It is up to US, the American People, fight the fight of our lives for Single Payer Health Coverage

It does not matter, what Obama did or did not promise in his election campaign. It is not about Obama or Congress, it is about the American people dictating the policy over big insurance and big pharm. And, the only way that is going to happen, the ONLY way this will happen is mass pressure from the American populace. And, it will be the fight of our lives for OUR lives.

The health insurance industry & big pharm are MASSIVELY wealthy. They buy the politicians just as all the other lobbyists do, and they do it to dictate our health policy so they can profiteer off human sickness to the tune of TRILLIONS of dollars.

The simple fact is that we do NOT need the health insurance companies. Period. They are a middleman. They do not provide care. They do not heal the sick. They administer insurance programs for a profit. Our health is not their bottom line; the salaries of CEOs and the value of their stock shares are the reason for their existence. And, people die because of it. People suffer because of it. People go without needed treatment because of it. People have decreased quality of life because of it.

My uncle recently was denied an appointment with the specialist who has been handling his post-cancer treatment (he is in remission). He was told he simply would not be seen because he did not have health insurance (he will have Medicare in a few months, but until then, he is treading water and hoping not to sink). The office further told him he was LUCKY (yes, lucky) because at least he was in remission and not in the middle of treatment because every WEEK, five to seven patients are pushed out of treatment either due to losing their current health coverage or DENIAL from insurance companies. Remember, this is just one office, in one small town. Can you imagine the number statewide...nationwide...???

Mandatory private health insurance coverage is the wet dream of HMOs. Forced participation in a system of insurance that will not provide equal coverage or affordable plans. This type of system will not work. I live in MA, and it is not working here. Lower income people maintain decent coverage because of mass government subsidies, however, the program will be financially INSOLVENT by 2011 because of out of control insurance costs and we will be unable to afford the cost of providing care to those under these subsidies. Those in the middle are not making out well, as the plans are simply to expensive once you cross the line over the income for government assistance. Many people are forced to buy 'catastrophic coverage' (I told you, these plans are not equal, mandatory private insurance means everyone has some type of coverage, not equal or adequate coverage) instead of purchasing a full insurance plan because those plans cost 800 or more a month for a family of four. Or, they simply don't buy any insurance because they can't afford it and then, pay a penalty tax because they didn't 'opt in'. All of this because the politicians are bending over backwards, sideways, forewards, and every directin in between to keep the health insurance companies in the middle.

All evidence shows single payer is the best system to actually solve the problem. The majority of physicians want it. The majority of nurses want it. A big problem for Congress because the American people have a hell of a lot more of earned respect for our health providers, it shows a pretty cowardly and desperate approach that they are arresting doctors and nurses who show up to speak out for single payer. But, the government isn't currently trying to solve the health care problem for the people. Their goal is to figure out a way to keep the insurance companies in the middle, while placating the American people just enough to stop a full out revolt. Throw us crumbs and keep the gravy train running. It won't work, it simply can't because that which can't last forever simply won't. In the meantime, however, there are millions of people suffering terribly due to a health insurance policy dictated by greed and it is up to us, as citizens, to fight to stop this suffering and misery for all Americans.

We must show up for this - we must join the single payer movement. Donate to the cause. Show up to the meetings. Talk to our neighbors, friends, and relatives. Call Congress & the Senate and tell them we want Single Payer Health Insurance now. Tell them we are watching their votes and bill sponsorships, and that they will lose your support if they don't stand up for single payer now. Go to their offices in groups.

Don't just shrug your shoulders and say 'while, if Obama isn't for it, I guess we just won't get it'. Excuse my french, but WTF is up with that attitude? When the hell did we become a country that let the politicians who are suppossed to represent us decide to go against the majority's will without consequence and outrage?

Right now, the corporate fascists are winning. The trash for cash bank bailouts that created a shitstorm under Bush passed with little resistance when promoted by Obama. Now, we are threatened with a private insurance health bill that won't solve health care.

This must end. Remember, everyone. Policy over politician, now, forever and always.

Fight the good fight, and when you get down, remember the sick and dying Americans who need those of us who can speak out and fight for equal health CARE coverage for all.

Single payer universal health insurance all the way.

Let's fight on.

:kick:

I can speak for those who can't and I will.

I am hoping to help the nurses organize to be a key spokesperson for single payer. Nurses have a lot of earned respect and capital, and if the politicians arrest nurses and ignore nurses on a mass scale, there will be hell to pay!

to stand and voice their opinions for single-payer health care cut through all the media drivel on the issue.

You are my heroes.

Organize, organize, organize.

:loveya:

And of course I'll do my part.O8)

:kick:

was born with a genetic kidney disease. He is now 21 and when he turns 25 he will not get health insurance and may need a transplant or dialysis for life. He and all people like him, which ultimately includes all of us. No doubt, sooner or later, everyone will need catostrophic health care, from the consequences of an accident, toxins, heart disease, cancer, auto-immune deficiency related diseases, and inevitable pandemics. Private-profit motivated so-called health care insurers will not cover people with pre-existing conditions, or will find reasons to deny health care for people seeking treatment for any reason they can make-up, in order to not pay under existing insurance policies. Having private-pay health insurance is no guarantee that medical treatment will be provided when needed, they will always seeks to find a way to not pay - in order to make the highest possible profits. That is what private business is all about - if there is no profit, there is no service! They do not care if their decisions, to not pay under an existing policy or in the first instance to not insure any given person, result in the suffering, family financial collapse or the death of people. They feel no moral responsibility for their negative impact on our citizenry. Therefore, the citizenry needs to get rid of this menance, this contagent, this viral pandemic and replace it with a tax-payer supported medical treatment system of care for every citizen of the United States. Or, we all perish, including those who work for health insurance companies!

It was a joke about having a hip replacement. The punchline was that the first patient was a dog and it took less time than it would for a human to have the procedure done.

I wrote my friend back and said it was a funny joke, but that 47 millions Americans were without any health insurance at all and while people in the UK and Ireland could make jokes about health care, it was no laughing matter to those without it here in the US.

I'm lucky I have Medicaid but for how long I haven't a clue. My husband is one of the 47 million Americans without health insurance. We both have pre-existing conditions that would make us ineligible for "regular" healthcare.

Both my husband and I want single payer insurance. Feck the health insurance companies profits.... They're nothing but greedy, uncaring CEO's and stockholders who make money off of other people's suffering.

National health insurance has been in the platform of the DNC since 1948 when Harry Truman realized it was the way of the future. Gee, I wonder why the UK, France and Germany turned to "socialized medicine" after WWII? Possibly the governments of those countries realized that their citizens had been through enough death and destruction and decided for once to do something right and decent for their citizenry.

Delete double post.

Anyone have any idea what the President is hearing from people back home in Chicago?

Boatloads of what used to be the middle class in any and all of the rust-belt states have been struggling since the 1970's to keep their heads above water, and the cost of (or complete lack of) health care has GOT to be a huge issue for them.

Perhaps they just need access to PCs and the Internet or, simply, a pen and paper, an envelope and a stamp.

It's time for single payer and the end of billion dollar a month health insurance companies.

:kick:

Bloody Hands. Private Insurers make self-interested and arbitrary claim and coverage denials relegating many to premature death.

Restrict Choice. Private Insurers restrict medical consumers’ choice in medical providers, inhibiting the proper function of the free market in medical services and enabling bad providers to thrive.

Adds Complexity. Over 1,200 Private Insurance bureaucracies complicate and impede the practice of medicine with differing and often conflicting billing and administrative policies.

Drains Resources. Nearly 30% of the healthcare spending funneled through health insurance middlemen is wasted on profit taking, underwriting, executive compensation and other unnecessary expense and waste.

Squanders Expertise. Our current health care model diverts providers' attention from "how to heal" to "how to get compensated" by the shameless insurers.

Manipulates the Media. Private Insurers exert a level of editorial control over the media via advertising purchases.

Corrupts Our Politics. Private Insurers manipulate elected officials with campaign donations, plum corporate jobs, and an army of lobbyists.

Brainwashes the Populace. Private Insurers use paid media to lie directly to the populace, leveraging fear tactics and other highly sophisticated propaganda campaigns in order to evade accountability for the consequences of their actions and protect the status quo.

Restricts Debate. Private Insurers’ media and political operatives dishonestly malign genuine reform as “politically infeasible” in order to limit the debate to industry-blessed half measures.

Private Health Insurance Must Go!

Reform proposals that do not remove private insurers from our healthcare system are morally unacceptable, fiscally irresponsible, and unsustainable even in the near term. These “mandate and subsidize” proposals are not well meaning attempts at realism by so-called centrists. They are a sinister attempt to marginalize the opportunity our country has at this defining moment to sideline the private insurers and move to a healthcare system that works – publicly funded and privately provided Medicare for all, as implemented in HR 676 – The United States National Health Care Act.

Monday morning, an unlikely gathering of health care industry and union leaders emerged from the White House, announcing a historic agreement to lower medical costs and save the average family up to $2,500. This kind of broad coalition would have been unthinkable in the past, when the old politics of division and short-term self interest held sway. But this is a new day.

Yesterday afternoon, President Obama announced the three bedrock principles that any comprehensive health care reform must achieve: (1) reduce costs, (2) guarantee choice, and (3) ensure all Americans have quality, affordable health care. And he set a hard goal for getting it done by the end of this year.

For those determined to oppose reform, the President's announcement means lobbyists are already scrambling across D.C. For the rest of us, it means there's no time to lose. As we speak, Congress is negotiating the details for health care reform, so the first step is showing where the American people stand.

Please click below to sign a declaration of support urging Congress to follow President Obama's three core principles for health care reform -- and to enact them before the end of this year:

I told him to get us Single Payer now or he is going home in 2012.