Sign the petition to Put Single Payer on the Table!

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

• Petition to CMS

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.

On Fri., March 21, 2025, Louisville rallied at the Mazzoli Building to demand protection of federal services and workers. The mood was intense–the wounds are deeply felt. Even the Pegasus seemed to cry out against the injustice!

A TSA worker spoke of the illegal withdrawal of their union rights. Others told of the damage to the veterans from the VA cuts. This fight is just beginning. Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare was there in solidarity.

On Sat., March 22, 2025, hundreds convened at the Local 862 UAW hall to condemn the threats to cut Medicaid, the federal/state program for health care for those with low incomes or disabilities. Over 1.5 million Kentuckians have no other coverage. The majority of recipients are working at jobs that pay too little and don’t provide health insurance.

Moms spoke of the fight to keep their challenged children covered when they get a tiny raise. Almost all of those in nursing homes depend on Medicaid!

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.

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

Hamza Jamal has written an article examining health care administrative costs in the United States.  Access the article here.

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:

Ona Marshall and Drs. Ed Marshall and Alecia Fields, experts on reproductive rights in Kentucky, discuss the status of those rights on this episode of Single Payer Radio, hosted by Paul Hoppe and Drs. Mike Flynn and Eugene Shively.

Forward Radio · Single Payer Radio | Women’s Reproductive Rights in Kentucky | 9-16-2024

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.

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.” 

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

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.

* 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.