L to R: Professor Gerald Friedman and the Rev. Ron Robinson
At noon on October 24, 2019, Professor Gerald Friedman spoke at the West Chestnut Street Baptist Church on the topic “Medicare for All means health equity for all.”
Following a rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” Rev. Ron Robinson, Dr. Garrett Adams, and Bob Cunningham made opening remarks.
Professor Friedman gave a power point presentation and answered questions from the audience. Friedman said that the nation must provide care to all through a single payer system that removes the profits of the insurance companies and ends co-pays and deductibles so that no one goes without care because of inability to pay. He said that health care is a human right.
Cornelia Oldham made a video of the event and graciously shared it. It can be viewed here.
Professor Gerald Friedman, the Rev. Ron Robinson, Dr. Garrett Adams
The program was organized by Antonio Wickliffe, Bob Cunningham, and the Rev. Ron Robinson and sponsored by Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care. Refreshments were catered by Sweet Peaches.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke frequently at the West Chestnut Street Baptist Church which was deeply involved in the civil rights struggle in Louisville.
Bob CunninghamProfessor of Economics Gerald Friedman
On October 23, 2019, the University of Louisville Chapter of Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP) sponsored an event that featured economics Professor Gerald Friedman speaking about what Medicare for All means for future physicians.
Students filled the auditorium, listened attentively, responded to Friedman’s humor, and asked intelligent questions.
An hour before the event, Deborah Yetter of the Courier Journal interviewed Dr. Friedman and the leaders of SNaHP. The story appeared on the following day and can be read here. Yetter also spoke briefly about the student program on Comment on Kentucky which can be viewed here.
Friedman, who has a doctorate in economics from Harvard and teaches at UMass Amherst, was introduced by SNaHP president, Sarah Riley Parker.
L to R: Garrett Adams, MD, Erik Seroogy, Professor Gerald Friedman, Dana Oakes, Sarah Parker in front of mosaics at the UofL Medical School
Hear Economics Professor Gerald Friedman, Ph.D., speak on the funding of a single payer, improved Medicare for All health care system.
Gerald Friedman, PhD, Professor of Economics at U Mass, Amherst
Thursday, October 24, 2019
7:00 pm
First Unitarian Church
809 S. 4th St., Louisville 40203
Preliminary remarks by Karen Krigger, MD, Family Medicine
Professor Friedman was a Phi Beta Kappa member and Magna Cum Laude graduate of Columbia University. He obtained his doctorate from Harvard University, where he received a Certificate of Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.
He has written extensively on the funding of single payer health care systems.
In his study “Funding HR 676: The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act — How we can afford a national single-payer health plan,” he outlines the costs and benefits of Rep. John Conyers’ national single-payer legislation.
He has provided expert testimony in the US Senate on his study of the financial analysis of single payer national health insurance.
Sponsored by: Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care, PO Box 17595, Louisville, KY 40217, www.kyhealthcare.org, nursenpo@aol.com, 502 636 1551
While in Louisville, Dr. Friedman will speak at other major events:
Sarah Parker speaking to the Kentucky Medical Association, September 2019
This is Sarah Riley Parker, second year student at U of L Medical School. A couple of weeks ago she spoke at the Kentucky Medical Association annual meeting, urging this physicians’ organization to support national single payer healthcare. Her resolution was an awesome step towards educating and winning these Kentucky doctors to support the health care reform that works! Her resolution received about 10% of the vote.
Sarah is from Murray, Kentucky, and is passionate about bringing excellent care to rural communities. She is also the President of the Louisville Chapter of Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP).
Sarah is organizing an event for medical and other health professional students to be held at 12 N on Wed., Oct. 23, in Room 102 of the Instructional Bldg., 500 S. Preston, downtown Louisville. The speaker is Professor Gerald Friedman, the nation’s leading economist on the funding of single payer health care systems. http://kyhealthcare.org/…/wed-oct-23-2019-12-noon-professor…
Thousands of workers brought their families to the United Labor Day Picnic at the Louisville Zoo. Many stood in line to sign the petition for a national single payer health plan, an improved Medicare for All. Mike Carrick, Larry Hovekamp, Antonio Wilson, Harriette Seiler, and Kay Tillow staffed the booth which was graciously shared with us by the Greater Louisville Central Labor Council.
On Sunday, August 25, 2019, Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care attended the Bernie Sanders rally to spread the word about the upcoming October 24 event with Professor Gerald Friedman speaking on “The Economic Case for Medicare for All” at the First Unitarian Church, 809 S. 4th St., Louisville, at 7:00 pm.
Harriette Seiler (L) and Mark McKinley (R) speak about improved Medicare for All at the Sanders rally.
Christine Perlin, Mike Perlin, Harriette Seiler, Mark McKinley, Doris Bailey Spencer and Kay Tillow distributed flyers and circulated petitions for national single payer health care/improved Medicare for All.
We met people from as far away as Richmond and Lexington. Many eagerly signed the petition and some asked us to make a single payer presentation in their community.
On Thursday, August 8, 2019, in Wilder, Kentucky, the Women’s Network hosted a program on single payer health care. Joan Gregory introduced speakers Kay Tillow and Harriette Seiler who presented the case for a national single payer plan—an expanded and improved Medicare for All.
Over pizza and Stromboli in a back room at the Magic Mushroom, the group of over 30 pondered the issues involved and asked their questions.
Shouldn’t this be combined with nutritional and lifestyle programs that assure good health? What about those who have their savings invested in health care stocks? How do doctors stand on single payer?
At the Wilder Women’s Network program on single payer health care
Many signed the petition and took further information. Some asked for copies of the data presented. The welcome was warm and the discussion spirited. The Women’s Network is a civic-minded organization active on vital issues across the state.
KSPH offers this free presentation to any group in Kentucky. We’ve been from Pikeville to Paducah, Paris, Florence, London, Vicco, Murray and many more places.
We’d love to come to your town. Just call us at 502 636 1551.
Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care spent Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019, at the health fair of Park DuValle Community Health Center.A supporter signs the petition for National Improved Medicare for All as Charlie Casper staffs the single payer booth.L to R: Kay Tillow, Harriette Seiler, Mark McKinley, and Charlie Casper at the Park DuValle Community Health Center Health Fair.
On July 4, 2019, single payer activists worked to spread the message to a crowd that gathered for a concert at Louisville’s Waterfront Park. Many voiced their
July 4 in Louisville, KY. L to R Harriette Seiler and Christine Perlin-Gump. Photo by Doris Bailey Spencer.
support and signed petitions for a National Improved Medicare for All.
The group distributed tiny “Forward to Single Payer” flyers and “Medicare for All” cards.
The discussions reflected the urgency of the problem. People spoke of the price of insulin, of sky high deductibles, and of friends and family who could not afford care.
Dr. Robert Crouch proposes “Stop Surprise Medical Bills” legislation to shield patients from bills for out-of-network health care. (“Surprise Medical Bills Must Stop” June 22, 2019)
Christine Perlin-Gump at a rally for health care in the Capitol Building in Frankfort
We should recall that the concept of in- network and out-of-network is a creation of the for profit health insurance industry. I disagree with Dr. Crouch when he says he cannot control surprise billing of his patients. As an officer of the Kentucky Medical Association, he can take a look across the border to our
Canadian neighbors, find out about their health care system, and advocate that the United States adopt an improved medicare for all, which completely eliminates private health insurance companies from essential services. Every penny of our healthcare dollar should go to providers, not to corporate middlemen who have so successfully interposed themselves between physician and patient in this country.
Corporations exist to provide dividends to shareholders, with hundreds of intelligent employees coming up with new schemes, such as networks, to do just that. One is just playing whack-a-mole by coming up with a piece of legislation that may limit a particular type of corporate outrage.
Of course, a patient going through a health crisis is in no position to know the contractual arrangements between the person giving them an anesthetic, the insurance company and the hospital, and is probably too weak to complain when he spends the years of convalescence dealing with hospital bills, collection agencies and foreclosure. Less deserving of sympathy are the “hospitals and physicians (who) have become overwhelmed”, trying to keep up with the shifting requirements of health care corporations. Some pain, yes, but ‘let the free market sort this all out.
We have tried that, in an increasingly complex system that costs us twice as much as nations with national health programs, programs which cover everyone, and do not leave tens of millions un – or under insured as in this country. To advocate for his patients, Dr. Crouch should support improved Medicare for all.
