Humana & all Insurance Workers Get Income Protection in HR 676
Here in Kentucky where thousands receive their paychecks from Humana, it is important to know that HR 676, the national single payer legislation sponsored by Congressman John Conyers, includes protections for the incomes of those who work in the health insurance industry.
HR 676 specifies that insurance company workers will be provided for by first choice in retraining and job placement in the new system and by receiving two years of their regular salary so that they will be able to transition to better jobs. And all the while, they, like all of us, will have all medically necessary care as a right!
In the photo Dave Cox carries his rain-protected sign as advocates for single payer, improved Medicare for All, gather in front of the marble Humana Headquarters in Louisville.
Please join us for the documentary film, “Fix It—Healthcare At The Tipping Point.” “Fix It” reaches across the political and ideological divide to make the case for major healthcare reform in the U.S. It explains how our health care system is hurting the U.S. economy and leaving most Americans under-insured.
Have you already seen “Fix It?’ If so, you are welcome to arrive at 7:00 pm for a Roundtable Discussion of issues, concerns and questions related to our broken U.S. health care system and how we can advocate for a system of universal health care/a single payer system that would offer Medicare for All. You can view “Fix It” online: https://fixithealthcare.com/
On September 23, 2017, Harriette Seiler and Kay Tillow of Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care gathered with friends and loved ones at the home of Jean Elizabeth Tucker to celebrate the life of Bill Martinez.
For many years, Bill was an elected member of the Steering Committee of Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care. Bill worked the community festivals, staffing the booth and carrying tents and tables, to spread the single payer message far and wide. He worked with quiet commitment and compassion, sharing his vision of justice in health care.
In his spare time he created beautiful works in stained glass and tended a splendid garden. He will be sorely missed, but never forgotten. He is pictured here at the Highlands Fest in 2007.
Jean Tucker’s designation of Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care as the recipient of Memorial gifts has resulted in many contributions in Bill’s name. If you would like to contribute, please send checks to: Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care, c/o Nurses Professional Org., 1169 Eastern Parkway, #2218, Louisville, KY 40217.
Air Force veteran, semi truck driver, hiker & camper, organic gardener, stained-glass artist, keen photographer, classical music lover, international traveler, lifelong learner, advocate for social justice.
Born March 23, 1937, in Oakland CA to Hawaiian-born parents of Spanish and Puerto Rican ancestry. Moved in 1988 to Madison WI and in 1996 to Lou, KY, where he died on July 24, 2017.
Preceded by brothers Henry and Frank Martinez; sister and brother-in-law Hilda and Merle Aman; and by his beloved cats, especially Lulu.
Survived by his long-time partner Jean Tucker of Lou, KY; brother and sister-in-law, Daniel and Juanita Martinez of Los Angeles CA; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews, mostly of CA. Also by long-time steadfast friends, Tony Scott of Lou,KY; Ron Tebbe of Wooster OH; and Patrick and Sylvie Desbois-Sorbé of Salies-de-Béarn, France.
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At left is one of Bill’s stained glass pieces. Below is a photo of Bill in Senator Mitch McConnell’s office in Washington, DC. The woman with her arms full of petitions for HR 676, national single payer health care, is an assistant to McConnell. Wearing the cap is Bill’s close friend and fellow Teamster, Tony Scott. In the back on the right is Dave McCool.
Please join us for a viewing of the documentary film, “Fix It—Healthcare At The Tipping Point.” “Fix It” reaches across the political and ideological divide to make the case for major healthcare reform in the U.S. It explains, in-depth, how our health care system is hurting the U.S. economy and leaving most Americans under-insured.
Thursday, October 12, 2017
St. Matthews Library, 3940 Grandview Ave., Louisville, KY 40207
Have you already seen “Fix It?’ If so, you are welcome to arrive at 7:00 pm for a Roundtable Discussion of issues, concerns and questions related to our broken U.S. health care system and how we can advocate for a system of universal health care/a single payer system that would offer Medicare for All. You can view “Fix It” online: https://fixithealthcare.com/
Space is limited, so please RSVP so we can make sure we have enough Seats for All.
On Saturday, August 12, 2017, Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care (KSPH) participated in the Louisville AIDS Walk and events designed to continue the struggle to end AIDs and to assure care for those with HIV. Hundreds attended the festivities in Iroquois Park. Children delighted in the face painting and dogs joined their owners in the walk to support. Harriette Seiler, Secretary of KSPH, (in the pink hat) distributed single payer flyers to everyone. Those with HIV are among the patients who face cost challenges in assuring the medications necessary for life. The KSPH flyer is below.
Forward to single payer health care
While health care reform helped some, many with chronic conditions still find essential care and drugs too costly or not on their insurers’ formulary.
Over 300 patient advocacy groups have protested to Health & Human Services that many are still facing barriers to care.
The way forward. A bill in Congress, HR 676, Expanded & Improved Medicare for All, will provide care for everyone under a single payer, publicly funded system. All medically necessary care including dental & drugs will be covered–and you choose your doctor.
No co-pays, no deductibles, no limited networks.
No worry about medical bills! Monies now going to corporate profits will be available for care.
We invite you to join this movement. Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care meets 1st& 3rd Thursdays each month, 5:30 pm, Board Rm, Mezzanine, Louisville Free Public Library, 301 W. York.
On Sunday, July 30, 2017, Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care celebrated Medicare’s 52nd birthday with cake, great company, and a film at the Tim Faulkner Gallery in Louisville on Portland Avenue. The celebration was one of many across the country that promoted the single payer Medicare model as the solution to the health care crisis.
Christine Perlin and Mary Dunbar headed the committee to organize the event. Kristi Thomas, Doris Bailey Spencer, Harriette Seiler, and others helped. Participants viewed the film, “Fix It–Healthcare at the Tipping Point” and followed up with a discussion period. The magnificent cake was provided by Mary Dunbar.
Medicare, signed into law on July 30, 1965, was implemented within ten months in a time before the digital age, far outpacing the Affordable Care Act which takes effect in stages over a ten year period. Medicare brought care to those over 65, the part of the population that insurers were not eager to cover.
Before Medicare about one half of seniors did not have hospital insurance. Many lived without care, many in poverty.
There are more reasons to celebrate Medicare. Medicare desegregated the nation’s hospitals by making compliance with Title VI a requirement for receiving Medicare funds. In the blink of an eye, decades of barriers based on race fell to a well-designed federal program with economic consequences for those who would not comply.
Kristi Thomas (L) and Mary Dunbar, RN (R) at the Medicare Celebration. Photo by Doris Bailey Spencer
The gains in access to hospital care for African Americans in Mississippi “coincide with a striking reduction in black post-neonatal death for causes considered preventable with timely hospital care.” Medicare showed what the country could do when the objective was patients rather than profits.
In addition, Medicare pays $9.1 billion a year to teaching hospitals, which goes toward resident salaries and direct teaching costs, as well as the higher operating costs associated with teaching hospitals, which tend to see the sickest and most costly patients.
Over the decades some parts of Medicare expanded to cover the disabled and those suffering from end stage kidney disease. In 2010 it was expanded to cover those in Libby, Montana, suffering from the diseases of asbestos exposure. Medicare has done a lot of good.
Other changes to Medicare were not positive. There were attacks in the guise of improvements. During the Clinton administration in 1997, the Budget Reconciliation Act established “Medicare+Choice,” opening the door to private insurers selling Medicare plans to seniors while pocketing the profits. That door was widened in 2003 when the Medicare Modernization Act established an entirely privatized drug plan and gave additional taxpayer money to the insurers selling privatized plans known as Medicare Advantage.
The drug plan forbids any use of bulk purchasing power to negotiate better drug prices. While the Veterans Administration can use its power to lower drug prices by about 40%, Medicare is barred from doing the same. Billy Tauzin, the sponsor of the Medicare drug plan, went on to work for big Pharma with a million dollar a year job. Seniors continue to struggle with drug costs. The public pays about 14% more for these private Medicare plans while the insurers find the ways to lure seniors in.
Medicare Advantage plans now account for 30% of Medicare recipients. These inferior plans can threaten traditional Medicare solely because they have been able to keep monthly premiums low or zero, attracting the elderly who must keep monthly costs uppermost in mind.
Subsequent legislation allows means testing for Medicare payments and changes in doctor payments in ways that pretend to pay more for greater value but in reality impose massive administrative costs on doctors’ offices. These crude attempts to measure what is not scientifically measurable are cause for concern.
There are further problems. Medicare now covers only about 51% of seniors’ health care costs, leaving them vulnerable to economic hardship, bankruptcy, and going without care. To preserve Medicare we must improve it and expand it to all. That was the promise of Medicare when it was passed and that is the clear solution for today’s healthcare crisis with its soaring costs yet incomplete coverage and care.
Medicare shows by in its single payer structure that it can be improved and expanded to cover the entire nation while bringing costs under control. That is what Congressman John Conyers’ legislation, HR 676 does to assure that every person will be covered for all medically necessary care. Support is growing by leaps and bounds. There are currently 116 cosponsors of HR 676 in the House of Representatives.
A well informed and passionate national movement can change what is politically possible and make universal care a reality by passing HR 676!
On July 29, 2017, Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care (KSPH) joined in the Pikeville Rally to demand that every person have the right to care.
“We’re here because we’re human beings and every human being deserves health care,” said Bev May, a Floyd County member of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC) who emceed the event. “Every life counts, and every life needs health care.”
Rally attendees signed large letters to Rep. Hal Rogers and Gov. Matt Bevin telling them to support the people they represent and stop their efforts to take away health care for thousands of people.
“What kind of country will we have without a healthy population?” asked Dr. Van Breeding, who practices in Whitesburg. “This is the most important foundation to any country, to have adequate health care.”
Mark McKinley, Jill Harmer, Larry Hovekamp and Dr. Garrett Adams drove from Louisville to participate. Dr. Adams, past President of Physicians for a National Health Program, addressed the crowd with a message of support for single payer, improved Medicare for All. He is in the above photo.
Mark McKinley interviewed a number of participants about their health care needs and their views on single payer health care. Those voices were broadcast on KSPH’s weekly radio show that can be heard in Louisville at 106.5 FM on Wednesdays at 5 pm and Thursdays at 9 am.
A fuller report of the rally can be seen at this KFTC link.
In the photo at right, Jill Harmer and a member of the Steelworkers Union display their views on the backs of their shirts.
A video of the rally can be seen on facebook at this link.
The Louisville KSPH group also visited the Eula Hall Health Clinic. They are pictured below, left to right, Larry Hovekamp, Jill Harmer, and Mark McKinley.
On July 29, 2017, Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care rallied with Indivisible and many others at Metro Hall in Louisville to insist that legislators recognize and implement the right of all to health care. KSPH Vice Chair, Edgar Lopez, MD, FACS, and Secretary Harriette Seiler were among the featured speakers. Dr. Lopez, who is bilingual and volunteers many hours at the Free Clinic in Butchertown, is pictured here holding the “Improved-Expanded Medicare for All” sign.
In the days before the rally, the Senate voted narrowly, 51 to 49, against a proposed bill that would have repealed major parts of the Affordable Care Act. That Senate bill would have stripped away coverage for millions according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The threat to take away care has galvanized the single payer movement across the country, as many recognize the precarious nature of the gains made and the problems that continue with 28 million still uninsured and many millions more who have insurance but are still unable to afford medicines and care.
Harriette Seiler, below, a former Canadian, brought the message of what single payer health care has meant to her Canadian family and friends. KSPH activist Antonio Wilson, left, faithfully attends every health care rally. Photos by Holley Holland.
“Today my heart is so full. It was so amazing to witness people from the Kentucky and Indiana side come together in the name of the common good. I’m so proud of us!” That was the feeling of Mary Dunbar, RN, about the July 24, 2017, event “Millions Marching for Medicare for All” that took place on the Big Four Bridge between Louisville and Jeffersonville and in cities across the country.
Mary Dunbar was interviewed by the press at the event. She and Kristi Thomas, activists in Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care, organized the Kentucky side of the bridgewalk.
Please join us as we celebrate the ‘birthday’ of Medicare!
Sunday, July 30, 2017, 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
FREE FILM and FREE FOOD.
This is a casual and informative event where you can show your support, ask questions about universal healthcare, watch the film “Fix It: Healthcare at the Tipping Point” and just hang out at the beautiful Tim Faulkner gallery, 1512 Portland Ave. Louisville, KY 40203!
Food and non-alcoholic beverages will be provided, the gallery has a cash bar.
