Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care

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

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 here.  Or you can mail your check to KSPH, PO Box 17595, Louisville, KY 40217.  Annual dues are $5, but we welcome whatever you can give.

Join Us for Medicare Birthday 2024 in Kentucky

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It’s a tradition!  Kentuckians celebrate Medicare’s July 30 Birthday every year and call for an Improved Medicare for All so that everyone will have healthcare as a birthright.

* A few years ago we lit up the sky at the Big Four Bridge above a concert of thousands.

Lights on the Big Four Bridge

* We’ve delivered cupcakes to Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, and John Yarmuth.
* We’ve marched across bridges.

Each time more learn of the wonders and possibilities of a publicly-funded health plan and of the need to enact a national non-profit single payer plan—an Enhanced Medicare for All.

Join us this year as we distribute flyers.  

(We’ll also have bumper stickers and petitions.)  

There are two opportunities to be a part of it:

1.     Sunday, July 28, from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm at 1515 River Shore Drive, Goodbounce Pickleball Court, Louisville, just before the free Will and John Gage Concert that is from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm.  Bring chairs if staying for the concert; food truck is there with food and drinks on sale.

2.    Wednesday, July 31, at 5:00 pm as the gates open for a free concert beneath the Big Four Bridge.  The concert begins at 6:00 pm. https://www.lpm.org/waterfront-wednesday

You’re invited to be a part of spreading the message and the hope of a more healthy, humane future for our country.  Let us know you’re coming.  Call Kay at 502 636 1551 or email nursenpo@aol.com.

If you’re not in Louisville, we invite you to set up your own celebration.  Let us know and we’ll send the flyers.

On Tuesday, July 30, in advance of the 8:00 pm soccer game, we could distribute flyers at the Lynn Family Stadium.  https://www.loucity.com/news/2024/04/21/loucity-to-host-germanys-eintracht-frankfurt-in-july-30-friendly/  Let us know if you’d like to do that.

Happy 59th Birthday, Medicare.

Cover Kentucky with Enhanced Medicare for All!

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Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care has produced our first ever bumper sticker.

Medicare Bumpersticker Version 3.10 3 Page1 Now Jpg

We hope to show the massive, popular support for a national, not-for-profit, single payer plan by covering the commonwealth with the demand for “Enhanced Medicare for All.”

Help us to display the message and build the movement!

One bumper sticker is free—with the commitment to use it.  We’re happy to make more available—a donation to help us to cover the printing and mailing costs will help.

Email Kay Tillow at nursenpo@aol.com with “Bumper Sticker” in the subject line or write to us at KSPH, P. O. Box 17595, Louisville, KY 40217.  Phone:  502 636 1551.

Dr. Garrett Adams is panelist at showing of “Power to Heal”

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On Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, Garrett Adams, MD, founder of Physicians for a National Health Program-KY, was among the panelists featured at a showing of the “Power to Heal,” a documentary that tells a poignant chapter in the historic struggle to secure equal access to healthcare for all Americans. Central to the story is the tale of how a new national program, Medicare, was used to mount a dramatic, coordinated effort that desegregated thousands of hospitals across the country in a matter of months.

The event, a part of a film series, was a collaboration between the Louisville Free Public Library, the UofL Office of Diversity and Inclusion Health Sciences Center, and the mayor’s office “Lean into Louisville.”

The producer of the film, Dr. Barbara Berney, PhD in Public Health joined by video from San Francisco.

On the left is Karen Krigger, MD, Professor of Family and Geriatric Medicine and Director of Health Equity, HSC Office of Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Louisville, who chaired the program.  Seated is Dr. Luz Fernandez, residency director of the University of Louisville family medicine and president elect of the KY Academy of Family Physicians, who was also a panelist.  Dr. Garrett Adams is on the right.

There are two more films in the series, “Rustin” on Feb. 18, and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” on Feb. 25.  Info here and here.

KSPH has purchased a copy of “Power to Heal” and offers to show it free of charge to any organization in Kentucky.  Write to nursenpo@aol.com.

https://kyhealthcare.org/posts/dr-garrett-adams-is-panelist-at-showing-of-power-to-heal

Citing ‘denials, delays,’ Baptist Health ends contracts with two more Medicare Advantage carriers

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Many Kentuckians are ‘captive customers,’ will have to pay more or change medical providers

By: Deborah Yetter – January 23, 2024

A stalemate between one of Kentucky’s largest health care providers and three major health insurers is affecting thousands of Kentucky retirees enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans.

Baptist Health last fall ended its contract agreement with Humana for physician services covered by Medicare Advantage, the Kentucky Lantern reported in October. That means doctors’ visits are considered “out of network” and patients would have to pay more for services.

And effective Jan. 1, Baptist also ended agreements with United HealthCare and Wellcare for Medicare Advantage coverage for services including physician and hospital care — meaning all such care is considered out of network.

Baptist has cited denials of care and delays in payment which the Medicare Advantage companies dispute.

Full article: https://kentuckylantern.com/2024/01/23/citing-denials-delays-baptist-health-ends-contracts-with-two-more-medicare-advantage-carriers/

Larry Hovekamp, Presente!

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Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care mourns the unexpected January 23, 2024, passing of our steering committee member and activist Larry Hovekamp. We send condolences to his sister Elaine, his family and many friends. We honor the memory of Larry for his decades of marching and fighting for single payer healthcare so that everyone would have care regardless of their ability to pay.

Standing up by sitting down. Larry is pictured here in an October 2009 sit in on the marble floor of the Humana Building protesting the denial of care. This was part of nationwide demonstrations in the effort to place Improved Medicare for All, a national, not-for-profit, single payer plan, on the nation’s agenda. Larry was with us despite needing a cane to walk because of a serious car accident.

Video: Ana Malinow, MD, “What Privatization Means for the Single Payer Movement”

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On January 10, 2024, National Single Payer hosted a webinar entitled:

“McMedicare for All: What Privatization Means for the Single Payer Movement”

presented by Ana Malinow, MD.

National healthcare experts Kip Sullivan, Suzanne Gordon, Karen Palmer, MD, Don McCanne, MD, Andy Coates, MD, John Geyman, MD, and Jim Kahn, MD, participated in the discussion following the presentation.

The webinar takes the participant from “Taking Advantage of Medicare” to “The Menace of Value-Based Care” to “The Way Out.”

The program begins after 48 seconds. Dr. Malinow ends at 38 minutes when Judy Albert, MD, chairs the Q & A from the audience.

Urge your senators NOT to sign the Medicare Advantage letter

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January 17, 2024
Dear health justice activist,

An industry-friendly Medicare Advantage letter has officially launched in the Senate, circulated by Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tim Scott (R-SC), Gary Peters (D-MI), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV).

You can find PNHP’s response to their letter HERE. The deadline for signing this letter is Wednesday, Jan. 24.

It’s our job to let our senators know that we do NOT want them to sign on.

Call your U.S. Senators today via the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

A suggested script is below, but feel free to adjust it:

I’m a constituent of Senator [NAME]. I’m reaching out about the Medicare Advantage program. Currently, there is a letter circulating in the Senate led by Senators Cortez Masto, Scott, Peters, and Capito praising the program and asking for “stability,” which really means no changes that might protect seniors and people with disabilities.

I’m calling to urge the Senator to NOT sign on to this letter. The Medicare Advantage program has a record of harming patients by delaying and denying care, and by restricting our choice of doctor. Insurance corporations have also been caught overcharging taxpayers by up to 140 billion dollars per year. Rather than uncritically promoting Medicare Advantage, we need Congress to reappraise the program and hold health insurers accountable for their plans’ shortcomings.

You can also use this email tool to urge your senators not to sign the industry-friendly letter. Thank YOU for taking action to fight back against corporate profiteering in Medicare! In solidarity,

PNHP Organizing Team

Single Payer Health Care a Hit at the Kentucky AFL-CIO Convention

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In Lexington In early December of this year, Kay Tillow, Chair of Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care, addressed the KY AFL-CIO Convention with a presentation on the current health care crisis and the single payer solution.  Delegates responded enthusiastically—some requested copies of the slide show, most signed the petition, and several requested presentations.

KY AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan and Kay Tillow

Over a decade ago the Kentucky State AFL-CIO was the first state federation to endorse single payer health care—an Improved Medicare for All that would remove insurance companies, co-pays, and deductibles, and publicly fund health care for everyone.  After Kentucky broke the ice, a total of 44 state AFL-CIO federations and the national AFL-CIO proclaimed support for single payer.

At this year’s convention, Kentucky AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan, a long time supporter and activist for single payer health care, announced his retirement after 24 years of service.  The convention elected Dustin Reinstedler of the Bricklayers to succeed him.

The convention celebrated energized contract and organizing struggles with speeches by Teamsters Secretary Treasurer Fred Zuckerman, UAW President Shawn Fain, and the Flight Attendants’ President Sara Nelson.  Mineworkers President Cecil Roberts, a staunch single payer supporter, brought down the house with his unique narration of the miners’ battle at Cabin Creek.

AFA President Sara Nelson, UMW President Cecil Roberts, UAW President Shawn Fain