Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care

Harriette Seiler and Antonio Wilson in Louisville's St. Pat's Parade
Harriette Seiler and Antonio Wilson in Louisville’s St. Pat’s Parade

Sign the petition to Put Single Payer on the Table!

Act to End the Direct Contracting Entities and ACO REACH that are privatizing Medicare.

Contact us: nursenpo@aol.com, Facebook, kentuckians_for_single_payer, Single Payer Radio, @KY4singlepayer

Read the Physicians’ Proposal for a National Single Payer Program.  Sign on to it. Join National PNHP.

Slides from Drs. Steffie Woolhandler & David Himmelstein

Quote of the day by Don McCanne. Health Justice Monitor

Answers to questions on single payer.

HR 676, Expanded and Improved Medicare for All, a model single payer bill in the House from 2003 to 2017.

HR 3421, Improved Medicare for All, national single payer bill, currently in the House, which needs to be improved to ban and convert the for-profit hospitals, nursing homes, dialysis centers, etc.

Please support the work of Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care by making a donation on line hereOr you can mail your check to KSPH, PO Box 17595, Louisville, KY 40217.  Annual dues are $5, but we welcome whatever you can give.

University of Louisville Medical Students Organize SNaHP Chapter

On Wednesday, February 11, 2025, medical students at the University of Louisville met to organize a Chapter of the Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP), the student arm of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP).  PNHP is a single-issue organization with more than 25,000 members advocating a universal, comprehensive, single-payer national health program.

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Hamza Jamal, a second year medical student, organized the meeting and led with a presentation on the purpose of SNaHP and its proud history of advocacy, both on the U of L campus and nationally. Kay Tillow, Chair of Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care (KSPH), spoke on the state of our healthcare outcomes and costs and the necessity to move to a national single payer system, free from profit. Harriette Seiler, Secretary of KSPH, told of the positive experience of her Canadian family with their single payer system.

Students asked probing questions centering on what they can do to accomplish the needed changes in health care. Dr. Anthony Martin, the group’s advisor, joined in the lively discussion on how to survive as a physician while advocating for systemic change.

To reach the student group, email Hamza Jamal (pictured in photo) at hamza.jamal@louisville.edu

Sicko

Sicko is a 2007 American political documentary film by filmmaker Michael Moore. Investigating health care in the United States, the film focuses on the country’s health insurance and the pharmaceutical industry. Moore compares the for-profit non-universal U.S. system with the non-profit universal health care systems of Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Cuba. Watch it, free, here:

Recent Report Ranks U.S. Healthcare Dead Last

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In a recent Single Payer Radio program, Kay Tillow, Harriette Seiler, Hamza Jamal, Evan Hawthorn, and Paul Hoppe of Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare discuss the poor ranking of our healthcare in this country based on a Commonwealth Fund report comparing 10 industrialized nations.

Goal: Compare health system performance in 10 countries, including the United States, to glean insights for U.S. improvement.

Methods: Analysis of 70 health system performance measures in five areas: access to care, care process, administrative efficiency, equity, and health outcomes.

Key Findings: The top three countries are Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, although differences in overall performance between most countries are relatively small. The only clear outlier is the U.S., where health system performance is dramatically lower.

Conclusion: The U.S. continues to be in a class by itself in the underperformance of its health care sector. While the other nine countries differ in the details of their systems and in their performance on domains, unlike the U.S., they all have found a way to meet their residents’ most basic health care needs, including universal coverage.

Kentuckians for Single Payer reached out at the Pride Festival

On Sep. 14, 2024, Harriette Seiler, Paul Hoppe, and Dave Shuler staffed the KSPH booth to distribute flyers and get petitions signed. They report an enthusiastic reception by the public. Our thanks to the Louisville Workers Brigade for generously sharing their booth with us.

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Paul Hoppe and Harriette Seiler at the Pride Festival in Louisville 2024
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Dave Shuler explains the Improved Medicare for All petition

Enhanced Medicare for All a Hit at the World Fest

Labor Day weekend Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care staffed a booth at the World Fest.  Enthusiastic supporters lined up to sign the petition urging candidates and elected officials to “boldly support national single payer health care legislation.” 

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Photo: Jill Harmer uses her fluent Spanish to explain Medicare for All.

As they signed they told their stories.  One couple decides each year whether or not they can afford to buy insurance or take the chance of going without.  They currently have an ACA plan purchased on the Exchange that costs them $1,400 monthly for the two of them and their daughter. 

A woman in a Medcaid/Medicare Advantage plan related how her insurer denies the physical therapy she desperately needs.

People loved the “Enhanced Medicare for All” bumper stickers and the T-shirts. 

Check out the photos in Harriette Seiler’s album:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/YSwmjkhUbPunZnsbA

Opioid Overdose Deaths in Kentucky Could Be Reduced Drastically By Changing State Laws

Kentucky Legislature Impedes Access to Opioid Addiction Treatment

I hosted a SinglePayer Radio program recently with Dr. Pat Murphy, nationally known pain management treatment and addiction specialist that prompted me to write this post. With Kentucky having the 7th highest drug overdose rate in the country, our state legislators have the power to relax the antiquated Buprenorphine (Suboxone) dispensing rules due to the monumental  elimination of the federal X-waiver requirement for Physicians in January of 2023. Kentucky is one of only 7 states that have not done so and it seems there is little interest in doing so. Dr Murphy believes Gov Beshear, through his Executive Authority, could possibly reverse some of these barriers to this life changing and life saving treatment. If we send emails to our state representatives as well as Gov Beshear, we may be in a position to save the lives of many Kentuckians. <Click here if you need a template>


Medicare Birthday at the Schnitzelburg Dainty Contest, the Bounce Pickleball Courts, and the Wednesday Concert

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In late July at the John & Will Gage concert at Bounce Pickleball Courts, at the Germantown Dainty Festival, and the WFPK Wednesday concert, KSPH volunteers distributed over 400 Medicare Birthday flyers and were welcomed by folks who said “I’m with you on this!”

Our thanks to our KSPH recording secretary, Harriette Seiler (yellow hat), who prepared the flyer and braved humid 90’s to take the message to the public.

There is new hope. The people want Enhanced Medicare for All!

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