Headquarters
3350 Peachtree Road, NE Atlanta, GA 30326
Next to the Buckhead MARTA Station/N-7 Red Line (Map/Directions)
Health insurance companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield are preventing thousands of Americans from receiving the healthcare they rightfully deserve.
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.
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.
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. (Map/Directions)
Healthcare-NOW! Georgia: Mobilizing for Medicare For All!
Email healthcarenowga@yahoo.com if you have any questions about the event.
Event Flyer in .PDF Format
Link for the event on FacebookHealthcare-NOW! Georgia: Mobilizing for Medicare For All!
Email healthcarenowga@yahoo.com if you have any questions about the event.
Event Flyer in .PDF Format
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
PBS Frontline Documentary - Sick Around The World:
Watch online at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/
In Sick Around the World, FRONTLINE teams up with veteran Washington Post foreign correspondent T.R. Reid to find out how five other capitalist democracies -- the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Switzerland -- deliver health care, and what the United States might learn from their successes and their failures.
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 "socialized medicine," 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.
While such initiatives have helped reduce waiting times for elective surgeries, Times of London health editor Nigel Hawkes 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."
Reid reports next from Japan, which boasts the second largest economy and the best health statistics 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.
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.
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. Professor Karl Lauterbach, 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 physicians in Germany earn between half and two-thirds as much as their U.S. counterparts.
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 Tsung-mei Cheng, 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.
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.
Today, Swiss politicians from the right and left enthusiastically support universal health care. "Everybody has a right to health care," says Pascal Couchepin, 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."
In Sick Around the World, FRONTLINE teams up with veteran Washington Post foreign correspondent T.R. Reid to find out how five other capitalist democracies -- the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Switzerland -- deliver health care, and what the United States might learn from their successes and their failures.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 "socialized medicine," 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.
While such initiatives have helped reduce waiting times for elective surgeries, Times of London health editor Nigel Hawkes 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."
Reid reports next from Japan, which boasts the second largest economy and the best health statistics 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.
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.
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. Professor Karl Lauterbach, 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 physicians in Germany earn between half and two-thirds as much as their U.S. counterparts.
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 Tsung-mei Cheng, 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.
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.
Today, Swiss politicians from the right and left enthusiastically support universal health care. "Everybody has a right to health care," says Pascal Couchepin, 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."
Healthcare-NOW! GA Meetings - Every Week Mondays at 5:30 pm
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
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