Physicians for a National Health Program-Kentucky and Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare proudly announce a visit to Kentucky by Dr. Oliver Fein, President of PNHP. The visit will take place on March 25th, 26th, and 27th, 2010.

Re-elected for a second term as PNHP’s president, Dr. Fein is one of the country’s most popular spokespersons for single payer health care reform and a nationally acknowledged leader in health policy.

Dr. Fein, a general internist active in clinical practice, is professor of medicine and public health at Cornell University. In addition to national health system reform he advocates for an expanded role for primary care. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow in Senate Democratic Majority Leader George Mitchell’s office.

He developed community-based ambulatory care practices and the Division of General Medicine at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. He is chair of the NY Chapter of PNHP and immediate past vice president of the American Public Health Association.

Save the evening of Thursday, March 25, to attend a free public program on health system reform featuring Dr. Fein, exact time and place to be announced.

* September 17-19, Remote Area Medical Free Clinic will be in Louisville at Freedom Hall. Other RAM dates in Kentucky are Pike County, June 19-20 and Whitley County, August 7-8.

On Thursday, Dec. 10, Human Rights Day, Kentuckiana proponents of health care as a human right will rally in front of Sen. McConnell’s office to demand health care for all.

What: Demonstration in front of Senator McConnell’s Louisville office
When: Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009, 11:30 am to 1 pm.
Where: 601 W. Broadway, (Sixth and Broadway), downtown Louisville (map)

Who:
     Local co-sponsors:
          Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare( KSPH) kyhealthcare.org
          KY chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program www.pnhp.org
     National co-sponsors:
          Healthcare-NOW (www.healthcare-now.org ) and its affiliate, the Mobilization for Health Care for All campaign (www.mobilizeforhealthcare.org )

We believe health care is a human right. This is not just a nebulous right, but a life and death issue. We know that 45,000 people die each year ( 122 each day) in the United States because of limited or no access to health care. We know that families are facing financial ruin due to health care bills they cannot pay.

The bills being discussed in Congress this week are completely inadequate to the nation’s health care needs and the needs of our economy. According to current proposals, millions will remain uninsured with limited access to care; millions more will have only skimpy coverage with high deductibles and co-pays. More low-income patients may be shifted into Medicaid which our own state can’t afford. Even the promised “robust public option” is now referred to as a “puny” public plan. Moreover, patients and policyholders will be unprotected from the skyrocketing costs of care and premiums. If a mandate to purchase private insurance is imposed, employers and employees will be handed over to the for-profit insurance industry as a “captive market.”

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has just filed Senate Amendment No. 2837 which would substitute a Medicare-for-all plan for the complicated and costly plans now going through Congress. By expanding and improving Medicare (a publicly funded, nonprofit, single payer plan), we can save money and lives. We will urge Sen. McConnell to vote Yes on the Sanders amendment.

Organizers have invited members of advocacy groups who view health care reform from differing perspectives, but who share the belief that health care is a human right: Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare, the Kentucky chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, Healthcare not Warfare, MoveOn.org members, the Louisville Peace Action Committee, PDA, etc.

This event is one of 18 planned “health care is a human right” events being held across the US on Dec. 10, demonstrations called for by Healthcare-NOW ( www.healthcare-now.org ) and its activist affiliate, Mobilization for Health Care for All campaign ( www.mobilizeforhealthcare.org ).

The Mad as Hell Doctors, a group of six physicians, are making a nationwide tour from Washington State to Washington, DC in a large van to help the US public understand Single Payer Health Care Reform. They are debunking myths and misinformation about single payer and educating as they travel about the advantages of publicly-financed national health care as a solution to America’s health care crisis. (madashelldoctors.com)

The doctors come to Louisville on Tuesday, September 22, 2009. Their first stop will be a noontime demonstration at 5th and Main (across from the Humana building).

At 3:00 they will present gifts to the staff of the Department of Public Health and Wellness (400 East Gray St.) and the University of Louisville School of Public Health.

At 7:30 PM they will join a candlelight bridge walk across the Ohio River, memorializing the 45,000 annual American deaths due to lack of health care access. Please join the Mad as Hell Doctors and pass this information to your friends.

Expanded and Improved Medicare for All

Bridge Walk By Candlelight

Tuesday, Sept. 22

7:30 PM

• Memorialize the 45,000 Americans who die each year from lack of healthcare access.
• Celebrate the coast-to-coast trek of Mad-As-Hell-Doctors from Oregon going to Washington, D.C. promoting Single Payer Healthcare. They will be present and will speak.

Brief messages and music will begin the program on the deadend of North Shore Dr., Jeffersonville. Walk will go across the Second Street Bridge to Main St., Louisville, then back again. You may walk as far as you choose. We will be using the sidewalk.

From Louisville: Cross the 2nd St. Bridge to the stoplight. Right on Court Ave. Right on Southern Indiana Ave. Right on North Shore Dr.

Bring your own candle or flashlight. More info: 923-9400

Hoosiers for a Common Sense Health Plan, Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare, and Physicians for a National Health Program-Kentucky www.kyhealthcare.org

What is the motivation to pay $100 for a sleepless night riding a bus from Louisville to Washington, DC; for walking the halls of Congress the next morning, for sitting or standing in the hot sun at a rally in the afternoon, for spending another sleepless night riding the bus back to Louisville, and going straight to work almost on arrival the same day? Ask 52 Single Payer health reform activists from Kentucky and southern Indiana, who did exactly that. Why would you do that?

We did it to demonstrate our commitment to the idea that all Americans deserve health care without financial barriers. We did it to knock a hole in the wall that health, no, wealth insurance companies and the for-profit health industry have built between the people and our elected officials. We did it so that those congress people could hear directly from us what we, the people, want.

The southern Indiana branch of Hoosiers for a Common Sense Health Plan and Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare organized the trip.

We were a diverse group. The age range was from 14 to 85 years, and one rider drove from Kansas City, MO to join us. The large Hoosier contingent included one from as far as Indianapolis. Kentuckians were from Paducah, Louisville, Lexington and central Kentucky.

Leaving Louisville Wednesday night, July 29, we rode through the night arriving in Washington early Thursday morning. Hoosiers called on Senators Lugar and Bayh’s offices, as well as the offices of Rep Baron Hill, Rep. Brad Ellsworth, and Rep. Andre Carson. Kentuckians were able to speak directly with Congressmen Ed Whitfield, Ben Chandler, and John Yarmuth. Congressman Hal Rogers’s aide also spoke with us.

In the afternoon thousands attended a Single Payer health care rally celebrating Medicare’s 44th birthday. Single payer leaders, as well as bill authors, Rep. John Conyers (HR 676) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (S 703) gave stirring speeches.

Afterward we took petitions for enactment of HR 676 to Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office. Some twenty or more of us crowded into Sen. McConnell’s outer office holding the petitions taped to string. If fully stretched out, the petitions would reach two football fields – 7,000 Kentucky signatures for single payer national health care.

Our presence in Washington made an impression on the congressmen. As a result of nationwide demonstrations and activism they are beginning to get the message. It was announced just yesterday that Single payer legislation now will be brought to the floor of the House for debate and a floor vote, a remarkable achievement, that would never have occurred without street activism. Our work is paying off. Who knows, we may have to go back again and again. This is a movement. We have to keep up the pressure, and we will.

Single Payer Rally, July 30
Washington, DC
Get on the bus!

On July 30, thousands from across the country will gather in the nation’s capital to rally and lobby for HR 676, national single-payer healthcare. It’s time for Congress to hear from the people!

Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare has a bus. We want you to join us!

The bus will leave from Louisville at 8 PM on Wednesday, July 29 from the Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 1044 Alta Vista Rd (off Lexington Rd). (map)
The trip, including stops, will take approximately 12 hours.

The return trip will depart DC at 7 PM Thursday, July 30.
We will arrive back at the seminary at 7 AM, Friday, July 31.

Further details: info@kyhealthcare.org or nursenpo@aol.com

July 30 marks the 44th birthday of Medicare, our country’s most cherished health plan. The best way to save Medicare is to expand it and improve it by removing the for-profit interests and guaranteeing healthcare as a right for all.

We’ll also be celebrating the leadership of Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) as sponsor of HR 676.

Thursday, July 30, 2009
Visits to Congress in the AM.

Rally 1:00 — 3:00 pm,
Upper Senate Park

Sponsors: Healthcare NOW, Physicians for a National Health Program, Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care, plus other organizations.
www.healthcare-now.org/campaigns/single-payer-rally/

Both of our events were successful beyond our dreams. It was exhilarating. There was more news coverage, but I believe those listed below will tell our story.

Rep. John Conyers Speaks at IUS

Conyers was magnificent! Stone educated with humor, and Fegan moved us with her passion. We all learned a lot. Hearts are lifted and possibilities are endless. Southern Indiana and Kentucky are energized and our new group in Lexington is getting off the ground.

May 30–Presbyterian-sponsored single payer event, New Albany, IN

http://www.hillbillyreport.org/diary/162/congressman-john-conyers-tells-it-like-it-is-at-indiana-university-southeast

Congressman Yarmuth’s introduction of Congressman Conyers–May 30 in New Albany

http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/ll80/HillbillReport/Healthcare053009/?action=view&current=DSC03612.jpg Photos of the May 30 New Albany, IN/Louisville, KY single payer event with Congressman Conyers, Dr. Claudia Fegan, Dr. Rob Stone, chaired by The Rev. A. David Bos. Over 150 people attended. This is one of the 10 national single payer seminars supported by the Presbyterian Church USA. The event was sponsored by Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare, Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan, and Physicians for a National Health Program-KY.

Congressman John Conyers at the May 30 event. This is a 9 and a half minute video.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009905310409 The Courier-Journal article on the May 30 event. Photo gallery at C-J with 13 photos of Conyers, Yarmuth, Drs. Stone & Fegan, etc. at http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009905310409

May 28–Patients Not Profits, Rally at Humana for HR 676, Louisville, KY

Courier-Journal article of the 150 protesters at Humana in Louisville, KY on Thurs. May 28. http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009905290345

http://hillbillyreport.org/diary/156/single-payer-healthcare-rally-in-louisville-kentucky Photos and video of the May 28 “Patients not Profits” rally in Louisville KY at the Humana bldg.

http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/ll80/HillbillReport/Healthcare052809/?action=view&current=DSC03532.jpg Photos of May 28 Demonstration at Humana

Bill Londrigan, President of the Kentucky AFL-CIO, at the May 28 Humana protest

Rocky Comito, President of Local 862, UAW, at the May 28 Humana protest

http://www.whas11.com/news/local/stories/whas11-topstory-090528-humana-protest.259131a9.html WHAS TV story on May 28 protest at Humana

http://www.fox41.com/Global/story.asp?S=10439439 WDRB TV, Fox 41, Coverage of the Humana protest, with David Ross Stevens of Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare

http://www.wfpl.org/CMS/?p=5772 WFPL, Public Radio coverage of the May 28 demonstration at Humana