I Am A Republican… Can We Talk About A Single Payer System?

A noted Republican physician executive talks about single payer - By David May

ACC-in-Touch Blog, American College of Cardiology, April 23, 2013 - (Yes, this item is a little dated, yet it is still fundamentally useful in 2024 - Bill Davis) H/T to Dr. May and PNHP.

I am a Republican. For those who know me that is not a surprise. I live in a red state. I have never voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. I can field strip, clean and reassemble a Remington 12-gauge pump blindfolded. And on top of it, I think we should talk about having a single payer national health care plan. The reason is quite simple. In my view, we already have one; we just don’t take advantage of it. 

Firstly, Medicare and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are de facto setting all of the rules now. They are a single payer system.  When we go to lobby the Hill, we lobby Congress and CMS.  Talking to Blue Cross, Aetna, Cigna and United Health care is essentially a waste of time. All the third party payers do is play off the Medicare rules to their advantage and profit. They have higher premiums, pay a somewhat higher benefit and have a significantly higher level of regulation which impedes the care of their customers.  This is no longer consumer choice but effectively extortion, a less than hidden shake down in which the “choice” for a family of four is company A at $900 per month or company B at $1100 per month.  The payers are simply taking advantage of the system, playing both ends against the middle. 

Secondly, in order to move forward with true health care finance we need complete transparency in cost and expense… and we need it now. As was noted in a recent Time magazine piece on the hidden cost of health care, our current system is a vulgar, less than honorable construct more akin to used car sales than medical care, cloaked under the guise of generally accepted accounting principles and hospital cost shifting. 

Thirdly, with a single payer system would potentially come real utilization data, real quality metrics and real accountability. The promise of ICD-10 with all of its difficulties is that of a much more granular claims-made data. We could use some granularity in health care data and we will never achieve it in big data quantities without a single payer system.

Lastly, I think that the physicians should be in charge of health care and not the insurance companies and hospital systems. With a single price structure, it becomes all about medical decision making, efficiency, the provision of care to our patients, and shared decision making, all of which we do well. 

How, you might say, could a Republican come to such a position? The simple answer is I really think it is quite Republican.  Oh, I know there will be many raised eyebrows and many critics. I accept that.  I understand the fact that no single payer system is perfect, that it is “socialist,” that it is “un-American.” 

I would submit to you, however, that it is un-American to allow many of our citizens to be uninsured, that it is un-American to shunt money away from a strong military in order to support a bloated, inefficient and fraud-laden health care system, that it is un-American not to be open and above board with the cost of what we do, the expense of that service and the profit that we make. Mostly, it is un-American to let this outrageous health care injustice continue.

(David May, MD, PhD, FACC, is chair of the Board of Governors of the American College of Cardiology. He invites responses to his comments at the link below.)

originally published link dead: blog.cardiosource.org/post/I-Am-A-Republicane280a6-Can-We-Talk-About-A-Single-Payer-System.aspx

Comment:

By Don McCanne, M.D.

David May provides an important lesson for those who think that the single payer concept falls on the far left of a linear political spectrum. Society is not linear; it’s four dimensional. If we look at all dimensions, single payer clearly prevails. We can thank Dr. May for shattering the traditional but flawed construct of health care ideology.

How Outreach and Deep Canvassing Can Change Rural Politics - YES! Magazine

How Outreach and Deep Canvassing Can Change Rural Politics - YES! Magazine: In North Carolina, progressive activists reach out to rural voters as an overlooked segment of the electorate.

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2014/september/how-much-is-wasted-on-defensive-medicine

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2014/september/how-much-is-wasted-on-defensive-medicine

How I lost my fear of universal healthcare

I hope you find this article as interesting as I did.

Read it here

Partners for Dignity & Rights

https://dignityandrights.org/

I saw Jesus in Huber Heights on Sunday afternoon (4/12/15).  He didn't look like the Nazarene often depicted by artists.  He appeared as a young woman standing on Executive Blvd begging from people waiting to get through the traffic light.  She held a small cardboard sign with a little cross in the middle surrounded by the words homeless hungry please help God Bless.

Fortunately, we had a gift card handy to give her.  Had I been alone in the car, I may have accepted the possible risk of picking her up to see if I could help more in some way.  I won't forget her face.  She looked so, so sad. So close to the brink of tears.

Do you see Jesus in our community? He's back, looking for compassionate people who will look through His eyes at community needs.  He's looking for voters who will elect people who know what is right for the community instead of those who will cater to their wealthy donors.  Jesus taught us to heal the sick, support the weak and comfort the afflicted, not to hate poor, disabled and aging people.  He's looking for people of faith, carrying the light of truth and ready for action to care for ALL of His children.  Are you ready to take up His cross of caring for others by seeking to understand and help resolve their problems instead of judge and hate them because some talking head, politician or un-Christian charlatan preacher says you should? Aren't you really smarter and more caring that that?

Bill Davis likes a link.

6 minutes ago · Edited

Sunday, 30 March 2014

I've watched 60 Minutes for years and this is one of the outstanding pieces of late. This is the kind of reporting viewers need to acquire the knowledge of what is going afoul in our society. This highlights how legislation to maintain a level field for all players is lagging technology and how regulations need to establish some kind of change control to be sure that some new bright idea is not going to rob naive players of the money they have entrusted to investment advisers.
If ever government had a purpose, it was to do what individuals cannot do for themselves and protect consumers from sophisticated ways of extracting gains from a system in some underhanded unethical way. All this brainpower put to better use would be to resolve world poverty, not suck wealth out of the market to a secret bank foreign account.

Is the U.S. stock market rigged?

www.cbsnews.com

Some things about voting and elections worth thinking about.

Thanks to Bill Cash for these remarks.

I agree with getting partisanship out of our elections and getting independents fully into the process. However, I do realize there is a difference between the parties. Both are corrupt but the republican party is far worse. They are waging a war on our democracy. Through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) they are driving bills through state legislatures to guarantee their success. In Republican controlled states they are severely gerrymandering districts so that it is almost impossible for anyone else to have more districts than them. That is the first step. The second step is to change how the state allocates its electoral votes. They've already voted in some republican controlled states to allocate the votes by district rather than popular vote. The courts did not allow these changes for the 2012 elections but the courts are not a sure way to stop it. It only applied to that one election.

In Virginia, they've already passed these laws and if they had been in effect in 2012, even though Obama won the popular vote by 4%, he would have only garnered 4 electoral votes and Romney would have received 9. These bills are being passed in all the republican controlled states.

The republicans are in a rush to change these laws because they know demographics will overtake them eventually. With these changes, they don't have to worry about it. Their one problem is the statewide offices which are still governed by popular vote. Statewide, Virginia just went democratic but the republicans are firmly in control of the legislature because of the gerrymandering.

I am working with Common Cause for the National Popular Vote which would undermine these stunts in the presidential elections but, from having been at legislative sessions, I can tell you the republicans fiercely oppose it. ALEC is sending representatives out to speak against it in many states. They sent a woman from Texas to testify in Connecticut.

A few positive things happening for voter registration come from Obamacare and the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.

Under the terms of an agreement announced between California and an alliance of good government groups, the state will mail voter registration forms to 4 million people who applied for Obamacare via California’s online exchange. The deal could end up creating 400,000 new registered Golden State voters—the actual numbers will be available later this year.

Nationwide, Obamacare could ultimately be responsible for registering anywhere from 3 to 7 million voters—potentially over 10% of the total number of eligible voters who aren’t registered today—over the next eight years.

Under the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), which aimed to boost voter registration, people applying for public assistance—as well as DMV customers—must be offered the chance to register to vote. That means every state insurance exchange like California’s, as well as the federal exchange, will need to ask people whether they want to register. Even those people who end up getting covered via Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion or through other parts of the law, rather than through the private market, will still be offered the chance to register to vote.

After congressional Republicans raised concerns about the ACA being used for voter registration, the Obama administration soft-pedaled the requirement on the federal exchange by merely including a one-sentence link to an all-purpose federal government website. Project Vote and Demos have said that approach isn’t enough to comply with the NVRA, and are urging the administration to make it more prominent. Many state exchanges also still aren’t complying with the law, the groups say. So once again the republicans are able to make Obama back down.

Throwing support behind these registration efforts could be very fruitful.

 

In some states the republicans are also driving fear into people trying to register voters. They are passing restrictive laws that if a registration form isn't completely completed or if it isn't processed within a certain number of days (a short time frame like 48 hours) the registrar can be subject to a heavy fine or even imprisonment in some cases.

Resolution in Support of Single-Payer National Health Insurance

Please sign the petition for the following Resolution

WHEREAS, 48 million Americans lacked health insurance in 2012, and an estimated 31 million Americans will remain uninsured in 2023, and

WHEREAS, the United States ranks last out of 19 high-income countries in preventing deaths amenable to medical care before age 75, and

WHEREAS, underinsurance is growing as many patients are forced into insurance plans with high-deductibles (> $1,000) and narrow networks of providers, and

WHEREAS, the United States spends twice as much per capita on health care as the average of wealthy nations that provide universal coverage, and

WHEREAS, medical bills contribute to 62% of all personal bankruptcies, and medical bankruptcy did not fall in Massachusetts after that state’s implementation of reform in 2006, and

WHEREAS, 75% of people bankrupted by medical bills had private insurance at the onset of illness or injury, and

WHEREAS, private insurance companies consume 13% of premiums in overhead compared to fee-for-service Medicare’s overhead of under 2%, and

WHEREAS, providers are forced to spend tens of billions more dealing with insurers billing and documentation requirements, bringing total administrative costs to 31% of U.S. health spending, compared to 16.7% in Canada, and

WHEREAS, the U.S. could save over $380 billion annually on administrative costs with a single-payer system, and

WHEREAS, the savings from slashing bureaucracy would be enough to cover all of the uninsured and eliminate cost sharing for everyone else, and

WHEREAS, a single-payer system could control costs through proven-effective mechanisms such as global budgets for hospitals and negotiated drug prices, thereby making health care financing sustainable, and

WHEREAS, a single-payer reform would reduce malpractice lawsuits and insurance costs because injured patients won’t have to sue for coverage of future medical expenses, and

WHEREAS, a single-payer system would facilitate health planning, directing capital funds to build and expand health facilities where they are needed, rather than being driven by the dictates of the market, and

WHEREAS, a single-payer reform would dramatically reduce, although not eliminate, health disparities. The passage of Medicare in 1965 led to the rapid desegregation of 99.6% of U.S. hospitals, and

WHEREAS, a single-payer system would allow patients to freely choose their doctors, give physicians a choice of practice setting, and protect the doctor-patient relationship, and

WHEREAS, there is single-payer legislation in both houses of Congress, H.R. 676 and S. 1782, and

WHEREAS, Vermont passed legislation in 2011 to create a “pathway to single payer” in that state starting in 2017, the soonest allowed under federal law, and many other state legislatures are considering similar legislation, therefore

BE IT RESOLVED that we, the undersigned, support universal access to comprehensive, affordable, high-quality health care through single-payer national health insurance, including single-payer legislation at the state level and urge you to cosponsor and pass the bills mentioned above.

Please sign the petition for the Resolution

For more information and local contacts or to offer support, see www.Healthcare-NOW.org

Derived from and References at www.PNHP.org/sampleresolution.pdf.

NOW IS THE TIME TO SPEAK UP.

We have a crisis in employment because employers are overburdened by healthcare costs.  Healthy people work. If we can bring the costs down as other countries have done, we will be more competitve in the global markets.

Signing this resolution should help get the attention of more representatives in Congress despite the money many take from the medical industry.

If you disagree, please do more research. Contact a local advocate for more information.  We've had enough suffering.  Our medical system is not the world's best by many standards, but it CAN be.  YOU need to speak up to be heard.

Cost of having a baby in the U.S.

emailed to contact.nbcnews@nbcuni.com
Copy and edit to send what you think.

Cost of having a baby in the U.S.

I just watched your (NBC Nightly News) story on family medical expenses.  You should ask yourselves if you want the people who don't worry about the cost of a child because they are on Medicaid producing the bulk of the next generation rather than the more calculating prospective parents who don't want to go broke having a family.
This is just one damning illustration of the failure of our political system being ignored by voters and overrun by corporate and 1% money to provide U.S. residents with the care they deserve in a nation that can easily afford it.
 Maybe you could start the public discussion so sorely lacking on what it would be like in this country if we fought the influence of the medical industry and followed the lead of other industrialized nations, notably Canada and implemented universal, comprehensive, publicly funded, fiscally conservative, privately delivered care. (Improved Medicare for All, H.R. 676)
I recommend you have a national town hall discussion following the airing of one or a series of movies such as Sicko, The Healthcare Movie, Escape Fire or the like.
You have media power to clean up the healthcare train-wreck, and I am not referring to Obamacare.  That was a step in the right direction, just way short of where we should be and loaded with unintended consequences..
You could present programming to counter the lies and propaganda so rampant for decades in our society.
What is the point of a free press if you are in collusion with those you should expose as bad actors averse to the public good?

Click below to sign the petition below

Click here to support Improved Medicare for All

See Resolution below posted yesterday.

Thanks!

Working for healthcare justice contributes to economic justice.

I’m almost finished reading “The Working Poor, Invisible in America” by David K. Shipler. I recommend it.  From the book: “the unbroken cycle:  Poverty leads to health and housing problems.  Poor health and housing lead to cognitive deficiencies and school problems.  Educational failure leads to poverty.”

Early in the first chapter, Shipler reveals there are seven interlocking pieces that work into the equation for living,  A job, medical insurance, good housing, reliable transportation, effective family budgeting, effective parenting and effective schooling are all necessary to be successful in moving away from the edge of poverty.  Attacking any one of these will not help.  However, we can eliminate one of them.  Medical care could be removed from this list if we decided that it was important enough to reduce poverty.  Disconnected from employment, Improved Medicare for All would allow people to receive care regardless of employment.  People would pay based on income.  When they are working, they will contribute.  There would be more jobs caring for people who go without today.  There would be no more medical bankruptcies, no more excluding employee candidates from being hired with concerns of how their health conditions would affect group insurance costs.

Working for healthcare justice contributes to economic justice.  

Visit healthcare-NOW.org,pnhp.org and spanohio.org for more information.  These sites have links to organizations with contacts in your area.

I tried submitting this through the cbsnew.com/60minutes website. It must be broken.  I get no response that message was either sent or received.  The website finally gave me an acknowledgment of my send.

Do you want the truth about H.R. 676 and the obstructions erected by the medical, insurance and Pharma industries? Do some cutting, pasting and sending of your own.

I'm watching your piece on psych bed shortage.  When are you going to tell your viewers how the powers that be have lied to them about healthcare reform? The Public option was squashed, H.R. 676 was not on the table.  Obamacare was a conservative idea of the Heritage Foundation, yet the Republicans, who got what they wanted are STILL obstructing and lying about the ACA. 

What your viewers want is the truth so they can make a valid decision.  You need to help dispel their fears about the need for change to Improved Medicare for All.  You need to invite some spokespeople from Physicians for a National Health Program (pnhp.org) to talk about this.  Wendell Potter is another choice to speak on how the insurance companies operate. Gerald Friedman a U. of Mass. Economist could speak on the economics of universal, comprehensive healthcare.  Real reform would kick start our economy.  Healthy workers are reliable, happy workers.

I used think more of 60 Minutes than I do now.  When are you going to get back to more real investigative journalism and less fluff? If it’s not the job of the media to inform Americans of the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, who will? Do you really want to lose any intelligent viewers you still have to internet bloggers for their news?

Mainstream Media News Fails

Below are comments sent to four TV networks.  I don't count Fox as a news network and they would pay the least attention to my comments anyway.

NBC

No results found for "single payer." Find more recent stories in NBC News Health:

Is the result I received for my search. 

ACA is big news, and a lot of people are complaining about it.  Why don't you complete the story, tell the truth about Improved Medicare for All.  You are doing your viewers a disservice by denying the existence of H.R. 676, the Conyers Bill.  You are doing the country a disservice.  You are helping kill 45,000 people annually in the U.S. just because they cannot afford insurance.  You are aiding and abetting the healthcare establishment to put countless people into bankruptcy.  Did you know that of the bankruptcies filed in recent years, over 60% involved medical bills? And of those, over 75% of those people had insurance when they became sick? Clearly, insurance offered by the for-profit companies is not the answer.

What is the point of a free press if you don’t report the truth and the whole truth, holding bad actors accountable to society? You have become corrupt as Congress. This is not a good time to be an American and unless corporations drop the corporate personhood stuff and recover responsibility for corporate citizenship first and stockholders next, it will become far worse.

For more information, check PNHP.org, Healthcare-NOW.org.

CBS

Searching CBSnews.com for “single Payer” gave just three relevant results today, December 29^th, 2013

Shocked, Yet Awed by Single-Payer Logic:  On AUG 24, 2009

Vermont governor signs single-payer health law:  On MAY 26, 2011 1:09 PM EDT 

Canada Faces Same Cost Pressures as U.S., Despite Its Single-Payer System ; On OCT 19, 2010 

I’m pretty sure Walter Cronkite would be ashamed of your present organization.

The ACA is big news, and a lot of people are complaining about it.  Why don't you complete the story, tell the truth about Improved Medicare for All.  You are doing your viewers a disservice by denying the existence of H.R. 676, the Conyers Bill.  You are doing the country a disservice.  You are helping kill 45,000 people annually in the U.S. just because they cannot afford insurance.  You are aiding and abetting the healthcare establishment to put countless people into bankruptcy.  Did you know that of the bankruptcies filed in recent years, over 60% involved medical bills? And of those, over 75% of those people had insurance when they became sick? Clearly, insurance offered by the for-profit companies is not the answer.

What is the point of a free press if you don’t report the truth and the whole truth, holding bad actors accountable to society? You have become corrupt as Congress. This is not a good time to be an American and unless corporations drop the corporate personhood stuff and recover responsibility for corporate citizenship first and stockholders next, it will become far worse.

For more information, check PNHP.org, Healthcare-NOW.org.

ABC

My search of abcnews.go.com for single Payer gave several results for this year. First, I noticed the endorsement of 'Single Payer" by Colin Powell. In Dayton, Oh your affiliate doesn't have the most popular 6pm news. With this search result, I will make it a point to watch ABC news at 6:30. I am hoping I will see more coverage of the benefits of Improved Medicare for All and how it is better than ACA and will create more jobs than it destroys. See PNHP.org and healthcare-now.org for more.

CWTV

Causes? Why not do something that will "Save the Humans"? How about running some specials on Single Payer, Improved Medicare for All. You could feature Colin Powell, Wendell Potter, Donna Smith.  They will all tell you that the ACA makes no sense and the longer we put it off, the more it will cost in lives and money.

On working for Democracy and Justice

News-flash for those who think the mainstream media, print, or broadcast, is liberal: That’s crap.

I received a petition from ThePetitionSite.com entitled “Glitter is Not Bioterrorism!”  I searched the internet with “glitter bioterrorism” and got hits on several internet publications, no print or broadcast media outlets were represented, not even PBS or NPR! One found headline: “A Glitter-Covered Banner Got These Protesters Arrested for Staging a Bioterror Hoax” continued with: “Energy giants have lobbied police to treat environmental activists like potential terrorists. Looks like it's working”.

            Isn’t it a little scary, no, really scary that not one Oklahoma City paper or TV station reported this story? No wire service covered it! Okay, maybe the origin was “The Onion”. Nope, I just checked.

Not only are corporations manipulating law enforcement, but no mainstream media is covering it.  You can’t get mad about what you are unaware of, can you? Should we be concerned about this? The whole point of a free press is to hold bad actors accountable.  Do we have a free press? Not anymore, apparently.  The FCC has allowed so many mergers of media organizations, there is insufficient competition and diversity in local media markets. 

This story and the lack of coverage seems to suggest that the media consolidations went way too far to maintain an objective, investigative press not subject to corporate dictates.  Do you know why the country is going to hell without a whimper? Few people know the truth because mainstream media no longer believes it is their job to tell the truth. Investigative reporting has lost a great deal of its punch since the 70’s.

I recently learned about www.equalitytrust.org.uk.  Look for the list under “The Spirit Level” heading and check those links.  Watch this six minute video on Wealth Inequality in America:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTj9AcwkaKM

Until we understand what is going on in our country, it will be difficult to aim at the cause to fix it, including the injustice in healthcare.

Citations: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/190/634/963/glitter-is-not-bioterrorism/

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/12/tar-sands-keystone-protesters-arrested-terrorism-glitter

Ms. Jana Collier, Editor-in-chief

Dayton Daily News

Dayton, OH

Dear Ms. Collier,

If you are serious about "Our mission is to provide investigative reporting and deliver in-depth coverage you won’t receive from any other source."...

Then you need to do more regarding your coverage of health care reform.  While you echo all the noise about how Obamacare is failing in one way or another, you have yet to offer your readers any original articles on the topic of Improved Medicare for All seen in the New York Times, The Washington Post or other periodicals.  You have failed to educate your readers on how the corporations have been brainwashing the public with propaganda linking any universal healthcare plan with socialism to scare them away from the most popular, comprehensive, cost-effective means of providing healthcare in the industrialized world.  You could have revealed the results of several surveys that show that Americans believe that the government needs to and should do something about the outrageous costs and injustices of our sick-care non-system.  Have you pointed out how imbalanced the messages are when the media calls playing clips of talking heads in Congress spouting lies over and over that people are taking it for the truth as news?  How many times could you count on "news" broadcasts the words, "the people don't want a government takeover of healthcare" coming from the mouths of Republicans in Congress? Did you offer any stories or opinions countering those scare tactics? No, no, no.

If you are really serious about providing the best in-depth articles, you would have your staff visit healthcare-now.org, pnhp.org, spanohio.org and read books listed at wndavis.blogspot.com and available at the Dayton Metro Library and wonder why you didn't do it sooner.  Anything you saw a reference to, that led to a broken link, you could ask me if I still have a copy.  I have so much I could provide, if you would only inquire.  Improved Medicare for All is the answer to so many issues of need, it's not funny.  So much money rides on the decisions about healthcare reform that the people making the money don't want the reform that would serve the public.  Saving that money absconded by insurance companies and co-conspirators could be put to so much better use. 

It's your job, although some so-called journalists deny it lately, to shed light on both sides of the issues so the people can make an informed decision.  Right now, only the arguments from the right are being heard over the omnipresent mainstream "liberal?" corporate media.  You need to balance that on the left, not with lip service, but with real facts.  If you don't, you will lose more readers to the DailyKos.com, Huffpost.com, NationofChange.org, etc.

Sincerely,

William N. Davis, II

Dayton, Ohio

Healthcare is a Human Right - far too little meaningful support from churches

Requested Post to Presbyterians everywhere on LinkedIn

I share the following with you because there is far too little meaningful support from churches in promoting the truth and differences between where we are and where we need to go and how to get there with Improved Medicare for All, HR 676.  We have many who "support it", but few who will evangelize about it.  Unfortunately, support is not all we need. Far too many people are disconnected and unaware of the truth, but well aware of the myths provided by the health insurance and medical industries.

I hope this will generate some interest in more people visiting Healthcare-Now as well as Physicians for a National Health Program, These organizations need your name on their list and  more money in their campaign chest not to mention feet on the ground for local functions to promote awareness.  How about if you arrange a showing and discussion of The Healthcare Movie.  Heathcare-Now has links to local organizations will people who will support you or help you get organized in your area.

Sincerely yours in Faith, Light and Action,

William N. Davis, II

Deacon, Stephen Minister and member

Westminster Presbyterian Church

Miami Valley Presbytery

Dayton, Ohio

Organizations of Faith for Single-Payer - From www.healthcare-now.org

Eleven faith-based organizations have passed resolutions in support of HR 676/Medicare for All so far.

In the summer of 2008, for example, the Presbyterian Church (USA), adopted a recommendation supporting national health care reform, calling for advocacy and education that pursues “the goal of obtaining legislation that enacts single-payer, universal national health insurance as the program that best responds to the moral imperative of the gospel.”

The United Methodists have called single-payer, the “Pure Alternative” to healthcare reform, and say that the, “United Methodist policy says ‘Yes’ to Jesus’ mandate that we move to a caring non-profit system that uses our money to cover everybody, not for profits, but for a single payer system that provides guaranteed quality healthcare for all.”

If your church or faith group wants to pass a resolution in favor of HR 676/single-payer, let us know. We’ll be happy to provide you with sample resolutions or more information.

Faith Endorsements for Medicare for All

Assembly of the Urban Caucus of the Episcopal Church
General Board on Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church
Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
Church Women United State Governments
Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Union for Reform Judaism
Ainsworth United Church of Christ of Portland, Oregon
The Network of Spiritual Progressives – Tikkun Magazine
United Church of Christ
Episcopal Church’s General Convention

Tonight I watched the news and saw a piece about an officer who patrols the Golden Gate Bridge.  He watches for suicidal people who have come out to jump.  The example mentioned tonight was a young man whose wife had a baby with complications.  He was hopeless about the debts accumulated for his baby's care.  The officer talked him down, but who knows how he will deal with the debt.  Will some generous angel who saw the clip pony up the money to relieve this family?
Have you noticed we've become a country of beggars? Another local story aired earlier was about a school who had a couple kids start collecting money to help a classmate with cancer.  They collected $800, I think, a drop not in the bucket, but in the storage tank it will take to pay the ridiculous medical bills.  That's a wonderful display of kindness and effort on their part.
Too bad we waste so much time begging with cans on convenience store counters, etc.  Everyone's collecting for something. Food pantries, disease research, PTO/PTA's, USO, DAV, crippled children, starving children, oh and the pets people abandon.  Let's not forget the poor, poor pets.
Maybe if we refused to be manipulated by the wealthy into thinking our country is broke and cannot afford to heal the sick, support the weak and comfort the afflicted, we could have a country like others around the world that cover all of their residents (and American tourists too!) without questions or bills.  If our president hadn't settled for the terms of the PPACA, we could be on our way toward implementing HR 676 that would not require a stupid website with all the moving parts that are needed for the PPACA.
Maybe if more people would VOTE instead of staying home in greater numbers than those who cast a ballot for either candidate for an office, we could fix our broken government and tax system and sick-care non-system.  And maybe start employing more people.
Our healthcare kludge is so expensive and ineffective that we are outranked by over thirty countries in outcomes.  We have high costs of manufacturing because of the traditional way be compensate workers with healthcare that has become a cost component just totally out of control.  Our country's economy will never recover until we grapple and defeat the opponents of universal, comprehensive healthcare.  Universal, everyone is covered. Comprehensive, complete in services for medical, dental, optical, hearing, mental health from womb to tomb.

Rant over.  Share if you agree.

Dear Senator Portman,

I sent you an email shortly after your son came out.  Maybe you never received it for one reason or another.  I don’t remember sending it via this website.

I am happy that your son forced you to think and reconsider your views on LGBT issues.  I admire your support for the ENDA bill.

I asked if you would need for someone close to you to get cancer and die or live after an accident and be broke with the medical bills before you would rethink the prevailing view that Obamacare is bad and improving Medicare and extending it to all residents would be impossible and impractical and un-sustainable, not to mention socialistic.

I urge you to ask for the economic impact studies done by Gerald Friedman for various single payer plans. I would attach them, but your website doesn’t accommodate that.   You should visit Rep. John Conyers and websites like PNHP.ORG, Healthcare-Now.org and SPANOhio.org just to mention a few.

There are many good books on the topic, among them are:

 Hijacked The Road to Single Payer in the Aftermath of Stolen Health Care Reform

The Healing of America

10 Excellent Reasons for National Health Care

http://wndavis.blogspot.com/ is my functional if not pretty blog with more links, letters etc.

I also highly recommend The Healthcare Movie.  I have a few DVDs if you would like one.

I look forward to hearing from you for an opportunity to discuss this topic.  If you would like me to send you some documents to save your staff some Googling time, I’ll need an email address where I can send attachments.

Sincerely,

William N. Davis, II

Dayton, OH

NESRI | National Economic & Social Rights Initiative | Human Needs | Human Rights

Here's an interesting website I found Googling around.

NESRI | National Economic & Social Rights Initiative | Human Needs | Human Rights