U.S. Doctors Call for Universal Healthcare

[NJCher]

'We need fundamental changes': US doctors call for universal healthcare

A group of more than 2,000 physicians is calling for the establishment of a universal government-run health system in the US, in a paper in the American Journal of Public Health.

According to the proposal released Thursday, the Affordable Care Act did not go far enough in removing barriers to healthcare access. The physicians’ bold plan calls for implementing a single-payer system similar to Canada’s, called the National Health Program, that would guarantee all residents healthcare.

The new single-payer system would be funded mostly by existing US government funding. The physicians point out that the US government already pays for two-thirds of all healthcare spending in the US, and a single-payer system would cut down on administrative costs, so a transition to a single-payer system would not require significant additional spending.

“Our patients can’t afford care and don’t have access to the care they need, while the system is ever more wasteful, throwing away money on bureaucratic expenses and absurd prices from the drug companies,” said David Himmelstein, a professor in the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College and lecturer on medicine at Harvard Medical School.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/we-need-fundamental-changes-us-doctors-call-for-universal-healthcare/ar-BBsGyHG?ocid=spartandhp


Cher

[TexasProgresive]

1. Call me when the AMA demands it.

Have you ever watched "Call the Midwife"? The series gives a little history of the NHS in Britain. The show is quite good even if the birthing scenes are loud and realistic.

[zalinda]

2. Watch the documentary "Code Black" and you'll understand why. eom

[TryLogic]

3. Tell them to vote for Bernie. And donate to Bernie. Otherwise their words are just blowing smoke.

[NJCher]

4. Actually

I've been doing my annual medical check-ups and have seen about four doctors over the past month.

Every one of them is for Bernie. They either tell me or they have Bernie stickers on their cars.


Cher

[Enthusiast]

5. Good to hear.

[silverweb]

7. Good to know!

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Last time I saw my primary care doctor, he saw the big Bernie button on my purse.

That launched an off-topic but very interesting conversation about his support for universal health care and Bernie!

[Dont call me Shirley]

6. Thanks Docs!

[silverweb]

8. There are plenty more than 2000!

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Check out the membership in Physicians for a National Health Program: http://www.pnhp.org/

[grahamhgreen]

28. This is the site

[snot]

9. 2,000 is a very small number. We all need to share this with all our docs.

[texanwitch]

10. Watch a show called "Saving Hope"' on the Ion channel.

The show takes place in a hospital in Canada.

I know it is a tv show but everyone is covered.

The show is also on Youtube.

[eridani]

11. 2000+ Doctors Declare: "It's Time for Single Payer to be Back on the Table

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/05/05/2000-doctors-declare-its-time-single-payer-be-back-table

Despite limited advances provided by the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. healthcare system remains "uniquely wasteful" and profit-driven, leaving tens of millions without any insurance and even more underinsured.

As a result, say leading physicians, "the right to medical care remains a dream deferred."

In an effort to finally realize that dream, thousands of medical professionals across the country have signed onto the "Physicians' Proposal for Single-Payer Health Care Reform," calling for a publicly financed, single-payer National Health Program (NHP) that would cover all Americans for all medically necessary care.

The plan, unveiled Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health, aims to "remedy the persistent shortcomings of the current health care system," reads an accompanying editorial.

It comes as the 2016 presidential race has thrust the issue of healthcare back into the national spotlight, and while the proposal is non-partisan, it hews closely to Bernie Sanders' call for Medicare-for-All.

Drafted by a working group of 39 physicians and endorsed by more than 2,231 other physicians and 149 medical students, the proposal "would save enough on administrative overhead to provide comprehensive coverage to the uninsured and to upgrade coverage for everyone else, thus requiring no increase in total health spending," according (pdf) to Physicians for a National Health Program (PHNP), which is backing the effort.

[zentrum]

12. Kick and

……needs to be read into the Congressional Record. Something needs to happen to make this enter mainstream media.

Bernie should read aloud portions at his next rally.

[sinkingfeeling]

13. I'm pleased they are doing this, but there are 970,000 physicians in the USA so 2,000 isn't

a majority opinion.

[rtracey]

16. i

I dumped my response because I responded to you by mistake..... thanks rt

[rtracey]

15. It's not Bernie

Its not Bernie that's going to get it done, its not Hillary that's going to get it done, and anyone who thinks it is is too naive. ITS THE HOUSE AND SENATE........ IT'S THE HOUSE AND SENATE.......IT'S THE HOUSE AND SENATE.......IT'S THE HOUSE AND SENATE.......IT'S THE HOUSE AND SENATE.......IT'S THE HOUSE AND SENATE.......IT'S THE HOUSE AND SENATE........ ok have I said it enough.... We MUST unify this party not just for the presidential election, but for the down ballot elections. The Senate must go dem.... the house must make inroads into cutting the GOP grip so the dems can have a better voting forecast.... if you dont like the presidential nominee, sorry, dont vote for them, but GOTV on the down ballot...

[jwirr]

21. K&R

[pberq]

17. Kick! We need more like this! nt

[MariaThinks]

18. yes!

[vkkv]

19. Thank you for providing this... nt

[Ferd Berfel]

20. I've discussed with my Doctor and he's very much for SP!

[SmittynMo]

22. Easy fix!!!!

Elect Bernie. Just think of all that wasted money.

[libdem4life]

23. Hey, I thought that was Unicorns and Fairies and No We Can't?

Bernie's the guy to get it through. HRC flip flopped...the wrong way on this one.

[felix_numinous]

24. Healthcare is not a business

it is a service profession. Service professions like Health Education and Welfare should be socialized, while other parts of the establishment are allowed to operate within regulated Capitalism. We need a hybrid system where each center of power is a check on the other.

It would be great if the AMA has enough influence to pull this off.

[closeupready]

25. US doctors don't want universal healthcare, since it'd cut their incomes.

Good on these 2,000 for putting a greater good first, though.

[Fresh_Start]

26. Notice that they want to cut drug prices but not fees paid to doctors

Some specialties are way underpaid and others overpaid...
so any solution needs to also include cost of the physician.

[Uncle Joe]

27. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, NJCher.

[bvar22]

29. That would have gotten them arrested and jailed

at Baucus's Senate Committee Hearing on Healthcare in 2009 where Doctors and Nurses calling for expanding Medicare were forceably removed from the hearing and arrested.

Baucus's Raucous Caucus: Doctors, Nurses and Activists Arrested Again for Protesting Exclusion of Single-Payer Advocates at Senate Hearing on Healthcare

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/13/baucus_raucus_caucus_doctors_nurses_and


For his obstruction to expanding Medicare or implementing a Public Option,
Baucus was well rewarded by President Obama who later him as the Ambassador to China, one of the biggest and richest plums a president can award anyone. Ol Baucus will be able to fill up those offshore accounts in short time now.

Heck of a job, Maxie!


You will know them by their WORKS!

[jtuck004]

30. "...the US government already pays for two-thirds of all healthcare spending in the US, and a single

"...the US government already pays for two-thirds of all healthcare spending in the US, and a single-payer system would cut down on administrative costs, so a transition to a single-payer system would not require significant additional spending."

No new taxes needed.