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Carol Paris, MD, of Nashville Spoke on Single Payer to UofL Medical Students
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.
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.
Single Payer Health Care was Celebrated at Labor Day at the Zoo
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.
Single Payer in the NAMI Walk
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 1st & 3rd 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 50th Celebration in Louisville and across the country
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.
In the lead up to this 50th anniversary, two additional representatives signed on to HR 676, Congressman John Conyers’ Expanded and Improved Medicare for All legislation, Rep. Brenda Lawrence of Michigan and Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay of Missouri, bringing the total to 51.
Rep. Conyers chaired the festivities in Washington, DC, which can be viewed here.
Berry Craig of the American Federation of Teachers Local 1360 who lives and writes in Mayfield, Kentucky, published a Medicare celebration article on the Kentucky AFL-CIO website. It is here.
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.
Celebrate Medicare’s 50th Birthday, Thursday, July 30, 2015
6:30 PM
Centennial Room
Louisville Free Public Library, 301 York St.
with guest speaker
Johnathon Ross, M.D., MPH
Full bio is here.
Louisville, Ky. — To celebrate Medicare’s 50th birthday, Dr. Johnathon Ross will give a free, public talk on the history of Medicare and why we must Protect It, Improve It, and Expand It. The event will take place Thursday, July 30, 2015 from 6:30-8 PM in the Centennial Room of the Louisville Free Public Library, 301 York St.
Building on the Protect It, Improve It, Expand It (PIE) theme, free pie will be served to attendees. The event is sponsored by Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare, a coalition of individuals and organizations working to pass universal, single payer health insurance as embodied in HR 676, the Medicare for All legislation, sponsored by Congressman John Conyers.
Dr. Johnathon Ross is a past president of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), a national health reform group of nearly 20,000 physicians and health professionals who advocate for reform. A graduate of Cornell University and the Medical College of Ohio at Toledo, he also holds a master’s degree in health policy and administration from the School of Public Health of the University of Michigan. Currently an Associate Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Toledo, he practices and teaches general internal medicine at St Vincent Mercy Medical Center. His experience inside the health insurance industry convinced him of the logic and need for a national health insurance program. Dr. Ross has previously presented grand rounds on single payer health care at the University of Louisville and University of Kentucky.
Dr. Ross is available for interviews. To schedule, please contact Kay Tillow at nursenpo@aol.com.
Download flyer: MEDICARE_flyer_final
One Louisvillian’s Hard Road to Health Insurance
Take Care, Mr. Elson
New York Times Documentaries presents the story of one man’s hard path to health insurance in the age of the Affordable Care Act.
By Emma Cott, John Woo and Abby Goodnough on Publish Date June 14, 2015.
David Elson of Louisville continued to work at installing alarms while he tried to cope with his diabetes, kidney problems, and congestive heart failure. The New York Times documents his struggle to pay for medications that cost $550 a month.
When the ACA exchange (KYnect) was implemented he found a plan that cost $353 a month with a $2,700 deductible. He earned too much to be eligible for Medicaid. When he was unable to afford the ACA plan on his $22,000 a year unsteady income, he was forced to wait until his kidneys failed completely which made him eligible for Medicare for those on dialysis.
Watch the 35 minute video and then join the fight for single payer, HR 676.
Single Payer Activities at University of Louisville Medical School
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.
Welcome to Our New Website!
Welcome to KYHealthCare’s new website! We think it will be a great tool to help get the word out about Single Payer health care news and events in Kentucky. This is a very exciting time to be working for Single Payer. We are making progress every day.
Bookmark and share this site to stay on top of what’s happening. Better yet, join us!
“Why Doctors Support Single Payer,” Dr. Garrett Adams at U of L Grand Rounds
On March 26, 2015, Garrett Adams, M.D., MPH, Associate Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics at The University of Louisville and Past President, Physicians for a National Health Program, presented Grand Rounds at University of Louisville Department of Medicine.
Watch the video by clicking the upper left corner.
Grand Rounds function to share educational information within the medical community. The events are open to the public.