More than 300 people attend Single Payer event in Albany

Cong. John Conyers and Dr. Andy Coates

(Photo courtesy of Jon Flanders)

More than 300 people attend into the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Albany on Sunday to hear Cong. John Conyers and Paul Tonko speak about the need for Single Payer Health Care.

The lead sponsor of the event was the Presbyterian Church USA and the event featured a panel of faith representatives speaking to the moral right for health care for all.
After the event, the speaker receiving the most praise was Dr. Andy Coates of PNHP, who explained Single Payer and its importance at the moment.
Participants wrote several hundred letters to their elected officials after the event.

Source: Single Payer New York

Single Payer activists, don't give up. As President Obama said in his press conference this week, "Persistence" !
(Comment by Dr. Don McCanne)

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Congressmen will talk about health reform

Single-payer advocates host forum Sunday in Albany to explain system

As the nation grapples with improving the health care system and making it more affordable, a contingent of people believe the answer is a single-payer system. But advocates worry that their idea is being sidelined.

Representatives of the single-payer movement were initially locked-out of health care summit called by President Barack Obama earlier this month until supporters raised a ruckus.

"I think mainstream wisdom in Washington is reform that is not built on the private health insurance industry will not pass," said Dr. Andrew Coates, an Albany doctor who is secretary of the Capital District Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program. "They do not want a knock-down, drag-out fight."

Under a single-payer system, private doctors and hospitals deliver health care but the bill is paid by the government. It's also known as "Medicare for all."

Single-payer advocates will host a forum on Sunday at the Westminster Presbyterian Church to explain the system to people who are not familiar with it. U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, who has proposed a single-payer bill in Congress, will speak along with U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, of Amsterdam, who signed on as a co-sponsor to his fellow Democrat's bill.

Conyers, who eventually attended Obama's health summit, said he presumes the late invitation was due to the administration's reluctance to give his bill prominence.

A single-payer system would eliminate the need for private health insurance and potentially wipe out the industry.

"The insurance lobby is the one that has kept us from a single-payer system for the last three or four generations," Conyers said in a telephone interview.

The Presbyterian Church USA has decided that a single-payer system is the best option for health reform, and is hosting 10 forums around the country to educate people about it.

Single-payer "streamlines what is the biggest waste in the system, which is the incredible (duplication) of effort and time doctors and practitioners spend just following the paper trail," said the Rev. Cass Shaw.

Shaw is leader of the Albany Presbytery, which represents 73 congregations and 8,000 Presbyterians in the Capital Region.

In addition to the congressmen, the forum will have a panel of faith leaders from churches, mosques and synagogues in the area.

"For us, it's a religious issue as well as a civic issue," Shaw said.

Sunday's free forum will be from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 262 State St., Albany. Call 434-7371 for more information.

Source: Times Union

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Single-payer health care system touted

About 150 people gathered to demonstrate in favor of a single-payer health care system before a White House Regional Forum on Health Reform at the University of Vermont in Burlington on Tuesday March 17, 2009.

Dr. John Walsh, a neuroscience researcher from Worcester, Mass., stood Tuesday with 150 other sign-carrying supporters of government-financed health care outside the building where 400 invited guests would attend a regional health care reform forum sponsored by the Obama White House.

Walsh passed out yellow fliers that denounced President Barack Obama for failing to live up to promises to consider a Canadian-style health insurance system. "Single payer is the choice in the polls," Walsh declared.

Rebecca Elgie, a retired teacher, traveled six hours from Ithaca, N.Y., because she has made advocacy for a single-payer system her cause. Three years ago she walked 400 miles across her state to raise awareness about the need for a better way to pay for health care. Elgie said, "The employee-based system has outlived its usefulness."

The rally greeted the invited guests as they strolled toward the Davis Center at the University of Vermont under a bright blue sky. "They need to know there is enough support for people to drop everything and come here to support single payer," said Dr. Deb Richter, a Montpelier family physician and prime force in the single-payer movement in Vermont.

"Barack Obama is with us," Richter told the rally participants. "President Obama is in a leaky boat out there in an ocean surrounded by sharks. We can’t expect President Obama to stick his toe in the water. He needs our help. That is why we are here today."

Many at the rally were sure single-payer advocates would be ignored during the forum, even though some, including Richter, had tickets. But Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, who co-hosted the forum with Gov. Jim Douglas of Vermont, didn’t duck the topic. He put a spotlight on it.

"Is there one way?" Patrick asked the audience. "Should we have a couple of different ways or should we have a national template? Let’s talk a little about single payer."

Patrick called on Richter, who sat in a front row in her white coat. Noting the administrative burden that physicians face dealing with dozens of health insurance payers, Richter asked, "Why would we even need private insurance?"

Source: Burlingtonfreepress.com

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Health Care for All is a Moral Imperative A Congressional Town Hall Meeting on HR-676 Single Payer “Medicare for All” with Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) Lead sponsor of HR-676, The US National Health Care Act and co-sponsor Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) Also invited: Governor Paterson, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand and Representative Hinchey Sunday, March 29, 2009 2:00– 4:30 pm Westminster Presbyterian Church 262 State Street, Albany (1/2 block west of State Capitol, parking entrance on Chestnut Street) For more information: (518) 434-7371 www.singlepayernewyork.org

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Is the Health Insurance Industry serious about reform?

By Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times

In December, the health insurance industry's trade group, AHIP (for America's Health Insurance Plans), said it had decided for the first time to support the principle of universal healthcare -- insuring everyone in America, regardless of health condition.

I was skeptical. And what I found by reading AHIP's 16-page policy brochure was that its position hadn't changed at all. Its version of "reform" comprises the same wish list that the industry has been pushing for decades.

Briefly, the industry wants the government to assume the cost of treating the sickest, and therefore most expensive, Americans. It wants the government to clamp down hard on doctors' and hospitals' fees. And it wants permission to offer stripped-down, low-benefit policies freed from pesky state regulations limiting their premiums.

Figuring out the industry's stance on healthcare reform is of paramount importance this year. President Obama's healthcare forum last Thursday demonstrated that the administration and Congress are girding for a big push to remake a tattered employer-based system that has left more than 45 million people without coverage.

But what role will private insurers play? What role do you think they should play?

Read the full column: Insurers' commitment to healthcare reform is only skin-deep

Michael Hiltzik's column appears Mondays and Thursdays in Los Angeles Times. Reach him at michael.hiltzik@latimes.com

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