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Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."

— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Working with and for progressives, Labor, people of color, peace and justice organizations, and you to transform our society

In the drive to bring common sense to the administration of healthcare and to the goal of serving the common good and needs of all Americans the Ohio organizing chapter of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) stand in support of Congressman John Conyers (Mi), HR676 - Healthcare for All Americans and the state initiative entitled Health Care for All Ohioans Act. Ohio has 1.3 million uninsured and hundreds of thousand more underinsured, and it is time to take action, regardless of the moneyed interests that will challenge us. We must end a system that wastes billions in unnecessary costs and prohibits all Ohio citizens access to the dignity of a healthy life from cradle to grave.

Join PDA-Ohio and SPAN in the Drive to Solve Ohio's Healthcare Riddle

SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE NEWS, ARTICLES, EVENTS AND ENDORSERS

Unions for Single-payer Healthcare

http://unionsforsinglepayerhr676.org/

SPAN Teach In and Lobby Day in Columbus

By Deb Silverstine, PDA Board Member and SPAN-Ohio Portage County Coordinator

March 11, 2009

On Wednesday, March 11th SPAN Ohio conducted a Teach In and Lobby Day in Columbus for our elected representatives. Constituents were urged to participate and meet with their elected representatives to talk about the Health Care for All Ohioans Act and urge them to attend the Teach In.

The session for legislators began with an introduction by Representative Mike Skindell who, along with Representative Bob Hagan, will sponsor the Health Care for All Ohioans Act when it is re-introduced later in the month. Following Representative Skindell, Dr. John Ross of Toledo presented a power point presentation prepared by Physicians for a National Health Program and discussed the problems with an employer/insurance based system. He also strongly advocated for a single-payer system in his presentation. This was followed by questions and answers from the audience. Happily, Kathleen Chandler was among those who attended the presentation.

The initiative which when implemented will provide all qualifying Ohio residents and all qualifying persons employed in Ohio with coverage for inpatient and outpatient care, preventive care, mental health, vision, hearing, prescription drugs, dental, emergency services, rehabilitation services, hospice care, home care, health maintenance care, medical supplies, necessary transportation for covered health care services, and all other necessary medical services as determined by any state licensed, certified, accredited, or otherwise authorized provider.

Working with the Single Payer Action Network (SPAN), the organization that is taking the lead in Ohio to bring healthcare to all Ohioans, PDA-Ohio pledges to support SPAN in whatever way able to help in the gathering of signatures to reach the necessary county targets to bring this initiative to the ballot.

Please visit http://spanohio.org/ to learn more about SPAN and the petition drive.

It is our hope that along with PDA chapters throughout the state that other like-minded, progressive organizations will come on board to help SPAN in this worthwhile cause to bring both sanity and common sense to how we address the healthcare needs of Ohioans.

Many centuries ago the question was once asked to a wise man, "Who is my neighbor?" In the spirit of that answer to the question, we call upon all Ohio citizens, local governments, organizations, public servants, and political groups to join SPAN and PDA in this effort. 200p being off-year in the election cycle, we ask that all concerned entities coalesce around this common goal to break the unending spiraling of unsustainable healthcare costs and make universal, affordable healthcare a reality for all Ohioans.

For more information, please read the petition for healthcare at: http://www.spanohio.org/Petition.pdf or contact Michael Carano, PDA-Ohio member and Regional SPAN Coordinator at 330.715.2066.

Local participants included Gwen and Stan Fischer, Mike Carano, Mary Nichols Rhodes, Steve and Jody Smith, Debbie Haley, Cynthia Tile and Debbie Silverstein. They held meetings with Kathleen Chandler, Tom Sawyer, Mike Moran, Steve Dyer, Armand Budish and Capri Cafaro.

A booklet of information concerning the legislation and arguments for support was delivered to every state representative and state senator.

Please continue to contact your elected leaders at all levels and urge their support for single-payer health care. Remind them we voted for CHANGE not CHAINS.

Obama to Single Payer Advocates: Drop Dead

Published on Tuesday, March 3, 2009 by Corporate Crime Reporter

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/03/03-15

Published on Thursday, March 5, 2009 by Wall Street Journal

Invited to Summit, Single-Payer Group Cancels Protest

http://www.commondreams.org:80/headline/2009/03/05-12

FAIR Study: Media Blackout on Single-Payer Healthcare

Proponents of popular policy shut out of debate

3/6/09

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3733

SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE UPDATE - (RECENT ARTICLES)

Single-Payer National Health Insurance

Single-payer national health insurance is a system in which a single public or quasi-public agency organizes health financing, but delivery of care remains largely private.

Currently, the U.S. health care system is outrageously expensive, yet inadequate. Despite spending more than twice as much as the rest of the industrialized nations ($7,129 per capita), the United States performs poorly in comparison on major health indicators such as life expectancy, infant mortality and immunization rates. Moreover, the other advanced nations provide comprehensive coverage to their entire populations, while the U.S. leaves 47 million completely uninsured and millions more inadequately covered.

The reason we spend more and get less than the rest of the world is because we have a patchwork system of for-profit payers. Private insurers necessarily waste health dollars on things that have nothing to do with care: overhead, underwriting, billing, sales and marketing departments as well as huge profits and exorbitant executive pay. Doctors and hospitals must maintain costly administrative staffs to deal with the bureaucracy. Combined, this needless administration consumes one-third (31 percent) of Americans’ health dollars.

Single-payer financing is the only way to recapture this wasted money. The potential savings on paperwork, more than $350 billion per year, are enough to provide comprehensive coverage to everyone without paying any more than we already do.

Under a single-payer system, all Americans would be covered for all medically necessary services, including: doctor, hospital, long-term care, mental health, dental, vision, prescription drug and medical supply costs. Patients would regain free choice of doctor and hospital, and doctors would regain autonomy over patient care.

Physicians would be paid fee-for-service according to a negotiated formulary or receive salary from a hospital or nonprofit HMO / group practice. Hospitals would receive a global budget for operating expenses. Health facilities and expensive equipment purchases would be managed by regional health planning boards.

A single-payer system would be financed by eliminating private insurers and recapturing their administrative waste. Modest new taxes would replace premiums and out-of-pocket payments currently paid by individuals and business. Costs would be controlled through negotiated fees, global budgeting and bulk purchasing.

The links below will lead you to more specific information on the details of single-payer:

Single-Payer Overviews

The Physicians Proposal for National Health Insurance

“Proposal of the Physicians’’ Working Group for Single-Payer National Health Insurance,” JAMA 290(6): Aug 30, 2003

Key Features of Single-Payer

A useful handout detailing the main features of single-payer.

Statement of Dr. Marcia Angell introducing the U.S. National Health Insurance Act

A great overview of the need for and logic of a single-payer system. Perfect as an introductory handout.

Liberal Benefits, Conservative Spending

Another great introductory handout.

The case for eliminating the private health insurance industry

By Don McCanne, MD and Leonard Rodberg, PhD

Public Citizen's Response to the Citizens' Health Care Working Groups Interim Recommendations (En Español)

A great overview on the benefits of a single-payer system by Public Citizen.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich Tackles Health Care

Rep. Kucinich talks with Truthdig about the health care crisis in America.

Download PNHP's Brochure

Single Payer: Facts and Myths

Single Payer FAQ

A frequently-updated catalog of the most-asked questions about single-payer.

Myths as Barriers to Health Care Reform

A paper refuting many of the myths associated with single-payer.

“Mythbusters” by the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation

A series of brief papers debunking the common misconceptions about the Canadian health system.

“Moral Hazard:” The Myth of the Need for Rationing

Rasell, E “Cost Sharing in Health Insurance – A Reexamination,” New Eng J Med., 332(7) 1995

Roos, et al “Does Comprehensive Insurance Encourage Unnecessary Use?” Can. Med. Assoc. J 170(2) Jan. 20, 2004

Gladwell, M. “The Moral Hazard Myth,” New Yorker Aug. 29, 2005

Myths and Memes About Single-Payer Health Insurance in the United State: A Rebuttal to Conservative Claims

Geyman, John; International Journal of Health Services, Volume 35, Number 1, Pages 63–90, 2005

Health Economics and Financing

Introduction: How Much Would a Single-Payer System Cost?

A review of government and independent studies of the cost of single-payer system.

Administrative Waste Consumes 31 Percent of Health Spending

Woolhandler, et al “Costs of Health Administration in the U.S. and Canada,” NEJM 349(8) Sept. 21, 2003

Administrative Costs in U.S. Hospitals are More Than Double Canada’s

Woolhandler, et al “Administrative Costs in U.S. Hosptials,” NEJM 329, Aug. 5, 1993

60 Percent of Health Spending is Already Publicly Financed, Enough to Cover Everyone

Woolhandler, et al. “Paying for National Health Insurance – And Not Getting It,” Health Affairs 21(4); July / Aug. 2002

A Proposal for Financing National Health Insurance

Rasell, Edith “An Equitable Way to Pay for Universal Coverage,” International Journal of Health Services. 29(1); 1999

"Liberal Benefits, Conservative Spending"

Grumbach, et al. JAMA, May 15, 1991, Vol. 265 No. 19

"Markets and Medical Care: The United States, 1993-2005"

Joseph White, Case Western Reserve University, The Milbank Quarterly, Volume 85, Number 3, 2007

"Single Payer—Fifty Players: Alternative Payers for Universal Health Insurance"

Thomas Bodenheimer, Health/PAC Bulletin, Fall 1992

Paying More, Getting Less: How much is the sick U.S. health care system costing you?

Joel A. Harrison, Dollars and Sense magazine, May/June 2008 issue

The Case Against For-Profit Care

Overview: The High Costs of For-Profit Care

Editorial by David Himmelstein, MD and Steffie Woolhandler, MD in the Canadian Medical Association Journal

For-Profit Hospitals Cost More and Have Higher Death Rates

Devereaux, PJ “Payments at For-Profit and Non-Profit Hospitals,” Can. Med. Assoc. J., Jun 2004; 170

Devereaux, PJ “Mortality Rates of For-Profit and Non-Profit Hospitals,” Can. Med. Assoc. J, May 2002; 166

For-Profit Hospitals Cost More and Have Higher Administration Expenses

Himmelstein, et al “Costs of Care and Admin. At For-Profit and Other Hospitals in the U.S.” NEJM 336, 1997

For-Profit HMOs Provide Worse Quality Care

Himmelstein, et al “Quality of Care at Investor-Owned vs. Not-for-Profit HMOs” JAMA 282(2); July 14, 1999

For-Profit Medicare Plans Cost 11 Percent More Than Traditional Medicare

MedPac Report, Jun 9, 2006

Quality and Malpractice

Introduction: Medical Malpractice, Health Care Quality and Health Care Reform (pdf)

A Forum Report by Gordon Schiff, MD

How Single-Payer Improves Health Care Quality (pdf)

A brief by PNHP (makes a great handout!)

A Better Quality Alternative: Single-Payer National Health Insurance

Schiff, et al “A Better Quality Alternative” JAMA, 272(10); Sept. 12 1994

Comprehensive Quality Improvement Requires Comprehensive Reform (pdf)

Schiff, et al “You Can’t Leap a Chasm in Two Jumps,” Public Health Reports 116, Sept / Oct 2001

The Failures of Other Reform Options

Individual Mandates (The Massachusetts Plan)

Consumer Directed Health Care and Health Savings Accounts

Tax Credits for Private Insurance

Why HSAs Won't Cure What Ails U.S. Health Care

Critique of Sen. Wyden's (OR) "Healthy Americans Act"

Comparison between Schwarzenegger Health Plan and Single Payer for California

State Single-Payer Bills

Issues for State Single-Payer Legislation

By Dr. Steffie Woolhandler

Key Features of Single-Payer

A useful handout to help recongnize state single-payer legislation

Health Spending By State Of Residence, 1991—2004

Health Affairs 26, no. 6 (2007): w651— w663

International Health Systems

International Health Systems for Single Payer Advocates

By PNHP Executive Director Dr. Ida Hellander

International Resources on National Health Insurance

Compiled by Joel A. Harrison, Ph.D., MPH

Health Care Systems - Four Basic Models

An excerpt from T.R. Reid’s book on international health care, "We’re Number 37!"

Single-Payer Bibliography

A bibliography of single-payer studies and papers

Physicians for a National Health Program

29 E Madison Suite 602, Chicago, IL 60602

Phone (312) 782-6006 | Fax: (312) 782-6007 | email: info@pnhp.org

Why are Republicans scared of competition?

The GOP can't stomach the prospect of American consumers having free choice over their healthcare programs.

By David Sirota

http://www.salon.com:80/opinion/feature/2009/03/14/sirota/index.html?source=newsletter

If you want to understand the healthcare crisis in America, no one explains it better than the the medical organization "Physicians For a National Healthcare Program - PNHP", Spend a half hour at the links below and you will come to the conclusion single-payer healthcare is the only option to repair our broken system. Read on:

Why are Republicans scared of competition?

The GOP can't stomach the prospect of American consumers having free choice over their healthcare programs.

By David Sirota

(Read)

Published on Wednesday, March 11, 2009 by TruthDig.com

Put Single-Payer on the Table

by Amy Goodman

(Read)