On Thursday, January 14, 2016, Kentucky House Health and Welfare Committee Chairman Tom Burch showed the single payer documentary film, “Fix It, Healthcare at the Tipping Point” at the regular meeting of the committee. The audience applauded at the close of the 38 minute film.
L to R: Charlie Casper, Kay Tillow, Tom Moffett, Lane Adams, Garrett Adams, Harriette Seiler who attended the showing of the film in Frankfort.
Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care is offering to schedule free showings of the film to audiences around the state.
The website for “Fix It” is www.fixithealthcare.com.
Kay Tillow, Chair
Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care
(502) 636 1551
Louisville, KYnursenpo@aol.com
On January 5, 2016, in the Rotunda in the Capitol in Frankfort, Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care joined with organizations across the state to press for voting rights, workers’ rights, fairness, economic and racial justice, and healthcare. The rally was organized by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. L to R Jill Harmer, Kay Tillow, Harriette Seiler.
Harriette Seiler was on the WAVE 3 evening news saying that even small co-pays can keep a parent from taking a sick child to the doctor.
You can watch her here. The interview begins shortly after 2:10.
Kentucky’s new Governor Matt Bevin has threatened to make Kentucky’s Medicaid more like Indiana’s–meaning that there will be more financial barriers to care if that happens.
HR 676, national single payer health care, has no deductibles, no co-pays, no coinsurance. It will end rationing by ability to pay!
On Sat. Dec. 5, 2015, Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care celebrated the new Abraham Lincoln Bridge across the Ohio River by sharing information on single payer health care. The flyers offer free presentations and invite the public to our meetings. Harriette Seiler with the hot pink flyer.
Our new bridge between Louisville and Jeffersonville, Indiana. The is not the first time that KSPH has marched across the Ohio. Many years ago we walked across the Clark Memorial Bridge on Second Street when we were kicking off the fight to place single payer into health care reform. Later when the Mad as Hell Doctors visited us during their cross country journey, KSPH marched across the Second Street Bridge again. Thanks to the imagination of David Ross Stevens, that time we stepped off to the sound of the Churchhill Downs bugler playing “Call to the Post.”
KSPH keeps working to get the nation to the other side of universal health care where everyone enjoys all necessary care and profits are forbidden. Single Payer. HR 676. Worth the long walk. Join us to build the movement!
In her Nov. 22 article, “Many on Medicaid in Kentucky Work for Low Pay,” Deborah Yetter once again makes the case for expanded Medicaid, reminding CJ readers and Gov.-elect Bevin that many of our hard-working neighbors will not be able to afford Indiana-style adjustments to Medicaid. Deductibles and co-pays will deter patients from getting needed care – for themselves, or for a child.
For Gov.-elect Bevin, private insurers, and many in the GOP, the solution to rising costs is “skin-in-the game,” a cruel concept that recalls Shakespeare’s “pound of flesh.” Obviously, the cost-cutters want patients to bear the pain – to absorb higher deductibles, co-pays and co-insurance for treatment and/or for medications. As is the case for many enrolled in private plans today, Medicaid patients will end up under-insured – with a policy they can’t afford to use.
Thinking that nothing else can be done to control costs, many well-meaning business people have bought into the “skin-in-the-game” fallacy. I suggest they (and Mr. Bevin) explore a solution that is not only more humane, but also makes sound economic sense.
Every entity in our health care system – our national economy, state and local governments, businesses, families, and individuals – would benefit by enacting a national, publicly-funded “single-payer” system. Other advanced democracies cover all their people, spend half what we do, and have better health outcomes. They do not waste money on profit-taking insurers who add no value to the enterprise.
For more information about single payer go to the web site of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP.org), or Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare (kyhealthcare.org). Read the bill that would solve our problems: HR 676 atcongress.gov.
Harriette Seiler
Louisville 40207
The figures are shocking but true. The research has been done by former Surgeon General David Satcher and Dr. Adewale Troutman, Louisville’s dynamic former health department head.
Please read the flyer at the link below, and join with us in building the single payer movement.
Followed by Q & A and discussion.
Sponsored by Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care (502) 636-1551
On Friday, October 30, 2015, 400 physicians, medical students, nurses, and single payer activists rallied in downtown Chicago calling for an end to private insurance and the passage of Improved Medicare for All, HR 676. The demonstration focused on the Blue Cross/Blue Shield offices at 300 E. Randolph.
Medical students and physicians who were attending a Physicians for a National Health Program leadership training met at Chicago’s “bean” prior to marching to the rally.
Tom Conway, International Vice President of the United Steelworkers addressed the rally telling of steel and other companies that are shifting health care costs to workers and refusing to cover retirees at all. Thousands of workers are currently locked out of their jobs, as corporations try to force concessions on health care and other issues.
University of Louisville Medical Students gathered on the campus to begin the walk to Jefferson Square. Their action was a part of over 30 events organized by future doctors across the country to demand that the nation move to a single payer system in which everyone has all medically necessary care.
At Jefferson Square Park the students held a candlelight vigil in memory of the patients who have died from preventable causes, lack of insurance and underinsurance–the inability to access or pay for care even though nominally insured. The students pledged to work to change this situation–to bring care to all through a national single payer, improved Medicare for all system.
L to R Second year U of L medical students Brandi Jones and Michael Gasser and physicians Garrett Adams and Peter Esch. Jones and Gasser are founders of Students for a National Health Program, SNaHP, in Louisville, and Jones is the president. Adams is a former president of Physicians for a National Health Program, and Esch is an advisor to Louisville SNaHP.
Second year U of L medical student Ben Neltner speaks at Jefferson Square Park. He is one of the founders of SNaHP.
A medical student tells her health care story on October 1, 2015.
Second year medical student Andy Crone and Tom Moffett staff a spot in the heart of Louisville’s medical complex to provide the public with information about single payer health care. It was a part of SNaHP’s nationwide teach-in on Oct. 1. Crone is one of the founders of Louisville SNaHP, and Moffett is a long time activist in the Kentucky Alliance against Racist and Political Repression and in Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care.
Another teach-in location was staffed by Dr. Garrett Adams, Brandi Jones, and Ben Neltner. Neltner designed the special Tenone t-shirts.
All photos are by Harriette Seiler, Secretary of Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care. The message below is from Brandi Jones.
Hey All,
First and foremost, I want to send a sincere thank you to everyone who was able to give any amount of time that they could spare to help promote the messages of universal healthcare and single payer. I dream big, and so admittedly, initially it was somewhat discouraging that there weren’t tons of people who were equally excited to join this effort and that maybe the event wasn’t as flawless as Dr. Adams is giving us credit for. But, all of you remembered the true significance of the event and mentioned at some point over the course of the day that what we should celebrate is that we were able to give a voice to an issue affecting thousands of people every year. The heart and commitment to stand when not many others are willing or able to do so is a testament to the character of the folks that participated in the event, and I’m truly honored and uplifted to have been able to share the day with all of you. We saw both during the day and during the evening that people have stories that they are waiting to share and wanting to be heard. So, regardless of the lack of appeal or popularity among our peers or in our small segment of the world, we have to stay focused and keep pushing, and I know each one of you will make sure we do just that – and not in isolation, but with our other SNaHP chapter colleagues out there battling too.
In addition to quickly reflecting on #TenOne, I also wanted to take a moment to welcome our 1st year students who are now officially part of the advisory board – Camila Calderon, Rina Perlin, and Mallika Sabharwal. They have no idea how excited we are to have them on board! I know they will be amazed at the support shown by PNHP, KSPH, and SNaHP, and we’re ready to have them jump right in.
I put all the email addresses that I had or that would populate from the directory, but I’m certain there are people that I missed. So, please feel free to pass this along, and let them know that we thank them, and that we will be in touch for upcoming work…very soon!
Best,
Brandi
Brandi Jones, MS2
University of Louisville School of Medicine
