Celebrate Medicare's 49th Birthday, Wed., July 30, 2014;

Improve Medicare and Expand it to All--Pass HR 676!

July 30, 2014, will mark the 49th anniversary of Medicare, our only publicly financed, universal health plan, which lifted a generation of seniors out of poverty.

Congressman John Conyers has reserved 30 minutes on the House Floor for this. Dozens of events will happen, making this a national action!

We will have a special celebration in downtown Louisville that will take place on the evening of Wed. July 30, and will involve individuals carrying lightweight signs to spell out a message. We need 20 committed people for the signs--plus more to help us leaflet.

To help, please call Kay 636 1551 or Harriette 899-3861, or nursenpo@aol.com or hm.seiler@gmail.com

We can do this!

Rep. John Conyers speaking on HR 676 as he welcomes the participants in the May 22, 2014, National Single Payer Lobby Day

Video here.

Single Payer: Where Do We Go From Here?

On May 21, 2014, in the Dirksen Senate Building on Capitol Hill, Senator Bernie Sanders chaired a panel with single payer leaders.

Video here. The video begins at the 25 minute mark.

25.00 Senator Sanders:
"We are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people."

27:45 Rob Weissman, President, Public Citizen:
"We win the argument on the merits." Remarks.

34:10 Gerald Friedman, Professor of Economics, Amherst:
"We have 4 years less life expectancy given our spending."

41:04 Margaret Flowers, MD, Popular Resistance:
"We should fight further privatization of health care." Remarks.

48:50 Andy Coates, MD, President of Physicians for a National Health Program:
"Single payer would work--we could do this." Remarks.

54:44 Michael Lighty, National Nurses Union:
"Cost saving is now denying care."

1:01:00 Senator Sanders starts the discussion which ends at 2:16:17.

Placing Single Payer on the Nation's Agenda, May 22, 2014

Pictured above are some of the participants in the National Single Payer Lobby Day held in Washington, DC, on May 22, 2014.

The event was sponsored by: All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care – HR 676, American Medical Students Association, Gray Panthers, Healthcare-NOW!, Labor Campaign for Single Payer, National Nurses United, National Organization for Women, Physicians for a National Health Program, Progressive Democrats of America, and Public Citizen.

The press release.

Story by Julie Rovner, Kaiser Health News.

Story by Anne Meador, DCMediaGroup.

National Single Payer Lobby Day, Thur. May 22, 2014

On Thursday, May 22, 2014, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) (above photo) and Dr. Andy Coates, President of Physicians for a National Health Program, will speak at 10:00 AM in Room 2226, Rayburn Building, to a House briefing on single payer that kicks off the lobby day. Details here.

Congressman Conyers is the chief sponsor of HR 676, Expanded and Improved Medicare for All, national single payer legislation that would assure universal care. With the addition of Janice Hahn of California's 44th District and Tim Ryan of Ohio's 13th district, HR 676 now has 57 co-sponsors.

If you cannot go to DC, you can still participate in this national effort. Please call your congressperson on Thursday, May 22 and urge her/him to sign on to HR 676, Expanded and Improved Medicare for All.

Call the switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your representative.

You can find out who your representative is by entering your zip cope here.

Please let us know the results of your calls at nursenpo@aol.com.

On the preceding day, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will host a panel on single payer:

Wed. May 21, 2014
10 AM
Room 430 Dirksen Bldg.
Speakers: Andy Coates, MD, President, PNHP; Rob Weissman, President, Public Citizen; Gerald Friedman, Professor of Economics, Amherst; Margaret Flowers, MD, PNHP & Popular Resistance; Michael Lighty, National Nurses United.

To be folllowed by Q and A.

This event can be viewed live here.

Mighty Kindness Festival, April 26, 2014

KSPH reached out to hundreds at the Mighty Kindness event at Waterfront Park. Skies were sunny; mood was upbeat. Children danced with butterfly wings and the painted faces of lions. We forgot the duct tape to attach the banner to the table, but the day was delightful. Lots of conversations about single payer and many signed the petition for HR 676.

L to R: David Ross Stevens, Larry Hovekamp, Harriette Seiler, Kay Tillow, Dave MacCool. Also Rose Stevens and Tyler Fairleigh helped to put up and staff the booth.

Ed Weisbart, MD, spoke on single payer in Louisville

in a four event whirlwind over three days, April 10-12, 2014.

Ed Weisbart, MD, Chair of Physicians for a National Health Program--Missouri, explains single payer health care during a public program at the Old Medical School in Louisville on Thursday, April 10, 2014.

Some of the participants in the Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care workshop and PNHP-KY Annual Meeting on Saturday, April 12, 2014. L-R: Carol Tvaroh, Ada Beale, Tyler Fairleigh, Tom Moffett, Dr. Garrett Adams, Dr. Scott Graham of Fredonia, KY, Dr. Kenny Zegart, and David Ross Stevens of Borden, IN.

Edgar Lopez, MD, moderated a panel of Kentucky physicians at the PNHP-KY Annual Meeting. They spoke about what is currently happening to patients and to medical practice. L-R: Dr. Lopez; Scott Graham, MD, Fredonia, KY; Tracy Ragland, MD. In addition, Esther Costel, MD, was on the panel.

Doctors Edgar Lopez and Garrett Adams at the PNHP-KY Annual Meeting.

Dr. Carol A. Paris spoke at the PNHP-KY Annual Meeting on "Fighting for Single Payer in the US and Health Care in New Zealand." Dr. Paris, a member of the Baucus 13, has just returned from a year of practicing in New Zealand.

Ed Weisbart, MD, Spoke on Single Payer in Louisville

"We will not solve our health care crisis as long as private insurance plays a dominant role. We should correct the flaws of the current Medicare program and extend this coverage to all age groups," says Ed Weisbart, MD, Chair of the Missouri Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program who was in Louisville speaking at a series of events:

* Thur. April 10, 2014, 7:00 PM,

Old Medical School Bldg, 101 W. Chestnut St.

“Health Care Reform: What’s Here? What’s Coming? What’s Missing? The solution: Improved Medicare for All”

* Fri. April 11, 2014, 7:30-8:30 AM,

Over 70 physicians attended the UofL Family and Geriatric Medicine Grand Rounds at Jewish Hospital.

“Health Care Reform 2.0: Beyond the Affordable Care Act. Fix the problems with Medicare and provide that to all Americans.”

* Fri. April 11, 2014, 12 Noon,

Dr. Weisbart met with 50 Medical Students at University of Louisville Medical School.

* Sat. April 12, 2014, PNHP-KY Annual Meeting and KSPH Workshop 10 AM to 2:30 PM

Lang House, 115 S. Ewing Ave, Louisville. Full agenda.

“Building Single Payer Support in Kentucky - Responding to the health care crisis”

Chaired by Dr. Garrett Adams, Louisville, immediate past president of national PNHP.
Workshop, with Dr. Weisbart; Dr. Art Sutherland of Tennessee PNHP; Dr. Edgar Lopez, Louisville; Dr. Scott Graham, Fredonia, KY; Dr. Carol Paris, member of the Baucus 13, and single payer activists.

Dr. Weisbart is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Medicine and a faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a family medicine physician and author of “A Single-Payer system Would Reduce U. S. Health Care Costs,” an article that appeared in the AMA Journal of Ethics.

Read Dr. Weisbart's article here, or watch a five minute video of him at a miners' rally here.

Sat., March 15, 2014, St. Patrick's Parade

Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care walked in Louisville's St. Patrick’s Day Parade to the applause and cheers of the crowds. We distributed over 1,700 flyers on single payer. Pictured L to R, Scotty Pulliam, Betty Schmitt, Enid Redman, Greg Pecaro, Charlotte Schmitt, Theresa Schmitt, and Harriette Seiler.

50th Anniversary March on Frankfort for Civil Rights

On March 5, 2014, Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care participated in this commemorative march and rally at the State Capitol in Frankfort. Thousands marched demanding voting rights and passage of HB 70.

On the left is Scotty Pulliam, former president of IBEW Local 369 and KSPH Board Member; second from right is Charlie Clephas, Vice President of the Greater Louisville Central Labor Council; third from right is Charlie Essex, Business Manager of IBEW Local 369.

Press Release

January 30, 2014

VICCO, Ky—This little Appalachian community that made national news a year ago by passing a Fairness Ordinance did it again tonight. It voted to endorse Single Payer Healthcare, HR 676, joining 54 other American cities, including Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia, Detroit and Baltimore.

Vicco, KY endorses single payer.

L to R Vicco City Commissioners Lula Gibson, Jimmy Slone, Claude Branson, Mayor Johnny Cummings, Kay Tillow, Dr. Garrett Adams, Harriette Seiler (photo by Lane Adams)

The struggling coal town of 334 people unanimously endorsed Expanded and Improved Medicare for All, HR 676, national single payer legislation sponsored by Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI). Vicco—established by the Virginia Iron Coal and Coke Company—is now the fourth Kentucky local government to favor Single Payer Healthcare. The others are Metro Louisville, Boyle County, and the City of Morehead. In 2007, the Kentucky House legislators also endorsed the bill.

Vicco was put on the map early last year when the New York Times, USA Today, the LA Times and other national media covered the passage of the town's new law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. It was the smallest city in America to pass such a law.

Vicco gained further fame last August when Mayor Johnny Cummings and City Commissioners were featured on the Colbert Show on cable television. The Colbert Segment went viral with almost three quarters of a million views.

Since then, Vicco, Mayor Johnny Cummings, and the city commissioners have won further state and national praise. At an event that featured Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan last September, University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto referred to Vicco when he described Kentucky as a place “deep in values that show up in unexpected ways and in unexpected places.”

KSPH Chair Kay Tillow and Vicco Mayor Johnny Cummings.

Vicco's new-found reputation as a progressive and humane community led to a presentation Monday night on health care by Dr. Garrett Adams, past president of Physicians for a National Health Program, and three Louisville colleagues, all representing Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare (KSPH).

The KSPH members pointed out that every person in Vicco—and everywhere else in the United States—would be covered by a plan similar to but better than the Medicare system that now serves those over 65 years of age. The HR 676 bill would expand Medicare to all ages and would improve it to include dental, vision, mental health--all medically necessary care. Patients would choose their own doctors and hospitals and there would be no co-pays or deductibles. HR 676 would annually save over $400 billion by ending the profits and waste caused by private insurance companies. The savings would then be used to expand an improved care to everyone in the country.

Kay Tillow, Chair of KSPH, said, "It's a moral issue. We believe that health care should not depend on ability to pay. We invite other cities to join our grassroots movement.”

The Vicco city commissioners decided to throw the weight of the town government behind this movement.

NEWS CONTACT:

Garrett Adams MD MPH, Louisville, KY., Physicians for a National Health Program-KY, www.pnhp.org

Kay Tillow (502) 636-1551, KSPH Chair, nursenpo@aol.com

Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care
http://kyhealthcare.org

Text of the Resolution under the seal of the City of Vicco

Whereas: Barriers to quality medical care infringe on the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and access to health care is a fundamental human right, and;

Whereas a bill has been introduced in Congress, HR 676, aka The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act, that will provide all medically necessary care, including dental and prescription drugs, to everyone in the country from birth to death. There will be no co-pays nor deductibles so that inability to pay will be removed as an impediment to care.

Whereas with HR 676 each person will choose their own physicians, hospitals, and other providers.

Therefore be it resolved that the City of Vicco wholeheartedly endorses HR 676, the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act; and

Be it further resolved that we call on our representative in Congress, Representative Harold Rogers, to formally co-sponsor HR 676 so that the people of our city, our state, and our nation can move forward toward the excellent health care we deserve.

Signatories:

Mayor Johnny Cummings
Claude Branson, Commissioner
Lula Regina Gibson, Commissioner
Jimmy Slone, Commissioner

Electronic copy of the resolution available upon request from Kay Tillow, nursenpo@aol.com

Press release on PNHP website with photo.

---

"Of all the forms of inequality,

injustice in health care

is the most shocking and inhuman."

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., March 25, 1966

---

Yet 48 years after Dr. King spoke those words, our country still suffers over 83,000 excess deaths each year among African Americans--deaths that would not happen if there were equality.

Our country’s health system leaves tens of millions of all colors without health insurance or with insurance so skimpy they cannot afford to use it.

Now, under the guise of solving the deficit problem, there is a relentless attack on Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid, the programs our nation won through the struggles of the 30s and of the civil rights era.

The Solution: Improved Medicare for All, HR 676

The good news is that there is a solution. Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D MI), the sponsor of the bill that made Dr. King’s Birthday a national holiday, has introduced into the Congress HR 676, The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act.

This single payer legislation would divert hundreds of billions of dollars annually from profits and waste generated by the private health insurance industry into good care for everyone. Care would be expanded to all and costs brought under control.

Doctors would be freed from insurance industry interference with care. Patients would be freed to choose their physicians. Dental, eyeglasses, hearing aids, prescription drugs, long term care, doctors, hospitals, home health, mental health—all medically necessary care would be included.

Co-pays and deductibles would be banned ending today’s growing problem that health insurance policies are so miserly that even the insured forgo care because they can’t afford it. All of us would be respected as “covered” patients, ending the flight of hospitals and physicians from our neighborhoods to wealthy areas.

Medicare is not the problem. It operates with less than two percent overhead. The healthcare crisis actually stems from the bloated costs of the private world of insurance companies. Under HR 676, those for-profit companies would be removed, allowing us to improve care and include everyone.

In 2011, Bill Clinton said that we could save $1 trillion a year if we adopted the health care system of any of the other developed countries in the world. All of those countries have universal health care under a single payer type of publicly funded program. No more stewing over the deficit!

The passage of HR 676 would save Medicare, end the uncontrolled, gargantuan rise in health care costs, ease the deficit pressure, and actually bring universal health care to the nation.

So why are we even debating cuts to Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid when the solution is at hand that would bring us both better care and cost controls? HR 676, an improved Medicare for All, is sitting in the Congress, awaiting the rising of a movement that will insist upon its passage.

As Dr. King said, "The time is always right to do what is right."

---

A free program for your church or other organization on single payer is available from Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care (502) 636-1551, nursenpo@aol.com.

On January 18, 2014, Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care (KSPH) will join in this celebration of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and will lead the breakout session on health care.

Sowers of Justice Network and the Shawnee Presbyterian Church are sponsors of the event and invite your participation.

The Rev. Ron Robinson, Pastor of the Shawnee Presbyterian Church, is a member of the Steering Committee of KSPH.

The Call

• To celebrate MLK, Jr.’s life and invoke his work as successors to the enduring spiritual values that lead to action for justice through commitment to non-violence.
• To gather kindred souls in Louisville into sustainable collaborative action for justice and build on our shared spiritual values, shared passion for justice and a shared commitment to take nonviolent action.
• To plan collaborative action for justice and build on our shared spiritual values to take ongoing nonviolent action for specific issues.

The Plan

10:30 Welcome/Registration - Sign in/ up for issue groups
11:00 Worship Celebration
12:00 Breakout listening sessions with focus on

• Nonviolence
• Gun Violence
• Immigrant Rights
• Labor Rights
• Health Care

From what we learn that day, Sowers of Justice Network will launch working groups on issues and plan another gathering in early March. These topics represent areas of commitment for the Sowers of Justice Network through 2014.

A light lunch will be served.

Space is somewhat limited, and so that we may better plan food and space, please RSVP (it's free--you won't need to bring the paper tickets to attend)

RSVP here: http://www.sowersofjusticenetwork.org/

On the Day Following the Supreme Court Decision

Join Us in Response to the Court’s Decision on the ACA

Forward to Single Payer!

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on constitutional challenges to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) before the end of June.  Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care invites you to be with us as we join demonstrations for single payer all across the country with the positive message--Forward to Single Payer Health Care.  We march for single payer, regardless of what the court’s decision is.

At 4:00 pm on the day following the Supreme Court’s announcement, we will gather in Jefferson Park at 6th and Jefferson in downtown Louisville. There will be brief remarks.  We will have signs, but you are welcome to bring your own.
 
Beginning at 4:30 pm we will walk the two blocks to the Humana Headquarters at 5th and Main where we will issue a statement stressing the urgency of adopting a single-payer health system – an improved Medicare for All – as the only way to assure truly universal, comprehensive and affordable coverage, eliminate financial barriers to care, improve efficiency and control costs.
 
Our main message:

“To save lives and money, enact HR 676, an improved Medicare for all.”
 
If the law is declared unconstitutional in whole or in part, we will point out that single payer is clearly constitutional.

The Schedule for the Day Following the Supreme Court Decision:
 
        4:00 pm: Gather in Jefferson Park at 6th and Jefferson
        Around 4:30 pm:  Begin Walk to the Humana Headquarters at 5th and Main
        Around 5:00 pm:  5th and Main, Rally and release statement to the press
 
We ask that all organizations help by forwarding this message to your members and turning out a crowd that will signal a positive, humane direction in health care for our people and the nation.

David A. Ansell, MD, MPH

County: Life, Death and Politics -- What the lessons from Chicago’s public hospital tell us about health care in the USA

Public Lecture
Friday, January 27th, 2012
5:30 pm
Hotel Louisville
120 W. Broadway (at Second St.)

Please join us! There is no charge for admission.

Dr. Ansell is an Internal Medicine physician and the Chief Medical Officer at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. He has written extensively about health disparities.

Dr. Ansell is the author of COUNTY: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago’s Public Hospital, a memoir about the years he spent working at the "old" Cook County hospital. The book speaks to our nation's failure to address the most unjust of all the inequities present in the world's richest society--that of health inequity.

In the December, 2011, issue of Louisville Medicine, local physician M. Saleem Seyal reviewed County, praising the work as "important and thoroughly engaging."

Dr. Ansell will be visiting Louisville on January 27th and 28th, 2012.

A more complete schedule of events is available here (PDF).

"...we cannot have too many of these stories in circulation, to bear witness, to inform and to inspire.
--A. Zuger, NY Times review of County, July 25, 2011

Dr. Claudia Fegan at the Louisville Urban League

Saturday's event at the Louisville Urban League featuring Dr. Claudia Fegan was a resounding success. The event drew more than one hundred people who were treated to some very inspiring speakers.

Dr. Joyce Howell, President of Falls City Medical Society; Dr. Claudia Fegan, Past-President of Physicians for a National Health Program, and Dr. Monique Howard, University of Louisville School of Medicine

Dr. Fegan; Greg Fischer, Mayor of Louisville, Dr. Adams

Dr. Garrett Adams; President, Physicians for a National Health Program

Bani Hines Hudson and Dr. Fegan

Mr. Ben Richmond, President and CEO, Louisville Urban League

Congressman John Yarmuth (KY-3): "I'm a Single Payer Guy."

Greg Fischer, Mayor of Louisville

Bani Hines Hudson, Community Development Specialist, Louisville

Dr. Fegan

An article about the event can be found the Louisville Courier Journal of Sunday, January 16th, 2011: Click here to read the article.

Celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with Claudia Fegan, M.D.

Saturday, January 15, 2011
3:00 pm to 5:00 pm
at the Urban League
1535 W. Broadway
Louisville
(Map)

Dr. Fegan will speak on "Remembering Dr. King's Cry for Justice in Health Care" followed by questions and discussion.

Dr. Fegan is an expert on single payer. Refreshments and reception. Everyone welcome.

   

Dr. Claudia Fegan of Chicago is the associate chief medical officer for the Ambulatory and Community Health Network for the Cook County Bureau of Health Services. She practices primary care internal medicine at the Woodlawn Health Center of Cook County.

A past president of Physicians for a National Health Program, an organization of 18,000 doctors who support single-payer national health insurance, an improved Medicare for all, she has appeared on a number of national television and radio programs on behalf of PNHP and has lectured extensively to both medical and community audiences on health care reform in the United States and Canada. She is a co-author of "Universal Healthcare: What the United States Can Learn from Canada" and a contributor to "10 Excellent Reasons for National Health Care."

The daughter of a labor union organizer and a social worker, Dr. Fegan received her undergraduate degree from Fisk University and her medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine. She is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and a diplomate of the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians.