[Peace-discuss] health care law WAS: [Discuss] Fw:

[Ricky Baldwin]

All true.  It's helps millions, but leaves millions more out.  Time to speak up again and out loud about what we need: single payer.

 
Ricky 


"Speak your mind even if your voice shakes." - Maggie Kuhn


________________________________
 From: David Johnson <dlj725 at hughes.net>
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;@mail0.frost.chambana.net 
Sent: Sunday, July 1, 2012 10:35 AM
Subject: [Discuss] Fw:
 

 
 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: David Johnson 
To: david 
johnson 
Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2012 10:24 AM
Subject: Fw: 

 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: David Johnson 
To: Danielle Johnson 
Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2012 10:23 AM

Although 
the Supreme Court has upheld the Affordable Care Act, the law will not remedy 
the U.S. health crisis, physicians group saysFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 
28, 2012
Contact:
Garrett Adams, M.D., M.P.H., president PNHP
Andrew 
Coates, M.D., president-elect PNHP
Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., M.P.H.
David 
Himmelstein, M.D.
See Electronic Press Kit with selected spokesperson 
bios here. For contacts in nearly every state and 
major city, contact Mark Almberg, PNHP, (312) 782-6006, cell: (312) 
622-0996, mark at pnhp.org, or see www.pnhp.org/stateactions.
The 
following statement was released today by leaders of Physicians for a National 
Health Program (www.pnhp.org). Their signatures appear 
below.

Although the Supreme Court has upheld the Affordable Care Act 
(ACA), the unfortunate reality is that the law, despite its modest benefits, is 
not a remedy to our health care crisis: (1) it will not achieve universal 
coverage, as it leaves at least 26 million uninsured, (2) 
it will not make health care affordable to 
Americans with insurance, because of high co-pays and gaps in 
coverage that leave patients vulnerable to financial ruin in the event of 
serious illness, and (3) it will not control costs.

Why is this so? 
Because the ACA perpetuates a dominant role for the private insurance industry. 
Each year, that industry siphons off hundreds of billions of health care dollars 
for overhead, profit and the paperwork it demands from doctors and hospitals; it 
denies care in order to increase insurers’ bottom line; and it obstructs any 
serious effort to control costs.

In contrast, a single-payer, 
improved-Medicare-for-all system would provide truly universal, comprehensive 
coverage; health security for our patients and their families; and cost control. 
It would do so by replacing private insurers with a single, nonprofit agency 
like Medicare that pays all medical bills, streamlines administration, and reins 
in costs for medications and other supplies through its bargaining clout.

Research shows 
the savings in administrative costs alone under a single-payer plan would amount 
to $400 billion annually, enough to provide quality coverage to everyone with no 
overall increase in U.S. health spending.

The major provisions of the ACA 
do not go into effect until 2014. Although we will be counseled to “wait and 
see” how this reform plays out, we’ve seen how comparable plans have worked in 
Massachusetts and other states. Those “reforms” have invariably failed our 
patients, foundering on the shoals of skyrocketing costs, even as the private 
insurers have continued to amass vast fortunes.
Our patients, our people and 
our national economy cannot wait any longer for an effective remedy to our 
health care woes. The stakes are too high.

Contrary to the claims of 
those who say we are “unrealistic,” a single-payer system is within practical 
reach. The most rapid way to achieve universal coverage would be to improve upon 
the existing Medicare program and expand it to cover people of all ages. There 
is legislation before Congress, notably H.R. 
676, the “Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act,” which would do 
precisely that.

What is truly unrealistic is believing that we can 
provide universal and affordable health care in a system dominated by private 
insurers and Big Pharma.

The American people desperately need a universal 
health system that delivers comprehensive, equitable, compassionate and 
high-quality care, with free choice of provider and no financial barriers to 
access. Polls have repeatedly shown an improved Medicare for all, which meets 
these criteria, is the remedy preferred by two-thirds of 
the population. A solid majority of the medical profession now 
favors such an approach, as well.

We pledge to step up our work 
for the only equitable, financially responsible and humane cure for our health 
care ills: single-payer national health insurance, an expanded and improved 
Medicare for all.
Garrett Adams, M.D.
President
Andrew Coates, 
M.D.
President-elect
Oliver Fein, M.D.
Past President
Claudia Fegan, 
M.D.
Past President
David Himmelstein, M.D.
Co-founder
Steffie 
Woolhandler, M.D.
Co-founder
Quentin Young, M.D.
National 
Coordinator
Don McCanne, M.D.
Senior Health Policy Fellow
For 
a fact sheet on health care access, costs, safety-net and 
women’s health issues, and the evidence-based case for single-payer national 
health insurance, click here. 
For bios and video clips of selected PNHP spokespersons, click here.
Physicians for a National Health 
Program (www.pnhp.org) is an organization of more than 
18,000 doctors who advocate for single-payer national health insurance. To speak 
with a physician/spokesperson in your area, visit www.pnhp.org/stateactions or 
call (312) 782-6006.
 
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
Discuss at lists.chambana.net
http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/discuss-communitycourtwatch
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20120701/61398632/attachment-0001.html>