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It's time for single-payer health care in Pa.
February 9
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From: www.PA2010.com
By: Cindy Purvis, HealthCare4ALLPA 501c4 President
"It's about jobs, jobs, jobs, stupid."
This was the answer I recently received from a state Senator when I tried to talk to him about single-payer health care legislation currently before the the General Assembly, HB 1660 and SB 400. The good senator was not being unkind or flippant; he was just trying to emphasize where the voters' minds are as the 2010 elections approach.
While I understand his point of view, this narrow understanding of the benefits of substantive health care reform - both in financial savings and in creating jobs - is a disservice to the constituents he serves. Publicly-funded, privately-delivered health care for all delivers economically, morally and democratically in a way we Keystones Staters haven't imagined in a very, very long time. Pennsylvania's next governor should move this legislation forward.
My discussion with our unnamed lawmaker took place during the recent Democratic State Committee meeting in Lancaster, where Casey Democrats, Rendell Democrats and progressive Democrats united in unanimously passing a resolution in support of this legislation. At a forum hosted by the Democratic Women's Caucus, all five gubernatorial candidates paid al least positive lip service to single-payer. Three of the five publicly vowed to sign this legislation if it comes to their desk. One, Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel, promised to help get a single-payer bill to his desk.
The days of trying to fit issues into neat little packages tied up with bows are over in politics. Our citizens have wised up and know the importance of education; the difference between a living wage and minimum wage; the necessity of health care that is high quality, comprehensive, accessible and affordable for all. These issues and so many more are interchangeable and interconnected to the point that speaking about one is speaking about the other.
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PA Dem State Committee Takes Single-Payer Healthcare Mainstream, Unanimously Endorses It
February 9
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By: Jerry Policoff, Board Member, HealthCare4ALLPA
If you are a single-payer advocate (full disclosure: I am), Lancaster Pennsylvania had a surreal tinge to it this past weekend. Fellow advocates were converging upon the Host Hotel and Conference center from as far away as Erie along with Democratic State Committee people, undaunted by a near-record snow fall and seemingly unconcerned about how they would get home again, or when.
The setting was the Winter Meeting of the Pennsylvania Democratic Committee, hardly a glamorous affair, but this weekend held out the possibility for an historic breakthrough in the long and often frustrating (critics and naysayers might even say futile) battle to bring universal healthcare to Pennsylvania, and after that to the entire United States of America. Tommy Douglas had pulled it off for our neighbors to the North more than a half a century earlier en route to being voted the "greatest Canadian" of all time for bringing single-payer healthcare to Canada, beginning with his home Province of Saskatchewan. The United States remains the only advanced industrialized nation in the world without universal healthcare for its citizens. Why not make it unanimous, and why not start in Pennsylvania where our very democracy was born? Those were the kinds of thoughts circulating through the heads of many of the people gathered in Lancaster last weekend.
PA Democratic State Committee Uninimously Endorses HB1660, SB400
February 8
To share this story, click on the title, then click on the share button. From:Center Daily Times Online - http://www.centredaily.com/news/local/story/1777466.html
...Committee members also unanimously endorsed a resolution calling for passage of single payer health care, Senate Bill 400 and House Bill 1660, together known as the Family and Business Health Care Security Act.
"Not only does Pennsylvania now have the Democratic Party on board with the single payer health care for all," Chuck Pennacchio, executive director of Healthcare for All PA, said in a news release, "we also have the promised signature of our governor and the active support of Republican and Democratic leaders in both the state Senate and state House."
Pass legislation without corporate intervention
February 8
To share this story, click on the title, then click on the share button. From: Center Daily Times Online - http://www.centredaily.com/331/story/1754404.html
By:Brenda Black, HealthCare4ALLPA
Pass legislation without corporate intervention
"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."
Martin Luther King Jr.
Pennsylvania's secret: Senate Bill 400 and House Bill 1660 would give comprehensive care to all Pennsylvanians for less than the cost of most Americans' for-profit insurance.
Pennsylvania health care bills save. They are House and Senate versions based on Medicare-for-All similar to that demanded and received by most of the industrialized world. Single-payer saves billions of dollars by eliminating for-profit insurance, whose costly bureaucracies disqualify people from care.
Why isn't Congress passing a single-payer system? Our Congress won't or can't control insurance companies because legislators take large donations from lobbies that demand support; they are afraid insurance companies and the media will sow disinformation (remember "Harry and Louise" ads about the Clintons' plan or current death panel hype); and perhaps insurance company employees would be put out of work.
Meanwhile costs drive millions into bankruptcy and 45,000 die yearly without life-saving health care. So Congress is building a bulky national plan that gives the insurance companies thousands of customers subsidized by billions of taxpayer dollars.
Some say, "I've got my insurance, so why pay for others?" If religious teachings that we are our brothers' keepers don't move us, consider that untreated people can and do infect the rest of us. We're already paying for the destitute who receive treatment, usually belatedly and more expensively, in emergency rooms.
And insurance is becoming more costly, as shown in statistical trends: People find insurance costs rising until they can no longer pay their bill or their insurance increasingly denies them meaningful coverage. This nation must find a reasonable way to cover the ever-increasing number of uninsured.
The Pennsylvania bills are estimated to save the commonwealth more than $335 million yearly in employee health care expenses (more than $18 million in Centre County).
Pennsylvania Democrats Unanimously Endorse Single Payer Senate Bill 400 and House Bill 1660
February 6
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Potential Massive Savings for Philadelphia
February 5
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http://www.whatsuptoday.net/
CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COULD SAVE $381,011,939 PER YEAR ON EMPLOYEE HEALTH CARE COSTS UNDER LEGISLATION NOW PENDING IN HARRISBURG
Philadelphia City Councilman Bill Greenlee (At-Large) will accept a symbolic check made out to Pennsylvania taxpayers by leaders of the healthcare reform group "Healthcare4allPA" at a press conference scheduled for Thursday, February 4, at 9:00 am at City Council's Caucus Room, Room 401, City Hall, Philadelphia.
According to surveys conducted by the statewide health advocacy group, under provisions of the bills, HR1660 and SB400, Philadelphia could reduce its current spending on health benefits to its workers by more than $381 millions per year.
Open Letter from HealthCare4ALLPA Physicians
January 12
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Dear fellow physicians,
We are in troubling times. Our work hours are consumed in efforts to provide the best in care for our patients while maintaining the financial stability of our practices. Some of us remain independent while others are employees of larger entities. We range from primary care to the many sub-specialties of medicine, from those of us who are near the end of our careers to those of us who have only just begun. Many of us are so busy just trying to keep our noses above the water line that it is practically impossible to keep up with the healthcare reform debate. Even if we do, with all the claims and counter-claims, here is the truth? What are we to believe?
Do you realize that we have 46.2 million uninsured in our country? In addition, another 23 million are underinsured. Do you realize that the latest estimate is that 45,000 people a year die because they do not have health insurance? Did you know that we are presently spending about 17% of our gross domestic product for healthcare, nearly twice the per capita cost of any other nation on earth? Citizens of the United States continue to pay more and more for their healthcare and yet receive less and less in way of benefits.
Lobbyists in Washington have won the day thus far. The present bills available have protected the special interests, the Private Health Insurance industry and the Pharmaceutical industry in particular. It is our opinion that whatever is passed nationally this year, it will fall woefully short of providing affordable, accessible, high-quality healthcare for all Americans. We believe as long as we allow a profit-first health insurance industry and pharmaceutical industry to dictate the terms of reform, they will maintain their profit margin while the rest of us, patients and providers alike, will suffer the consequences of increased complexity and barriers to care in the form of pre-authorizations and denials of care.
We believe that there is a win-win solution available now in the state of Pennsylvania. There are identical bills, HB 1660/SB 400, called the Family and Business Health Security Act. This legislation if enacted would provide first dollar care for all doctor, hospital, prescription, physical and occupational therapy, addiction care, mental health care, dental, and eye care as well as ambulance transportations. This is a huge win for all patients.
What is the win for physicians and other providers? The Pennsylvania Health Care Agency would be responsible for negotiating reimbursement schedules on an annual basis with providers. Institutional providers such as hospitals, nursing homes, and healthcare systems would be paid with a global payment based on the previous year's expenditures. Physicians could choose to be paid by fee for service or by global payments. We believe that our reimbursement for our services would be fair and commensurate with our training.
Click here for the full letter. You may copy and distribute it as much as you'd like!
PA Single Payer Gains New Co-Sponsors
December 1
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From: Commonsense2.com
By: Ron Stouffer
I am happy to report that SB 400/HB 1660, the Family and Business Health Care Security Act, a Medicare-like bill with bi-partisan support, has gained the support of State Senator Christine M. Tartaglione(Philadelphia) and State Representatives Tim Briggs(Montgomery) and Babette Josephs(Philadelphia).
Now I look forward to additional sponsorship, from State Representatives David Kessler and Tim Seip, both from Berks County, since the Berks County Democratic Committee recently endorsed the bill unanimously and because Senator Mike O’Pake and Reps. Tom Caltagirone and Dante Santoni, Jr. are co-sponsors and fellow members of our Berks delegation.
The City Council of Reading recently endorsed the bill by a vote of 5-2 and the City Council of Lancaster endorsed the bill unanimously. Along with endorsements from West Reading, Wilkes-Barre, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Allegheny County, nearly one-quarter of the population(three million) of PA’s twelve million citizens are now represented. Polls show majority support among citizens and physicians for a single-payer system.
Healthcare For All PA Lancaster Pa. City Council Unanimously Endorses Pa. Single-Payer Bills HB 1660/SB 400
November 24
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It is with great pride that I pass on the wonderful news that the Lancaster City Council tonight unanimously passed Council Resolution No. 74-2009, urging the PA General Assembly to support the passage of HB1660 and SB400.
Lancaster joins the City Councils of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Wilkes Barre, West Reading and Reading and the Allegheny County Council in moving the state of Pennsylvania one step closer to becoming the first state to pass single-payer legislation. Together, these councils represent over 3 million Pennsylvanians and more than 25% of the population of Pennsylvania.
I am proud of having played a role in bringing this about, but I am prouder of the Lancaster City Council and the citizens of Lancaster who knew that this was the right thing to do and made it happen.
Jerry Policoff
Board Member,
HealthCare4ALLPA
Half of PA Senate Democratic Caucus Signed on in Support of SB400!
November 24
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Click here to see the SB400 Bill Information Page.
Single-payer health care advocates rally for action in Harrisburg
October 23
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From:Insurance nad Financial Advisor
By: Keith L. Martin
Link: http://ifawebnews.com/2009/10/21/single-payer-health-care-advocates-rally-for-action-in-harrisburg/
Single-payer health care advocates rally for action in Harrisburg
Advocates of state or federal sponsored universal health care, including two Pennsylvania state legislators, gathered at the State Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., to promote their solution to the nation's coverage crisis.
State Sen. Jim Ferlo (D-Pittsburgh) and State Rep. Kathy Manderino (D- Philadelphia/Montgomery) were among the speakers at a rally Oct. 20 to call for action, including increasing attention paid to two bills they have sponsored to bring a single-payer system to Pennsylvania.
"We need real solutions to solve our current healthcare crisis," Ferlo said. "The single- payer strategy is the only way to remove the waste in the system and provide universal coverage."
Ferlo has introduced the Family and Business Healthcare Security Act (SB 400), which would employ a pair of new taxes to pay for universal coverage. A 3% personal income tax for individuals and a 10% payroll tax on businesses would be levied. The new taxes, along with existing Medicaid/Medicare, tobacco settlement funds and other existing health care dollars would pay for the single-payer approach under his proposed legislation.
Berks Activists Join Harrisburg Health Care Rally
October 23
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From:The Reading Eagle
By: Mary E. Young
Link: http://www.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=162217
Berks activists join Harrisburg health care rally
Proponents of single-payer coverage back state legislation proposing such a system
Supporters of a single-payer health care system for Pennsylvania packed the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg on Tuesday to draw attention to the issue.
Rosie Skomitz of Mount Penn estimated 50 people from Berks County joined a group of about 1,200 listening to speakers talk about the benefits of a proposal that would pay doctors and health care providers from a fund made up of a proposed 3 percent income-tax surcharge on workers and a 10 percent payroll tax on employers.
Its supporters say health care would cost less and access to health care would improve with a single-payer system.
Skomitz, who with her husband, Ron Stouffer, has been a strong advocate for health care reform, said the rally sponsored by Health Care for All PA was part of a statewide grass-roots effort to continue encouraging people to join the fight.
"One by one we get people to join us," she said. "They're learning.
"It's not so much preaching to the choir, but making a statement that the choir is getting bigger."
WFMZ Covers October 20 Single Payer Rally
October 23
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From: WFMZ
Link: http://www.wfmz.com/view/?id=1286019