Ona Marshall and Drs. Ed Marshall and Alecia Fields, experts on reproductive rights in Kentucky, discuss the status of those rights on this episode of Single Payer Radio, hosted by Paul Hoppe and Drs. Mike Flynn and Eugene Shively.

Forward Radio · Single Payer Radio | Women’s Reproductive Rights in Kentucky | 9-16-2024

On Sep. 14, 2024, Harriette Seiler, Paul Hoppe, and Dave Shuler staffed the KSPH booth to distribute flyers and get petitions signed. They report an enthusiastic reception by the public. Our thanks to the Louisville Workers Brigade for generously sharing their booth with us.

Labor Day weekend Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care staffed a booth at the World Fest.  Enthusiastic supporters lined up to sign the petition urging candidates and elected officials to “boldly support national single payer health care legislation.” 

Photo: Jill Harmer uses her fluent Spanish to explain Medicare for All.

As they signed they told their stories.  One couple decides each year whether or not they can afford to buy insurance or take the chance of going without.  They currently have an ACA plan purchased on the Exchange that costs them $1,400 monthly for the two of them and their daughter. 

A woman in a Medcaid/Medicare Advantage plan related how her insurer denies the physical therapy she desperately needs.

People loved the “Enhanced Medicare for All” bumper stickers and the T-shirts. 

Check out the photos in Harriette Seiler’s album:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/YSwmjkhUbPunZnsbA

Kentucky Legislature Impedes Access to Opioid Addiction Treatment

I hosted a SinglePayer Radio program recently with Dr. Pat Murphy, nationally known pain management treatment and addiction specialist that prompted me to write this post. With Kentucky having the 7th highest drug overdose rate in the country, our state legislators have the power to relax the antiquated Buprenorphine (Suboxone) dispensing rules due to the monumental  elimination of the federal X-waiver requirement for Physicians in January of 2023. Kentucky is one of only 7 states that have not done so and it seems there is little interest in doing so. Dr Murphy believes Gov Beshear, through his Executive Authority, could possibly reverse some of these barriers to this life changing and life saving treatment. If we send emails to our state representatives as well as Gov Beshear, we may be in a position to save the lives of many Kentuckians. <Click here if you need a template>

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It’s a tradition!  Kentuckians celebrate Medicare’s July 30 Birthday every year and call for an Improved Medicare for All so that everyone will have healthcare as a birthright.

* A few years ago we lit up the sky at the Big Four Bridge above a concert of thousands.

* We’ve delivered cupcakes to Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, and John Yarmuth.
* We’ve marched across bridges.

Each time more learn of the wonders and possibilities of a publicly-funded health plan and of the need to enact a national non-profit single payer plan—an Enhanced Medicare for All.

Join us this year as we distribute flyers.  

(We’ll also have bumper stickers and petitions.)  

There are two opportunities to be a part of it:

1.     Sunday, July 28, from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm at 1515 River Shore Drive, Goodbounce Pickleball Court, Louisville, just before the free Will and John Gage Concert that is from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm.  Bring chairs if staying for the concert; food truck is there with food and drinks on sale.

2.    Wednesday, July 31, at 5:00 pm as the gates open for a free concert beneath the Big Four Bridge.  The concert begins at 6:00 pm. https://www.lpm.org/waterfront-wednesday

You’re invited to be a part of spreading the message and the hope of a more healthy, humane future for our country.  Let us know you’re coming.  Call Kay at 502 636 1551 or email nursenpo@aol.com.

If you’re not in Louisville, we invite you to set up your own celebration.  Let us know and we’ll send the flyers.

On Tuesday, July 30, in advance of the 8:00 pm soccer game, we could distribute flyers at the Lynn Family Stadium.  https://www.loucity.com/news/2024/04/21/loucity-to-host-germanys-eintracht-frankfurt-in-july-30-friendly/  Let us know if you’d like to do that.

Happy 59th Birthday, Medicare.

Society / July 1, 2024

by Adam Gaffney, David U. Himmelstein, and Steffie Woolhandler

The Nation

Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care has produced our first ever bumper sticker.

We hope to show the massive, popular support for a national, not-for-profit, single payer plan by covering the commonwealth with the demand for “Enhanced Medicare for All.”

Help us to display the message and build the movement!

One bumper sticker is free—with the commitment to use it.  We’re happy to make more available—a donation to help us to cover the printing and mailing costs will help.

Email Kay Tillow at nursenpo@aol.com with “Bumper Sticker” in the subject line or write to us at KSPH, P. O. Box 17595, Louisville, KY 40217.  Phone:  502 636 1551.

On Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, Garrett Adams, MD, founder of Physicians for a National Health Program-KY, was among the panelists featured at a showing of the “Power to Heal,” a documentary that tells a poignant chapter in the historic struggle to secure equal access to healthcare for all Americans. Central to the story is the tale of how a new national program, Medicare, was used to mount a dramatic, coordinated effort that desegregated thousands of hospitals across the country in a matter of months.

The event, a part of a film series, was a collaboration between the Louisville Free Public Library, the UofL Office of Diversity and Inclusion Health Sciences Center, and the mayor’s office “Lean into Louisville.”

The producer of the film, Dr. Barbara Berney, PhD in Public Health joined by video from San Francisco.

On the left is Karen Krigger, MD, Professor of Family and Geriatric Medicine and Director of Health Equity, HSC Office of Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Louisville, who chaired the program.  Seated is Dr. Luz Fernandez, residency director of the University of Louisville family medicine and president elect of the KY Academy of Family Physicians, who was also a panelist.  Dr. Garrett Adams is on the right.

There are two more films in the series, “Rustin” on Feb. 18, and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” on Feb. 25.  Info here and here.

KSPH has purchased a copy of “Power to Heal” and offers to show it free of charge to any organization in Kentucky.  Write to nursenpo@aol.com.

https://kyhealthcare.org/posts/dr-garrett-adams-is-panelist-at-showing-of-power-to-heal