50 US citizens died today!  50 more will die tomorrow!  And 50 more the next day…!   LINK

Canadian Doctors for Medicare hosted a celebration of Medicare in Canada. The speakers included Roy Romanow, former Saskatchewan Premiere and Commissioner on Health Care in Canada.

They tell Americans that Canadian universal health care works and encourage Americans to implement a single payer universal health care systems.

50 US citizens died today!  50 more will die tomorrow!  And 50 more the next day…! 

Keep the Pressure On  – ASAP – Call, write, fax or e-mail all your representatives and tell them they Must support Single Payer  HR676.    LINK

Now Call or Fax  Senator Max Baucus and tell him that SINGLE PAYER is indeed on the table &  let him know how much you “don’t respect” his performance!   And, remind him that he is representing the country, NOT  the health insurance & pharma industry in Healthcare Reform!  Phone: (202) 224-2651 (Office)   //  (202) 224-9412 (Fax)

And one more- Call President Obama at the White House (202-456-1414 or  202- 456-1111) and remind him that he said: “everyone would have a seat at the table”, tell him Single Payer is not for later, the time is NOW! 

Visit the Healthcare-Now ,  the Physicians for a National Health Program  and Health-Justice web sites to learn more!

Father’s – Take a break from your norm and allow yourself to Enjoy the Day ! 

Something out the norm – Enjoy & share if you like…

More than 200 dancers were performing their version of “Do Re Mi”, in the Central Station of Antwerp. with just 2 rehearsals they created this amazing stunt!  Those 4 fantastic minutes started the 23 of march 2009, 08:00 AM.  It is a promotion stunt for a Belgian television program, where they are looking for someone to play the leading role, in the musical of “The Sound of Music”.

Physicians like Dr. Carol Paris were among 13 people arrested for demanding single-payer health reform be “on the table” at two Senate Finance Committee meetings in May. Their dignified acts civil disobedience followed Sen. Max Baucus’ disregard for tens of thousands of e-mail messages, phone calls, letters and faxes.

Click here for analysis and lobbying materials.

Keep the Preasure On  – ASAP – Call, write, fax or e-mail all your representatives and tell them they need to support Single Payer  HR676.    LINK

Now Call or Fax  Senator Max Baucus and tell him that SINGLE PAYER is indeed on the table &  let him know how much you “don’t respect” his performance!   And, he is representing the country, NOT  the health insurance & pharma industry in Healthcare reform!  Phone: (202) 224-2651 (Office)   //  (202) 224-9412 (Fax)

And one more- Call President Obama at the White House (202-456-1414 or  202- 456-1111) and tell him what a mess Senator Max Baucus is making, arresting Doctors and Nurses…  then remind him he said, “everyone would have a seat at the table”, tell him Single Payer is not for later, the time is NOW! 

Visit the Healthcare-Now and  the Physicians for a National Health Program web sites to learn more!

Inside the Baucus Single-Payer Meeting – What Was Said, What’s Next

by National Nurses Movement //  Wed Jun 03, 2009

Today’s meeting of the nation’s leading single payer activists with Sen. Max Baucus was historic, and a recognition of the power of the tens of thousands of nurses, doctors, and grassroots activists across the country who have been turning up the heat on the policy makers in Washington.

Make no mistake – your voices are being heard. And, the protests and pressure will continue.

As Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, told Baucus, “there is a groundswell” across the country that will continue to press for single payer reform, and Baucus and other policy makers in Washington “are going to get to know us very well.”  In a later press conference, DeMoro blasted the conventional wisdom that single payer is not politically viable. “Is it politically viable to let people die and suffer from a lack of political will?” Noting the fight for women’s suffrage and the civil rights movement, she emphasized, “we’re going to have to turn up the heat. Women did not get the right to vote by voting on it.”

National Nurses Movement’s diary :: ::
Today’s gripping meeting was in itself an important part of that campaign, with leaders of the CNA/NNOC, Physicians for a National Health Program, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, author of a single payer bill in the Senate, S 703, making a forceful, unfiltered case to one of the top power brokers in the Senate, Max Baucus, for single payer as the only reform likely to actually fix our broken healthcare system and effectively control costs.  A couple of photos from the press conference afterwards are here.

For the first time, Baucus, who has been deluged with protests inside his Senate Finance Committee which has been in the forefront of drafting legislation and in town hall meetings at home in Montana, was apologetic. “I made a mistake,” he said, “I should have left it (single payer) on the table, front and center with everything else.”

Baucus talked about his own positive experiences in Canada where he inspected the Canadian healthcare system first hand, “I was very impressed,” during the healthcare debate in the early 1990s, noting the contrast between a Montana hospital which has an “entire floor” of people devoted to billing, and other administrative paper work, and a nearby Canadian hospital which does it all “in one room.     (read more)

Keep the Preasure On  – ASAP – Call, write, fax or e-mail all your representatives and tell them they need to support Single Payer  HR676.    LINK

Now Call or Fax  Senator Max Baucus and tell him that SINGLE PAYER is indeed on the table &  let him know how much you “don’t respect” his performance!   And, he is representing the country, NOT  the health insurance & pharma industry in Healthcare reform!  Phone: (202) 224-2651 (Office)   //  (202) 224-9412 (Fax)

And one more- Call President Obama at the White House (202-456-1414 or  202- 456-1111) and tell him what a mess Senator Max Baucus is making, arresting Doctors and Nurses…  then remind him he said, “everyone would have a seat at the table”, tell him Single Payer is not for later, the time is NOW! 

Visit the Healthcare-Now and  the Physicians for a National Health Program web sites to learn more!

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By Cindy Sheehan

Please take a minute of your time to call and  e-mail Majority Leader Steney Hoyer to say   THANK  YOU   for him saying that Single Payer should be “on the table” …  

Phone: 202-225-3130 // e-mail  (link)

SINGLE PAYER – Is in a DO or DIE position!

“The pace is quickening.” – Rep. John Conyers, Jr  

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Middle Class Healthcare Reform? Bend Over…

by Donna Smith

It’s coming. You and me and every middle class, working person in this nation is about to start handing over more and more of their hard earned cash to the private insurance industry, courtesy of our own elected members of Congress and our very popular President. Fire up those Treasury Department presses. We’re going to be printing and providing money for insurance companies like no bail-out we’ve seen yet this economic crisis cycle.

The healthcare legislation under design and so far under wraps for the American people is slowly being leaked via carefully staged forum and meetings and a few well-timed hearings and grand press announcements. Much of the work is still going on behind closed doors in private meetings attended by those who are deemed appropriate participants and industry friends.

Remember how open these proceedings were to be following all the Clinton plan debacles of the early 90s? Well, today’s stagings are far more sophisticated and planned out. So learning did occur by the industry giants and their political friends over these last 17 years, I will give them that.

And what do we know so far about what middle class Americans can expect from the legislation being privately crafted?

First, no matter what percentage of your take home pay it takes, you will be legally required to buy private health insurance. Second, if all you can afford is a policy that leaves you financially exposed to bankruptcy and foreclosure, then you will still be legally required to purchase that private insurance product. Third, should you fail to buy a policy, you will pay a fine.

Like it so far? Feeling free and protected? Like the choices so far? It gets better.   (Read the rest, you won’t like it either…)  

Is there time to STOP this MADNESS?  -   Maybe!

Call or Fax  Senator Max Baucus and tell him that SINGLE PAYER is indeed on the table &  let him know Americans will not stand for a health insurance and pharma bailout!   Phone: (202) 224-2651 (Office)   //  (202) 224-9412 (Fax)

And one more – Call  President Obama at the White House, the Senator’s boss in this matter and tell him the same!  Also tell him Single Payer is not for later, the time is NOW!  //  (202-456-1414 or  202- 456-1111)

May 30: National Day of Action

Events Being Planned Nationwide

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If the health insurance companies are left in the mix with reform – what changes?   If you want to see what real change and cost effective health care could be, then click on this this link and watch the Single Payer video! 

If this meets with you approval, then please HELP make it happen!

Now – Call, write or e-mail your representatives and tell them they need to support Single Payer  HR676.    LINK

And- Call or Fax Senator Max Baucus and tell him that SINGLE PAYER is too on the table!   Phone: (202) 224-2651 (Office)     (202) 224-9412 (Fax)

And one more- Call President Obama at the White House (202-456-1414 or  202- 456-1111) and tell him Single Payer is not for later, the time is NOW

Visit the Healthcare-Now and  the Physicians for a National Health Program web sites to learn more!

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He takes money from the industry and does their bidding

The Senators Career Campaign Contributions:

From the insurance industry: $1,170,313.
From the health professionals: $1,016,276.
From the pharmaceuticals/health-products industry: $734,605.
From the hospitals/nursing homes: $541,891.
From the health services/HMOs: $439,700.

Baucus’ Raucous Caucus

By Amy Goodman // truthdig.com

Barack Obama appeared this week with health-industry bigwigs, proclaiming light at the end of the health-care tunnel. Among those gathered were executives from HMO giants Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Health Net Inc., and the health-insurance lobbying group America’s Health Insurance Plans; from the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association; from medical-device companies; and from the pharmaceutical industry, including the president and CEO of Merck and former Rep. Billy Tauzin, now president and CEO of PhRMA, the massive industry lobbying group. They have pledged to voluntarily shave some $2 trillion off of U.S. health-care costs over 10 years. But these groups, which are heavily invested in the U.S. health-care status quo, have little incentive to actually make good on their promises.

This is beginning to look like a replay of the failed 1993 health-care reform efforts led by then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Back then, the business interests took a hard line and waged a PR campaign, headlined by a fictitious middle-class couple, Harry and Louise, who feared a government-run health-care bureaucracy.

Still absent from the debate are advocates for single-payer, often referred to as the “Canadian-style” health care. Single-payer health care is not “socialized medicine.” According to Physicians for a National Health Program, single-payer means “the government pays for care that is delivered in the private (mostly not-for-profit) sector.”

A February CBS News poll found that 59 percent in the U.S. say the government should provide national health insurance.   (Read the whole story)

 ~ Enter the Amazon Monthly Dream Baby Registry Sweepstakes ~

Not only was Mike Farrel in Washington at the Capital Hill rally today, he also appeared on the MSNBC // Ed Show.  If you have the time – Ed & Mike are great, watch the video… (link)     Mike Farrel is advocating for a Single Payer Healthcare system.

Your support is needed!  Please HELP

Call or Fax  Senator Max Baucus and tell him that SINGLE PAYER is indeed on the table &  let him know how much you “respect” his performance!   Phone: (202) 224-2651 (Office)   //  (202) 224-9412 (Fax)

And one more – Call President Obama at the White House, the Senator’s boss in this matter and tell him that the Senator respects us!  Also tell him Single Payer is not for later, the time is NOW!  //  (202-456-1414 or  202- 456-1111)

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         Thanks Much Mom’s!

 Hope the day was good…

Ed Schultz speaks with Dr. Margaret Flowers of Physicians for a National Health Program about whether single-payer is on or off “the table” and what it’s like getting arrested by Capitol Hill police…

I am so pleased that Ed Schultz  of MSNBC did this story!   Thank You Ed & MSNBC, you might actually restore my faith in some US media…

Call or Fax  Senator Max Baucus and tell him that SINGLE PAYER is indeed on the table &  let him know how much you “respect” his performance!   Phone: (202) 224-2651 (Office)   //  (202) 224-9412 (Fax)

And one more – Call President Obama at the White House, the Senator’s boss in this matter and tell him that the Senator respects us!  Also tell him Single Payer is not for later, the time is NOW!  (202-456-1414 or  202- 456-1111)

This is what the Senator had to say to the protesters after having the police arrest them!

Sen Max Baucus: Let me say this. I think I speak for everybody on the committee and everybody in the Congress… deeply, deeply respect the views of all members of the audience and of all Americans who feel deeply about health care reform, especially those who are worried about single pay system, public option, who really do fervently believe that is the proper result. That is a view that many people have. It’s a view which I respect. There are other approaches to health care reform which also I respect. The whole point of this hearing and other hearings is to try to determine the best route, the best option, in determining how to best reform our country’s health care system. So for those of you who remain in the audience who may be inclined to stand up and, out of order, to state your views, I encourage you to not do so, because I want you to know that I personally care deeply about your views. I deeply respect your views. I hear what you say. I talk to a lot of people in my home state of Montana who have the exact same views. I represent 900,000 of the world’s best bosses, Montanans, and many of them have the very same view. But we aren’t going to get the best result here… the more we can have an orderly discussion of how we should best reform the health care system. So I want to say to everyone, especially those of you who might be inclined to stand up, that I urge you not to so we can proceed with the hearing holding your views also deeply in mind as we proceed. Thank you.

Comment By Don McCanne, MD  // Physicians for a National Health Program  (link)

Apparently the single payer views must have been held very deeply, hidden in the minds of the Senators and the witnesses, since at no time during the hearing was single payer discussed as an option for reform.

It is one thing to respect the views of those who support a model of reform that actually would provide all necessary health care for everyone and make it affordable for each and every individual, but it is quite something else to restrict the discussion to options that cannot ever achieve those goals.

This hearing represents the the framework of reform that is being crafted behind closed doors. The tragedy is that any bill that results from this process will delay further the reform that we desperately need. In the meantime, tens of millions or more will face unnecessary physical suffering and financial hardship, and many will die.

The epitaph: BUT MY VIEWS WERE RESPECTED

Call or Fax  Senator Max Baucus and tell him that SINGLE PAYER is indeed on the table &  let him know how much you “respect” his performance!   Phone: (202) 224-2651 (Office)   //  (202) 224-9412 (Fax)

And one more – Call President Obama at the White House, the Senator’s boss in this matter and tell him that the Senator respects us!  Also tell him Single Payer is not for later, the time is NOW!  (202-456-1414 or  202- 456-1111)

Ron Pollack identifies himself as a consumer advocate, and is the executive director of Families USA.

Karen Ignagni represents the health insurance industry.

On Thursday at 3 p.m., Ron Pollack will join Karen Ignagni in a live web chat to discuss “health reform.”

The live web chat is sponsored by The Campaign for an American Solution.  The Campaign for an American Solution is a fake grassroots group created by the health insurance industry.   The idea is that we can’t have single payer because it’s not American.

Or as Senator Max Baucus put it when asked about single payer last month – “We have come up with a uniquely American solution which is a combination of public and private, because we are America.”  

But there is a uniquely American solution and it’s called single payer (HR6 676)  and it has 76 members of the House who support it.

The above are highlights from:  Standing Against Single Payer -My Ron Pollack Problem - and Yours
by Russell Mokhiber // commondreams.org

(Read the whole story)

~ Do you want & need affordable Healthcare? ~

Child Abuse Escalates as Parents Face Overwhelming Economic Stress

Sometimes it’s an overwhelming sense of stress on the parents’ part.  Sometimes it’s the overwhelming press of poverty.  And sometimes it’s the overwhelming sense of hopelessness compounded by the absence of humility enough to ask for help.  It doesn’t really matter what the overwhelming emotion, medical records are proving that, as adults are becoming more deeply engulfed by the ravages of the economic recession, the very youngest members of the family are paying dearly.

As the nation’s economy has plummeted, child abuse has escalated…

- Unfortunately, as the recession lingers, the numbers are increasing everywhere.
 
- It’s not just hospitals noticing this heartbreaking trend; of 607 sheriffs, chiefs of police, and district attorneys responding to a nationwide poll, 88% of them acknowledged an expectation of increased child abuse cases in their jurisdictions.

- the agencies overseeing these protective measures are becoming underfunded even as their case load is skyrocketing.   (Read the whole story)

You can help!   Have you ever considered becoming a Foster Parent?  Learn about it  HERE !

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America’s RN Union Targets Congressional Healthcare Leaders in New Ad Drive

Nurse Blog Ads Demand Congress Protect Patients with Single-Payer Reform. The National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association (NNOC/CNA), the nation’s largest RN union and professional association, today announces a national online advertising campaign beginning this week that calls on key Congressional leaders to protect the public –  not the profit motives of the insurance industry – through a system of guaranteed, single-payer healthcare reform.  The ads are also sponsored by the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

Read the release (LINK)    Visit The California Nurses Association Web Site (LINK)

Posted as a courtesy to the California Nurses Association – Please HELP!

~  Do you need an Affordable Health Plan?  ~

If you are not familiar with Odd Todd and you have been Laid Off  then I suggest you visit Todd’s web site (LINK).  No, this won’t help you find a job, but it will open up your creative thinking skills!  Todd has created some seriously funny cartoons about being unemployed.  And, there are a lot of us that need a good laugh about this situation!

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May 30:   National Day of Action
Events Being Planned Nationwide

Heathcare-Now

The majority of Americans and physiciansagree:  We need a national, single-payer healthcare system.

Yet, Single-Payer healthcare is largely ignored as a viable option.

So, on May 30th, we’re organizing a Nationwide Day of Action. Join thousands of single-payer activists to say, “Healthcare, yes; Insurance companies, no,” and to show solidarity with demonstrations at the AHIP (American Health Insurance Plans, a private health insurance lobby) conference in San Diego.

For more information, or to see if there’s an event being planned in your community, visit healthcare-now.org   May 30th Page.   LINK

If you can not attend one of these events – Your HELP is still needed!

Call, write or e-mail your representatives and tell them they need to support Single Payer  HR676.    LINK

Call or Fax Senator Max Baucus and tell him that SINGLE PAYER is on the table!   Phone: (202) 224-2651 (Office)     (202) 224-9412 (Fax)

Call President Obama at the White House (202-456-1414 or  202- 456-1111) and tell him Single Payer is not for later, the time is NOW!

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Pirates are in the news again!   A large scale assault from a Care-ibbean group of pirates  have come ashore and taken over the Capital.  Their demands are simple.   Watch the video!

Act NOW – Before congress allows health-care reform to stay in the hands of the insurance industry.  The health insurance industry does not provide any health related benefit to you the patient, or the health-care provider!   

Put an end to this Madness! 

Call, write or e-mail your representatives and tell them they need to support Single Payer  HR676.    LINK

Call or Fax Senator Max Baucus and tell him that SINGLE PAYER is on the table!   Phone: (202) 224-2651 (Office)     (202) 224-9412 (Fax)

Call President Obama at the White House (202-456-1414 or  202- 456-1111) and tell him Single Payer is not for later, the time is NOW!

Please Share this Message   Copy & Paste this LINK

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Be an Informed Consumer!

Quest Diagnostics to Pay $302 Million

Quest Diagnostics has agreed to pay $302 million to settle civil and criminal charges related to a Quest subsidiary which sold a parathyroid hormone immunoassay test which reported elevated results.  The inaccurate diagnostic test kit resulted in medical providers submitting false claims for reimbursement to federal health programs.  The settlement  includes $262 million paid under the federal False Claims Act, $6.2 million paid to the states, and a criminal fine of $40 million.  Thomas Cantor, founder, president and owner of Scantibodies Laboratory Inc., filed the whistleblower lawsuit, and will receive approximately $45 million for his work, and the work of his attorneys, in bringing the case.  (To read more)

If you would like to see MANY more actions that have been taken against many of  the major pharmaceutical and healthcare companies that you know and trust…  Why?    Visit “The Taxpayers Against Fraud” website at:  taf.org

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