Labor Day Parade in Princeton, IN

This is an invitation to all Single-Payer supporters to join with the California Nurses Association (CNA)/National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) in the 123rd Labor Day Parade in Princeton, Indiana. The parade is part of the Labor Day Celebrations which is one of the oldest in the Nation and is made up of thousands of working men and women and their families from
the Tri-State area. Join with us in exposing thousands to the concept of Single-Payer. If you have a blue Medicare for All t-shirt we encourage you to wear it. Any pro Single-Payer logo is welcome including signs and banners. We will have a trailer for those who need to ride.

Who: All Single-Payer Supporters

What: Labor Day Parade

When: September 7, 2009 Labor Day 9:00 A.M. *Central Standard Time*

Where: Princeton, Indiana which is 25 miles north of Evansville

This parade takes two hours to complete depending where you are in the parade line up. We are unit number 3 which means we will get through the parade route in less time.

The best way to get to the parade staging area is to go to the Gibson County Fairgrounds where the parade will end and park your car and then ride the bus to the staging area. I have attached a map of the Fairgrounds that shows the parking areas in black. You can access the parking areas from either entrance. Buses will run back and forth from these areas to the staging area
until the parade starts. After the parade the buses will again make runs to the down town staging area for those who park near the staging area. The main highway and streets in Princeton will close during the parade so driving into or out of the city is very difficult during the parade. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of getting there early. The ideal
time to catch the bus at the Fairgrounds is 7:30 A.M. Central Standard Time but they will continue to run up until starting time.

In addition to the map of the Fairgrounds I have attached the map of the parade route and the additional parade information. You can also access this information and much more at the web site www.labordayassoc.com. There are food booths at the Fairgrounds.

Web site directions: Go to www.labordayassoc.com and on the left side click on “Celebration 2009”. When this page opens up you will see Parade Map and Parade information. This is the same information that is attached. Check out the pictures of past parades. There are more old pictures being added each year.

Directions to the Gibson County Fairgrounds or parade staging area: Coming from the North on US 41 take the first Princeton exit on the ramp into Princeton. This is the second ramp which you will be going east into Princeton on Broadway/Indiana State Road 64. Do not confuse this with
Interstate 64.You will travel 1.25 miles and turn left on Embry Street. This street goes by both the entrances to the Fairgrounds (this is where you can catch the buses to the staging area). Or you can continue east on Broadway/64 for .4 miles to the staging area. You will go to the Courthouse Square and on the east side is Main Street. Turn right onto Main which is
the staging area. You can also get to the staging area by going to the second Princeton Exit off US 41 which is Main Street. You follow it into the staging area.

Coming from the South on US 41 you can take the first exit for Princeton which is Main Street. Follow it north until you arrive at the Parade staging area. To get to the Fairgrounds go the second Princeton exit and take the first ramp which you will be going East on Broadway/Indiana State Road 64.

Do not confuse this with Interstate 64. Go 1.25 miles to Embry Street and turn left. There is a sign for the Fairgrounds but it is easily overlooked. Embry will take you by both entrances to the Fairgrounds.

You can also come into Princeton from the East on Indiana State Road 64. Do not confuse this with Interstate 64. Coming from the North you can take Indiana State Road 57 South or 231 South. Both of these cross 64. Turn right on to 64 and go west until you come to Princeton. The second stop light is Main Street turn left and you will be in the Parade staging area. If you are
going to the Fairgrounds continue on to Embry Street and turn right and follow the street to the entrances to the grounds.

If you have any questions feel free to call me at 812-215-9848 or email me at gfritz@calnurses.org.

See Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan and Citizens United for Universal Health Care/HCHP Northeast Chapter for more information.

See the Labor Day Association for more parade information.

Portuguese Trade Union Job Safety and Health Seminar Sparks Discussions and Demands

Mike Tolochko | PA Editors Blog | July 30, 2009

Dr. Mariana Alves Pereira from the University of Lusofona located in Lisbon, Portugal sent a strong message to over 75 transportation union leaders that Vibration Acoustical Disease VAD is a problem that requires their immediate attention. She presented study results from over 20 years of research that impressed Seminar participants. This is a relatively new area of research.

This Seminar, organized by the National Federation of Transport and Communication Unions FECTRANS, was led by its coordinator, Amavel Alves. FECTRANS represents subway [metro], railway, bus and truck drivers. Alves opened the Seminar by stating the need for safe and healthier conditions; the need for more studies and research as part of the European Campaign for a safer transportation system.

The main topics of the Seminar, a Seminar that was in part supported by the European Union organizations in charge of transportation, focused on worker fatigue and ergonomics, i.e., musculo-skeletel diseases.

Pereira spoke at length about the growing dangers of Vibro Acoustic Diseases stemming from Low Frequency Noise. She said that many neurological problems which heretofore have been left undiagnosed, now can be labeled and treated.

Manuela Calado an official with the Portuguese government, and related to the European National Agency, reported on efforts by the government to protect workers. But, she said that, it would take the pressure of the trade unions, like FECTRANS, to get these government agencies to do the right thing.

Dr. Frank Goldsmith, former director of Occupational Health for Local 100, Transport Workers Union from New York City, reported on the study of the Health Status of Urban Mass Transit Workers that was conducted a few years ago by Dr. Steven Markowitz of Queens College, City University of New York. The study covered all 60 job titles of the 38,000 bus and subway transit workers employed by the New York City Transit authority.

That groundbreaking report was the first stage of an in-depth study that will be continued in the near future. Problems such as steel dust in the subways, job stress and ergonomic issues for bus operators, and general issues of occupational exposure to carcinogens and respiratory problems were described.

Goldsmith represents the World Federation of Trade Unions at the United Nations.

In an extensive discussion following these reports, the Portuguese union leaders from all part of Portugal, including Lisbon and Porto from the north, reported on their working conditions and the need for continued strong trade union support and demands at the appropriate government agencies. Bus operators, lorry drivers [over the road truck drivers] and subway workers gave example after example of their working conditions and their strategies to protect their members.

Many of them agreed that vibration and noise issues are present in their places of work. The issue of vibration acoustic disease they said was a new one for them, but they were pleased that it was reported and looked forward to taking the appropriate actions.

Fatigue

Anabela Vogado, the occupational health specialist for FECTRANS, in the afternoon session, reported extensively about the increasing pressure to work longer and longer hours per day and week. This has made worker fatigue a major labor issue. She cited European directives in describing the need for trade union actions.

Vogado's report sparked lengthy comments from many of the Seminar participants.

Jose Manuel Oliveria, President of the Railway workers Union [SNTSF] voiced strong support for all the reports and urged quick action.

At the close of the Seminar Alves, himself a subway train operator said that these reports and comments would NOT be put on the shelf. They will be used to develop plans to be brought to the proper officials for action.

The conference was simultaneously translated into both Portuguese and English.

He said that in the current period of economic and financial crisis, all of these issues are all the more important to address. Sitting back and doing nothing is NOT an option.

National Health in Portugal: Specialty Care

Mike Tolochko | PA Editors Blog | July 26, 2009

Portuguese National Health Service Remains Strong



Based on the post Dictatorship Constitution, the Portuguese National Health Service was established in 1979. Over 90% of the population uses its system of public hospitals and salaried physicians. This needs to be said, because recently, the directives of the European Union, followed too closely by the governing Socialist Party, has allowed some of the funding for the NHS to deteriorate. This opened the door to the insurance monopolies.

This has resulted in the selling of private insurance policies to some people. On the other hand recent attempts to regionalize the NHS were soundly defeated. The struggle continues.

Abortion Rights

Under the NHS, and since a couple of years ago, there are full abortion rights up to 10 to 14 weeks. This being a Catholic country, these rights are all the more significant. It took mass pressure to uphold the rights of women in this regard. In Spain, there are full abortion rights for over 20 years…there the law allows abortions up to 12 weeks.

Personal Medical Records on Data Base

There is a national database of individual medical records so that everyone in the system can have their records pulled up when traveling to any part of the country. This is still a dream on the U.S.

When traveling out of the county and when health services are needed, the cost of the services are fully reimbursed upon return.

Specialized Care? ORGAN TRANSPLANTS

Since 1979, again the new Constitution, organ transplants are a common medical procedure. Under the law, in accidents and similar occurrences, all organs are made available. Only, if people specifically reject this possibility will the organs not be removed. That is the kind of default system that works.

Cost? NO COST AT ALL AT THE TIME OF THE SURGERY AND ALSO THE FOLLOW UP MEDICINES THAT STOP ORGAN REJECTION BY THE BODY.

There is a National Registry of Organs.

As the U.S. goes through its latest struggle to beat off the insurance carriers, medical device, supplies and equipment companies; drug companies and the banks; here in Portugal the people enjoy full health care rights.

Maybe the U.S. needs a constitutional Amendment for the right to health care like what was needed for other crisis and important economic and social issues?

The invisible program

New York Times
Paul Krugman
August 1, 2009, 12:05 pm

Matthew Yglesias leads us to a commenter at Marginal Revolution who looks at life expectancy and concludes that “semi-socialized medicine” is good for the young but bad for the old. Tyler Cowen made the same argument in the Times a while back:

On average, European systems are relatively good for the young, who are generally healthy and need treatment for obvious accidents and emergencies, with transparent remedies. European systems are less effective for the elderly, the primary demanders of discretionary medical benefits.

As Yglesias points out, such arguments weirdly miss the fact that older Americans are covered by Medicare. If you say that American health care works well for the elderly, then the part of our system you’re praising is the “socialized” part.

This is part of a broader phenomenon. Everyone’s favorite story about the evils of socialized medicine is the fact that Canadians wait longer for hip replacements. But who pays for hip replacements in the United States? Medicare, in most cases.

So we make fun of people who want to keep the government’s hands off Medicare. But Medicare blindness isn’t just a problem for the rubes.

RACIAL DISPARITIES IN HEALTH CARE HIGH, WEEK OF JULY 16-22, 2009

Subject: 103+ million minorities suffer disparities in health care system

More struggle is necessary, lets keep it growing! Health Care Reform Now!

RACIAL DISPARITIES IN HEALTH CARE HIGH, WEEK OF JULY 16-22, 2009
by CASH MICHAELS
The Wilmington Journal
Originally posted 7/28/2009

A newly released report this week by progressive advocates for health care reform cites higher infant mortality rates, lower quality of care, and shorter life expectancies for blacks and other communities of color as just some of the reasons why they fully support President Obama's public option proposal to improve health care, and drive down costs, and provide greater access overall.

The study comes as the Senate Health committee chaired by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) passed a $600 billion health care reform bill Wednesday. The Senate Finance Committee will now have to wrestle with how to pay for the plan. A totally different health care reform package is over in the House with a controversial surtax on the wealthy.

President Obama reiterated this week that he wants health care reform before the August Congressional recess.

The report, "Unequal Lives: Health Care Discrimination Harms Communities of Color in North Carolina," is sponsored by Health Care for America Now (HCAN), a national grassroots movement of progressive organizations.

According to the study, over "103 million people of color [nationally] suffer disproportionately in the health care system." The quality of life and life expectancy for African-Americans, non-white Latinos, Native American and other communities of color is thus considerably less compared to non-Latino whites.

"Communities of color too often have fewer opportunities for regular health services, fewer treatment options, and lower-quality care. People in communities of color are also less likely to have access to comprehensive health care since they have lower incomes and higher rates of uninsurance and underinsurance," noted Dr. Leroy Darkes, director of the Rex Senior Health Center.

In North Carolina, "the infant death rate for whites is 6.3 per 1,000 live births, compared with 11.8 for African Americans," the report says. "Overall life expectancy for African Americans in North Carolina is 6 to 10 years shorter than that of whites. About 54 percent of Hispanics and 22 percent of African Americans in North Carolina are uninsured, compared with 14 percent of whites."

Tar Heel state health disparities, according to the HCAN report, are even grimmer yet:

* In North Carolina, about 14 percent of African-American adults have been diagnosed with diabetes, more than two and a half times the rate for Latinos, and more than 50 percent higher than for whites.

* Among adult African Americans in North Carolina, 10 percent have asthma, compared to 8 percent of whites and 3 percent of Latinos.

* In North Carolina, 31 percent of babies born to Latina women received no prenatal care, compared with 23 percent for African Americans and 10 percent for whites.

* The infant mortality rate for African Americans in North Carolina is more than two and a half times that of whites.

* The mortality rate for blacks in North Carolina is 20 percent higher than for whites and more than three times the rate for Latinos.

* Despite growing evidence of racial disparities in health status and medical services, no system exists in state for collecting comprehensive state and local data on disparities. As a result, many questions about the health of people of color in state remain unanswered. For example, it is not known how many African Americans or Latinos (compared to whites) have forgone care because they can't afford it.

* The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that 11.1 percent of North Carolina's labor force is unemployed.

*In North Carolina, 1,547,212 people were uninsured in 2007.

*About 54 percent of Latinos in North Carolina are uninsured, almost four times the rate for whites.

*Health insurance premiums for North Carolina working families have skyrocketed, increasing 75 percent from 2000 to 2007.

*The full cost of employer-sponsored health insurance in North Carolina is projected to grow at an annual rate of 6.9 percent, compared to a 0.6 percent decrease in income.

*About 790,000 working non-elderly adults in North Carolina lack health insurance. That comprises 65 percent of the total non-elderly uninsured population.

The report's facts came from the US Census bureau, the National Center for Health Statistics, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Public Health and Sciences.

Nationally, according to the HCAN study, "Heart disease, diabetes, and cancer account for two-thirds of all U.S. health care costs. African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans and others who tend to live in neighborhoods with limited opportunities for healthful lifestyles have higher rates of all these diseases, and they fare worse in treatment. Were racial disparities absent from our society, the deaths of more than 880,000 African Americans would have been averted from 1991 to 2000, according to a recent analysis of mortality data."

"Compared to non-Latino whites, African Americans and Latinos are more likely to go without health care because they can't afford it," the report continued. "A larger share of African Americans and Latinos lack a usual place of health care, and they are less than half as likely as whites to have a regular doctor."

"Low-income Americans and people of color always score lower in measures of preventive health, such as frequency of cancer screenings and other well-visit checkups, ''the HCAN report states." Inequities in health are accompanied by disparities in health insurance coverage. They also have the highest rates of uninsurance. The lack of quality, affordable coverage makes these populations less likely to receive medical care and more likely to fall into poor health and die early, according to government analysts.''

"The implications…," the report maintains, given that the US Census Bureau projects that 62 percent of the US population will consist of people by the year 2050, ''…are profound.''

When it comes to fixing the disparities, the HCAN report recommends:
*Coverage should be backed by adequate reimbursement rates and effective performance incentives that promote provider participation, change the inefficient behavior of doctors and hospitals, and promote improved health for people of color.

*Substantial improvements in health and life expectancy will be achieved by addressing the social determinants of health, including a clean environment, occupational safety, safe neighborhoods and access to nutritious food.

*The nation must address chronic shortages of health professionals in communities of color and marginalized populations.

* Congress should implement mechanisms to support safety-net institutions and drive quality-improvement initiatives in all health care settings.

* Stakeholders and the public should be given good data by insurers and health care providers on race, ethnicity and ethnic sub-population, socioeconomic position, primary language, age, gender, and gender identity.

HCAN recently lobbied Congress to support Pres. Obama's health care plan, and specifically pressured Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) to join the effort.

"My colleagues and I on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee have been working on a plan to reform the health care system in this country," Sen. Hagan, whose office says she was always in support of Obama's public option, said in a statement last week. "We have crafted a plan that will stabilize health care costs and includes a Community Health Insurance Option, which I support. It is a backstop option for people without access to affordable coverage. Health care providers will not be required to participate, payment rates will be set in a competitive fashion, and the community health insurance option will compete on a level playing field with private health insurance plans in the gateway."

Hagan voted with the Democratic majority on the committee Wednesday to approve that measure.

Part of the pressure on Hagan came from a telephone conference call she had with NCNAACP Pres. Rev. William Barber, Lynice Williams, executive director of NC Fair Share, and community activist Stella Adams. It was during that call that it was made clear to the Guilford County Democrat that forcing private health insurers to compete with a government-run health care insurer would indeed allow more of the poor an communities of color access and the coverage that they need.

"Organizing works," declared Williams, whose NC Fair Share is one of the HCAN advocacy groups that released the report Wednesday. "It took a while, but after weeks of relentless pressure from her constituents, including busloads coming from North Carolina to Washington, D.C., Sen. Kay Hagan endorsed a strong public option."

Healthcare: Change the Debate Support a Real Public Option

Dear Friends,

In mid-May, in an effort to reach consensus, President Obama secured a deal with the health insurance companies to trim 1.5% of their costs each year for ten years saving a total of $2 trillion dollars, which would be reprogrammed into healthcare. Just two days after the announcement at the White House the insurance companies reneged on the deal which was designed to protect and increase their revenue at least 35% The insurance companies reneged on the deal because they refuse any restraint on increasing premiums, copays and deductibles - core to their profits. No wonder a recent USA Today poll found that only four percent of Americans trust insurance companies. This is within the margin of error, which means it is possible that NO ONE TRUSTS insurance companies.

Then why does Congress trust the insurance companies? Yesterday HR 3200 "America's Affordable Health Choices Act," a 1000 page bill was delivered to members. The title of the bill raises a question: "Affordable" for whom?.

Of $2.4 trillion spent annually for health care in America, fully $800 billion goes for the activities of the for-profit insurer-based system. This means one of every three health care dollars is siphoned off for corporate profits, stock options, executive salaries, advertising, marketing and the cost of paper work, (which can be anywhere between 15 - 35% in the private sector as compared to Medicare, the single payer plan which has only 3% administrative costs).

50 million Americans are uninsured and another 50 million are under insured while for-profit insurance companies divert precious health care dollars to non-health care purposes. Eliminate the for-profit health care system and its extraordinary overhead, put the money into healthcare and everyone will be covered, everyone will be able to afford health care.

Today three committees will begin marking up and amending HR3200. In this, one of the most momentous public policy debates in the past 70 years, single payer, the only viable "public option," the one that makes sound business sense, controls costs and covers everyone was taken off the table.

In contrast to HR3200 ... HR676 calls for a universal single-payer health care system in the United States, Medicare for All. It has over 85 co-sponsors in Congress with the support of millions of Americans and countless physicians and nurses. How does HR-676 control costs and cover everyone? It cuts out the for-profit middle men and delivers care directly to consumers and Medicare acts as the single payer of bills. It also recognizes that under the current system for-profit insurance companies make money NOT providing health care.

This week is the time to break the hold which the insurance companies have on our political process. Tell Congress to stand up to the insurance companies. Ask members to sign on to the only real public option, HR 676, a single-payer healthcare system.

Hundreds of local labor unions, thousands of physicians and millions of Americans are standing behind us. With a draft of HR3200 now circulating, It is up to each and every one of us to organize and rally for the cause of single-payer healthcare. Change the debate. Now is the time.

The time to act is now!

Sincerely Yours,
Dennis


PS - Over the next several months, I will be engaging all of you with frequent updates and will ask you to continue a movement to fight for what needs to be done now; ending this war in Iraq and stopping the escalation in Afghanistan, attaining true single-payer healthcare for all Americans, standing up for my brothers and sisters of organized labor.

After you have contacted your member of Congress, please tell us your thoughts and ideas on how you are organizing your friends and neighbors towards a single-payer movement and all of the other issues that are important to us.

Contact us at feedback@kucinich.us.

Let Senator Bayh Know We Stand for HR676 and S. 703

As the discussion on health care moves forward, its important to participate in the process, and not to leave it to the big business interests to define what kind of health care system reforms are enacted. Please take a moment to call Senator Bayh and let him know you stand with the thousands who have expressed support nationally for HR676 - the National Health Care System, also known as Medicare for All. The senate version of this bill is called S. 703.

Senator Bayh can be contacted at:

1650 Market Tower
10 West Market Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 554-0750

or

131 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-5623

Contact information for the Senator's other regional area addresses are available here.

Background information on this issue is available from Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan and Physicians for a National Health Program.

Tell Senator Bayh that single-payer health reform is the only practicable way to achieve his stated goal of universal, comprehensive coverage at an affordable price.

Only single payer, by redirecting the vast sums wasted annually on bureaucracy and paperwork back into care, can assure high-quality coverage for everyone with no net increase in U.S. health spending. Only single payer can rein in costs.

Lesser reforms, with or without a “public option,” won’t fix our broken system.

Central Indiana Club Asks Indianapolis' 7th Congressional District To Support HR676

The Communist Party CPUSA Central Indiana Club is initiating a letter writing campaign to request of our Congressman, Andre Carson, that he renew his support for a single-payer national health insurance system by co-sponsoring HR 676, the U.S. National Health Insurance Act. HR 676 is also known as the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act.

Single-payer national health insurance would save enough on administrative paperwork - more than $300 billion per year - to provide comprehensive coverage to all Americans. It would provide full choice of doctor and hospital for patients, and unleash physicians from arbitrary corporate dictates over patient care. It would control the health expenses currently crippling our economy and provide for a wholesome revitalization of our democratic values.

Congressman Carson, like his grandmother Julia Carson, has a proud history of strongly supporting HR 676. Congressman Carson co-sponsored the bill in the 110th Congress.

More information on HR676 is available at Hoosiers for a Common Sense Health Plan, Physicians for a National Health Program, and HealthCare-NOW!.

Please write personal letters and snail mail them to Congressman Carson at:

Congressman André Carson
Julia Carson Government Center
300 East Fall Creek Parkway North Drive, #300
Indianapolis, IN 46205
Phone: (317) 283-6516
Fax: (317) 283-6567

We believe that a personal letter is the best way to get your support for HR676 heard by the Congressman.

Reforming health care requires getting rid of the insurance companies. Anything less may have some positive overall effect but won't get to the heart of the matter; the health insurance companies siphoning off billions of dollars for useless administrative fees and big dollar executive pay. HR 676 reinstates the patient-physician relationship as the primary health care relationship, increases democratic control over one of the biggest and most expensive sectors of our economy, and removes a layer of parasites from the health care system. Retraining for current workers in that sector is included in the bill.

We hope that you will take the time to write to Congressman Carson and ask that he again endorse HR 676, the National Health Insurance Bill.

A sample letter is included below.

Thank you.

Sample Letter:

Congressman André Carson
Julia Carson Government Center
300 East Fall Creek Parkway North Drive, #300
Indianapolis, IN 46205

Dear Congressman Carson:

Thank you for your past support for HR 676, the United States National Health Care Act.

Now that Democrats control Congress, the time is ripe to rally round a comprehensive solution for America’s failed, fragmented, irrational, cruel, wasteful, and costly health care system.

While the elderly and the disabled are covered by popular Medicare and the poor have Medicaid, most working families must rely on the shrinking value of employer-based private health insurance or they are among the 46.6 million who have no health insurance at all. This disarray persists even as we spend more than two trillion dollars a year on health care, two to three times per capita of any other country.

Reforms around the edges of the system won't work. The administrative cost of keeping the many insurance companies, with their redundant and complex paper work and costs, must be removed from the system in order to use that money to provide actual health care benefits.

Currently, unions worry about the affordability of adequate coverage and businesses struggle with the soaring costs of coverage while foreign competition, mostly countries with national health insurance, is totally free of that expense.

Please renew your support for the comprehensive solution, HR 676, the Conyers Medicare For All Bill, also known as the United States National Health Care Act. Huge savings would accrue from drastically simplified administration plus the proven efficiency of a universal risk pool. In the last Congress, you joined with at least 79 other Democrats in resisting the well-financed opposition of the insurance industry and signed on as a cosponsor of HR 676. Please let me know you are now ready to renew your commitment to a single-payer health system or, if not, why not. I look forward to your response on this most pressing domestic issue.

As Martin Luther King said in 1966, "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."

Sincerely,

Your Name

Leaflet/Petition for Single Payer Healthcare (HR676)

Please feel free to use this leaflet to petition for Single Payer Healthcare, HR676.

Write info@indianacp.org if you would like the leaflet in ODT or DOC format for editing.

Jan. 15 Call In Day for HR 676: What Better Way to Honor Dr. King

Unions for Single Payer HR676 is calling for a "Jan. 15 Call In Day for HR 676: What Better Way to Honor Dr. King".

Their statement is included below. Please consider calling in today; there are few more important actions you can take on your own behalf, for your family, and for the many millions of uninsured, underinsured, and people denied access to needed health care by a heartless and expensive bureaucracy that adds nothing to providing health care or to controlling costs.

"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking
and inhumane." -Martin Luther King, Jr.


With over 48 million people in the United States living without health insurance, the issue of providing quality affordable health care to all is high on the agenda for this nation.

"Of all forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking
and inhumane." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Born January 15,
1929--Assassinated April 4, 1968, while leading a strike for union and
human rights for Memphis sanitation workers.

The famous quote of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is worth keeping in mind
on Thursday, January 15, as you call your congressperson and ask him or
her to sign on as a co-sponsor of HR 676, Congressman John Conyers' (D-MI)
single payer healthcare legislation. HR 676 will shortly be reintroduced
into the 111th Congress with the same number.

Eighty-six members of the new 111th Congress were co-sponsors of HR 676 in
the last Congress. Now is the time to call them and urge them to sign on
again as co-sponsors in the 111th Congress and to ask all the others,
including the newly elected representatives, to do likewise.

A number organizations advocating HR 676 are asking supporters to call
their congressperson on Thursday, January 15th. All of us acting on the
same day will magnify the impact. Please take a moment to call the US
Capitol switchboard: (202) 224 3121. Then ask for your representative.



If you need to look up your or someone else's Congressperson, you can go
to http://votesmart.org/ and put in the zip code.

If you have two more minutes, please call one or both or your senators to
urge them to introduce in the Senate a companion bill to HR 676. You can
use the same number: (202) 224 3121.

We'd love to hear from you about the response you received. Please write
us at nursenpo@aol.com.

HR 676 would institute a single payer health care system in the U.S. by
expanding a greatly improved Medicare system to every resident.

HR 676 would cover every person in the U. S. for all necessary medical
care including prescription drugs, hospital, surgical, outpatient
services, primary and preventive care, emergency services, dental, mental
health, home health, physical therapy, rehabilitation (including for
substance abuse), vision care, chiropractic and long term care.

HR 676 ends deductibles and co-payments. HR 676 would save billions
annually by eliminating the high overhead and profits of the private
health insurance industry and HMOs.

In the 110th Congress, HR 676 had 93 co-sponsors in addition to Conyers

HR 676 has been endorsed by 478 union organizations in 49 states including
118 Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations and 39 state
AFL-CIO's (KY, PA, CT, OH, DE, ND, WA, SC, WY, VT, FL, WI, WV, SD, NC, MO,
MN, ME, AR, MD-DC, TX, IA, AZ, TN, OR, GA, OK, KS, CO, IN, AL, CA, AK, MI,
MT, NE, NY, NV & MA).

For further information, a list of union endorsers, or a sample
endorsement resolution, contact:

Kay Tillow
All Unions Committee For Single Payer Health Care--HR 676
c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO)
1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218
Louisville, KY 40217
(502) 636 1551
Email: nursenpo@aol.com
http://unionsforsinglepayerHR676.org
01/14/09

Pinched patients may forgo care: Doctor visits are casualties of the economy and rising costs

The Indianapolis Star is reporting a decline in physician revenues as Hoosiers forego medical care in a recession environment.

Physician offices are seeing declining revenues as patients, worried about their own financial health amid the economic downturn, put off appointments or fall behind on medical bills.

While some patients are kept away from doctors' offices because they lack health insurance, others have coverage but face thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs from co-payments and high deductibles.

That both those with and without health insurance are foregoing needed health care is indicative of the basic problems in the US healthcare system, a system which is increasingly making it difficult for anyone regardless of insurance coverage to get needed care.

Revenue at physician offices in 12 Midwest states, including Indiana, fell almost 9 percent this year compared with last year, according to data from Sageworks, a North Carolina company that tracks sales of U.S. privately held companies.

"What may be different in this downturn compared with previous ones is the fact that health care has become so much more expensive," said Peter Cunningham, a senior fellow with the Center for Studying Health System Change, a Washington-based research group. "Families have very little cushion in their budgets for health-care expenses."

According to a recent study by the group, one in three families reported problems paying medical bills when their out-of-pocket health spending totaled just 2.5 percent to 5 percent of family income.

Working families in the United States are unable to meet their health care needs. The best solution for this is to restructure the health care industry to be similar to those of all other industrialized countries, and create a single payer system that gets rid of the bloated costs for insurance administration that eat up 1/3 of our health care dollars without providing any services.

About 45.7 million Americans, including 717,000 in Indiana, are uninsured. But that number could rise as the economic downturn continues.

When the richest country in the world can't provide health care to its citizens, fundamental change is clearly required.