On Tuesday, September, 8, 2015, Dr. Carol Paris of Nashville addressed a noon gathering of University of Louisville Medical Students sharing her experience of practicing in New Zealand.  She utilized her first hand knowledge of that system to explain single payer health care and how it works.

To the students’ delight, Dr. Paris included the story of her arrest in a U. S. Senate Finance Committee Hearing where she and others stood to protest the exclusion of single payer from the discussion of health care reform in the lead up to the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

The meeting was organized by the newly formed U of L Chapter of Students for a National Health Program, SNaHP.

On Thursday, October 1, 2015, SNaHP chapters at medical schools across the country will hold teach-ins, rallies, and an evening candlelight vigil to bring national attention to our failing health care system.

The U of L Chapter which has achieved formal recognition as an official campus organization will participate in the October 1 day of action to demand a more just system through the institution of a single-payer, universal, “Medicare-for-All” system.

Pictured L to R are medical students Andy Crone and Brandi Jones, Dr. Carol Paris, and medical student Ben Neltner.

Union support for single payer health care is growing!  More people know what it is and express strong agreement.

Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care staffed a booth at the Louisville 2015 Labor Day Celebration at the Zoo.  Hundreds signed petitions for HR 676, national single payer health care, and took information for their local unions.

Rick Stevens, a member of  Teamsters’ Union Local 89, who works at Jeff Boat, is pictured at the booth.

On Saturday, August 15, Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care walked with over 1,000 others to demand an end to the stigma against mental illness and to urge full care and equality in health care for both mental and physical illness.

Walkers responded enthusiastically to the single payer message and some assisted in the distribution of leaflets.   Harriette Seiler is pictured with the hot pink flyers which said:

Forward to single payer health care

Insurance coverage for mental and physical illness remains unequal despite promises that health reform would level the playing field.  While health care reform helped some, many still find essential drugs and needed care too costly or denied by insurers.

Last year 300 patient advocacy groups protested to Health & Human Services that those with chronic mental and physical illnesses still face 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 learn more.  Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care meets 1^st & 3^rd Thursdays each month, 5:30 pm, Board Rm, Mezzanine, Louisville Free Public Library, 301 W. York.

 KSPH offers free presentations on single payer.  Further info: www.kyhealthcare.org    www.pnhp.org  (502) 636-1551   nursenpo@aol.com

Medicare–Protect It, Improve It, Expand It!  PIE!

On July 30, 2015, Medicare’s 50th anniversary, a broad Louisville audience packed the Centennial Room at the  library to hear Johnathon Ross MD explain the history of Medicare in the United States and project a future of an expanded and improved Medicare for All.  Dr. Ross, past president of Physicians for a National Health Program, teaches and practices internal medicine in Toledo, Ohio.

Jill Harmer and her group opened the event with song and laughter.

Garrett Adams MD, retired Louisville pediatrician and a leader of the national and Kentucky single payer movements, introduced Dr. Ross.

(Dr. Adams’ opinion piece “Celebrate Medicare’s 50th Birthday by Expanding It To All” was published on Common Dreams, and he was interviewed by Pacifica Radio.)

Dr. Ross combined history with humor as he informed.  We still lose 30,000 lives each year, unnecessarily, because we, as a nation, have not yet  instituted a universal health care system, he said.

(Dr. Ross appeared on the Ohio radio show America’s Work Force — it starts at about 14:30 and ends at 38:30.   His Op Ed appeared in the Toledo Blade.)

Antonio Wilson closed out the evening with a call for everyone to contact their congressperson urging support for HR 676.  Upon adjournment, the group shared the apple pies prepared by Harriette Seiler.

While in Louisville, Dr. Ross met with University of Louisville medical students who are working to organize a student chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program.  L to R:  Second year medical students Michael Gasser and Brandi Jones, Johnathon Ross, Garrett Adams, and Tom Moffett.

6:30 PM

Centennial Room
Louisville Free Public Library, 301 York St.

Johnathon Ross, M.D., MPH

Full bio is here.

Take Care, Mr. Elson

Watch the 35 minute video and then join the fight for single payer, HR 676.

On March 5, 2015, Peter Esch, MD, a Louisville PNHP activist, presented Single Payer 101 to University of Louisville Medical Students. Students participated in a lively exchange following the program, and several announced that they were organizing a chapter of Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP).

On March 12, 2015, Ewell Scott, MD, of Morehead, Kentucky, debated single payer health care before an audience of 70 University of Louisville Medical Students.

Dr. Ewell Scott at U of L Debate                             Dr. Garrett Adams with med student Brandi Jones

You can listen to the debate here.