[Peace-discuss] [CentralILJwJ] Fw: [CCDS Members] Quote of the Day
Claudia Lennhoff
claudia at shout.net
Mon Jul 2 03:04:49 UTC 2012
Dear All,
Gene, I agree with you.
For what it's worth, I believe that you can be both a single payer
supporter/activist, and someone who ALSO sees how the health reform law
will benefit millions of people, AND how it will help pave the way for
universal health care and even single payer in our country (both through
the content of the law, and also through the community organizing
possibilities implementation of health reform presents).
Saying that the ACA will benefit people in real ways does not mean you
should lose your single-payer supporter/activist credentials. It just
means that you realistically understand that millions of people in our
country, and thousands in our cities and county locally, WILL have their
lives improved by having access to insurance and therefore to health care.
I see people's lives and health improve every single day when they
qualify for health insurance -- whether it's Medicaid or Medicare
(socialized health insurance) or whether it's a private for-profit plan
such as Health Alliance, by virtue of gaining coverage through a new job.
Illinois' own great programs (that have now been slashed in the budget
butchery), FamilyCare and All Kids, offered both public and private
health coverage (private was subsidized), and those programs DID help
thousands of people, the same way that the ACA will. I didn't see the
single-payer activists (and I am one) up in arms about those programs
when IL created and implemented them. I saw first hand how those
programs improved the lives of parents and their children.
Also, I work closely with the activists and advocates in Mass. who
played a big role in getting that program up and going (and many of them
are single-payer activists), and I personally know quite a few residents
of Mass. who have benefited from the health coverage they got because of
that state's program. Those benefits are real and do improve people's lives.
Is the ACA the way I would have designed universal health care for the
United States? No, of course not. I would have designed universal health
care as a single payer system -- a modification and expansion of
Medicare (Medicare for All!).
However, it is important to note that even Medicare relies on private
health insurance companies. There is no big central Medicare office
where Medicare processes all of its health insurance claims. That
processing of Part A, Part B, etc. claims takes place through private
health insurance companies that bid for, and get the federal government
contracts for processing claims in the various regions of the country.
So, even with the hallowed Medicare program, there IS a role for private
health insurance companies within that program.
That's a bit of a digression.
Despite my critiques and disappointments with the health reform law
(namely that it so heavily benefits and depends upon private health
insurance companies, and continues to commodify health care and health
insurance and retain the profit motive in those), I DO believe that the
law DOES and WILL provide very important benefits to the people of our
nation, and the people in our community.
It's not helpful to just say that the ACA is bad, just because it's not
single-payer. In fact, understanding the ACA inside and out, in a real
way, helps us advocates see the opportunities for pushing for
single-payer, or pushing for non-profit insurance opportunities which
could be transformative for our health care system.
Here are some facts about the health reform law:
1. More people WILL be insured because of this bill.
2. More people ARE ALREADY insured because of this bill -- for example:
- adult children (up to age 26) who have been able to get on to their
parents' health insurance;
- children who insurance companies could no longer deny coverage for
pre-existing conditions;
- people who got to keep their health insurance when they got diagnosed
with a serious illness because health insurance companies are now
prohibited from rescinding coverage;
- people who can not get insurance coverage through the states'
pre-existing conditions health insurance plans for the "uninsurable"
(Illinois' plan is at: http://insurance.illinois.gov/ipxp/)
3. Health insurance coverage will expand tremendously in 2014 for
millions of previously uninsured individuals. Some will get health
insurance through Medicaid (when categorical eligibility will be done
away with, and people will qualify solely on the basis of their income
-- for example, single, non-disabled adults will be able to qualify).
Others will get private health insurance, and many will get that private
health insurance subsidized so that it will be affordable for them. The
subsidy will be a sliding scale subsidy available to folks who have
incomes of up to 400% of the federal poverty level.
Here is a link to the health insurance premium subsidy calculator:
http://healthreform.kff.org/SubsidyCalculator.aspx
4. Non-profit health insurance CO-OPs (encouraged and supported under
the ACA), have tremendous potential to transform the health care system
and health care markets, to move them away from the dominance of
profit-driven systems
(see this opinion piece by Wendell Potter:
http://njtoday.net/2012/05/29/opinion-could-nonprofit-health-insurance-plans-be-the-real-reformers/)
Lastly, as a community organizer, I want to say that being knowledgeable
of the ACA and helping people enroll in insurance, provides a foundation
for future organizing and for building support for single-payer health care.
If you continually tell people that the ACA is a piece of crap and that
they are being hoodwinked even as they live the new benefits they've
gotten, how much credibility will you have? Versus, how much credibility
will you have when you say, "this is good, but there's an even better
way, and you can help..."
The Supreme Court decision was a tremendous victory. Gene is right -- it
is a step in the right direction (an awkward, complicated, lurching
step, but still a step), and we must use it.
Those are my 2 cents (times 1,000). I won't respond to this thread of
e-mails; just wanted to weigh in, as someone who works on this day in
and day out and has been fighting for single-payer and universal health
care for lots and lots of years.
Sincerely,
Claudia Lennhoff, Executive Director
Champaign County Health Care Consumers
On 7/1/12 7:28 PM, Gene Vanderport wrote:
> More people are insured b'c of this bill than there were insured without
> it. It is a step in the right direction, if we use it so.......
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* David Johnson <dlj725 at hughes.net>
> *To:* Gene Vanderport <lightport at sbcglobal.net>
> *Cc:* sf-core <sf-core at yahoogroups.com>; Peace-discuss
> <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>; occupycu at lists.chambana.net; JWJ C-U
> <centralILJwJ at yahoogroups.com>; William Bloomington Campbell
> <bill at campbellkording.com>; Bill Gorrell <laborer at mchsi.com>; Colm
> Mistéil <colmmisteil at gmail.com>; Dave Powers <pengdust at aol.com>; david
> johnson <dlj725 at hughes.net>; Jim Eyman <banjogramps at gmail.com>; Neil
> Parthun <lennybrucefan at gmail.com>; Ricky Baldwin
> <baldwinricky at yahoo.com>; stefen robinson <stefenrobinson at yahoo.com>
> *Sent:* Sun, July 1, 2012 7:24:18 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [CentralILJwJ] Fw: [CCDS Members] Quote of the Day
>
> *I respect Michael Moore but this statement from him is DELUSIONAL !*
> **
> *" Obama moving the ball down the court ", " a victory for the people " ?*
> *What planet is he living on ?*
> **
> *This is NOT the reality of most Working people in this counrty !*
> **
> *Read my previous post from Doctors for National Healthcare.*
> **
> *It is easy for Michael Moore, a millionaire, to make such a superfical
> statement to defend Obama and the DNC, which he has obviously bought into.*
> **
> *This phoney Obama healthcare bill does NOTHING to further the cause of
> national healthcare for all, in fact in protects and entrenches the
> private capitalist health insurance industry and the Pharmacetucial
> industry, and will make working people WORSE OFF , with less money and
> no and / or inadequate health insurance and it will make OUR work, that
> is those who are TRUELY " Socialists " and " Progressives" more
> difficult !*
> *Which side are YOU TRUELY on ?*
> *Working people or the corporate contolled democratic party ?*
> *David Johnson*
> *'*
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> *From:* Gene Vanderport <mailto:lightport at sbcglobal.net>
> *To:* central il jwj <mailto:CentralILJwJ at yahoogroups.com>
> *Cc:* Socialist Forum <mailto:sf-core at yahoogroups.com> ; ISO
> Champaign <mailto:iso.champaign at gmail.com> ; Central IL Wobs
> <mailto:cigmb at iww.org> ; occupycu-bounces at lists.chambana.net
> <mailto:occupycu-bounces at lists.chambana.net> ; Occupy Champaign
> Urbana <mailto:occupy.cu at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Sunday, July 01, 2012 6:29 PM
> *Subject:* [CentralILJwJ] Fw: [CCDS Members] Quote of the Day
>
>
> Plese check out the quote below........from Michael Moore......
> Germaine
> ----- Forwarded Message ----
> *From:* "cbloice at comcast.net <mailto:cbloice at comcast.net>"
> <cbloice at comcast.net <mailto:cbloice at comcast.net>>
> *To:* CCDS - Members <Members at lists.cc-ds.org
> <mailto:Members at lists.cc-ds.org>>
> *Sent:* Sun, July 1, 2012 2:58:33 PM
> *Subject:* [CCDS Members] Quote of the Day
>
> Quote of the Day
> July 1, 2012
>
> 'So take some time tonight to celebrate; this is a
> victory for the people. Actually, more than a victory,
> it is a mandate that all of us must now make sure
> that a second-term Obama continues to move the
> ball down the field, toward a system like they have
> in every other First World country on the planet. He
> simply has to improve Medicare and then expand it
> to every citizen in the country. The countries that do
> this, their people live an average of two to four years
> longer than we do. Is there a reason anyone doesn't
> want an extra four years of their lives? Or that our
> babies would have a better chance of surviving their
> first year like they do in the 48 countries that have a
> better infant mortality rate than we do? Exactly who
> is opposed to this? You'd have to be a bit.crazy. '
>
> Filmmaker/Activist Michael Moore
> June 28, 2012
>
> http://tinyurl.com/ckuylaw
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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--
***********************************************
Claudia Lennhoff, Executive Director
Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC)
44 E. Main Street, Suite 208
Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: 217/352-6533, ext. 6501
Fax: 217/352-9745
E-Mail: claudia at shout.net
Web: http://www.healthcareconsumers.org
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