Single Payer Health Care

Come learn about Single Payer Health Care!

At this time of pandemic crisis, availability and cost of healthcare is a top issue for all of us.
Presenters Dr. Corinne Frugoni and Patty Harvey are both long-time advocates for Medicare For All, also known as Single Payer Health Care. They are the co-chairs of our local Single Payer advocacy group-Humboldt Healthcare For All/Physicians For A National Healthcare Program (HCA/PNHP)
They will define Single Payer/Medicare For All, the benefits, why it is so important, how Covid-19 has exposed greater health disparities and inequities. They plan to leave time for Q&A followed at the very end with a review of an important petition that is being circulated to urge Governor Newsom to request waivers to free up Federal funds in order to develop and implement a Single Payer system for all residents in California.
Two good links to obtain more information are:
PNHP.org
https://healthcareforall.org

We’ve compiled a (long) list of resources for people to peruse, some with links.   

Join:

First of all hopefully you all can support our movement for single payer by joining our local group HCA/PNHP-Humboldt.  HCA is a state wide organization with local chapters and PNHP is a national organization with state and local chapters. These two organizations work collaboratively to educate and advocate for Single Payer in California and the nation. You can join either or both organizations.  The membership dues vary significantly.   Go to www.healthcareforall.org or www.PNHP.org for more information.  You can also send your name and email address to healthcareforallhumboldt@gmail.com and we will put you on our local email list for notices and upcoming meetings. 

Proposed California  and National Single Payer Legislation:

AB 1400 The Guaranteed Health Care for All Act (Cal Care)  Introduced last week by State Assemblymember Ash Kalra

https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.naswca.org/resource/resmgr/files/2021lld/AB-1400-fact-sheet.pdf

Petition:

Click Petition.healthcare to read and sign our petition sponsored by Healthy California Now, a coalition of thousands of physicians, nurses, workers, and concerned voters throughout California. The petition asks Governor Newsom to request the Biden Administration to allow federal dollars used for health care in our state (Medicare, MediCal, Affordable Care Act, etc.) to fund a non-profit, Single Payer Healthcare Program for California. Watch the video which says it all! Sign now, then forward the petition to ten friends.  Signers will not receive donation requests.  Let’s stand together and add your voice.  We’re grateful for your support. 

H.R. 1976- Medicare for All Act sponsored by Congresswomen Pramila Jayapal and Deborah Dinglell:

https://pnhp.org/the-medicare-for-all-act-of-2021/

Single Payer Finances:

For more information about finances regarding our current system and the potential for single payer, we highly recommend “Projected Costs of Single-Payer Healthcare Financing in the United States: A Systematic Review of Economic Analyses” published in PLOS Medicine, January 15, 2020.  Go to https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003013.  For a good synopsis of the article, you can watch one of the authors, UCSF professor Dr. James Kahn speak on the subject for about 25 minutes in a video sponsored by the Davis League of Women Voters at https://www.facebook.com/LWVDavisArea/videos/what-has-the-covid-crisis-unveiled-about-the-healthcare-access-and-affordability/275616010221051/. To skip the introductions, start the video at 7:05 minutes.

Don McCanne Quote of the Day:

Brief daily updates of health care reform news.  Don reviews a current article and then gives a succinct thoughtful comment.  All for free.  For all of you who get too many daily emails, don’t delete this one. It is outstanding and worth opening up. https://pairlist2.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/quote-of-the-dayThis link will enable you to subscribe. 

Books:

Health Justice Now, Single Payer and What Comes Next by Timothy Faust published by Melville House.   Excellent fiery description of our current system and explanation of what single payer means and why it’s so important as a health justice issue. 

Two books by John Geyman, M.D., a family physician who explains clearly and understandably why Single Payer is crucially necessary to correct our current dysfunctional system. Both published by Copernicus Healthcare.

Crisis in U.S. Health Care:  Corporate Power vs. The Common Good

Profiteering, Corruption and Fraud in U.S. Health Care

This next book will make your hair stand on end exposing the nefarious activities of the health insurance companies.  Written by Wendell Potter, an ex-senior Cigna executive whose conscience made him quit. 

Deadly Spin, published by Bloomsbury Press

Medicare For All.  A Citizen’s Guide by Abdul El-Sayed and Micah Johnson with forwards by Bernie Sanders and Parmila Jayapal published by Oxford University Press.  A book just published which is divided in three parts and is very easy to read:  1. A description of our current health care system and how we got to where we are.  2.  An explanation of Medicare for All, how to pay for it and alternatives – the policy.  3.  Organizing for Medicare for Al l – the politics.

Films:

Fix It, Healthcare At The Tipping Point.  A great film that explains Single Payer.  You can watch this free on the internet.

Power to Heal:  Medicare And The Civil Rights Revolution. Wonderful, moving film about how Medicare forced U.S. hospitals to desegregate in 1965.  You will learn about an important but little known part of U.S. history.

The Waiting Room: 24 hours. 241 patients. One stretched ER.  This film focuses on a 24 hour day in the life of Highland Hospital’s emergency room.  Better and more poignant than the television series ER. 

We have a copy available of all three DVDs if you want to borrow them to show at a meeting.  Fix It and Power to Heal require a DVD recorder that plays blue tooth.  Hopefully there are zoom instructions on how to play the films at a meeting.  

We also have lots of What If.  This is an excellent one time newsletter that PNHP-Sacramento wrote about Medicare for All and HCA/PNHP Humboldt edited for relevance to our counties. We can give you copies to read and distribute. 

A “My Word” article in the March 17, 2021 edition of the Times Standard that describes the relationship between Cloney’s pharmacies demise and the potential demise of Redwood memorial Hospital’s OB department:  https://www.times-standard.com/2021/03/17/my-word-cloneys-redwood-memorial-woes-point-to-larger-problem/

And lastly, for some humor:  Ernestine (Lily Tomlin) tells it all in these two short segments:

https://youtu.be/ax1DO1we3ZM

https://youtu.be/rmuBAzWBrCc

And Grey’s Anatomy expresses the frustration of dealing with health insurance: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2826926597568197

Thank you again for giving us the opportunity to share our passion with you.

Corinne and Patty