Health care event thread--2009 and after [View All]

[eridani]

Please remember to call Congressman Rick Larsen’s office on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 anytime from 6 am to 2 pm Pacific Standard Time. The toll free number is 1-866-338-1015. When the operator answers, ask for Congressman Rick Larsen’s office.

Tell Rick Larsen’s staff that you want him to sign on as a sponsor of House Resolution 676 which would establish single payer health care for all US residents.

If you wish, you can also add why you want to have him sign on. For example:

Single payer national health insurance is politically feasible. A majority of physicians (59 percent) and an even higher proportion of Americans (62 percent or more) support single-payer national health insurance or "Medicare for All." per a study in the April 2008 Annals of Internal Medicine *.

In spite of this, all we are hearing about today are mandate plans that would require everyone to buy the same private insurance that is already failing us. These proposals don't regulate insurance premiums, they don't keep the insurance companies from refusing to pay many of our bills, and they don't improve the insurance we now have. Some offer a "public option," but this will quickly become too expensive as the sick flee to the public sector as private insurers avoid them, abandon them, or make it too difficult for them to get their bills paid.

You can also add a brief personal reason such as: you or someone you know can’t get health insurance, or that the insurance they can afford is inadequate and does not cover needed medication or medical care.

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Reference for above cited article:

*Carroll, A., Ackerman, R., "Support for National Health Insurance Among U.S. Physicians: 5 Years Later," Annals of Internal Medicine, 148(7), April 1, 2008; ABC News/Washington Post, Oct 9-13

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Membership Meeting
Our next general membership meeting will be held on:

Thursday, January 22, 2009 7 pm
1700 N. State Street , Bellingham
downstairs in Laborers Hall (on left side of building)

Obama Transition Team Meetings

Many of us attended Obama Transition Team Community meetings during the month of December in Blaine , Ferndale , and Bellingham . At all of the meetings, health care reform was discussed. The vast majority of attendees at all the meetings supported national single payer health care. There were approximately 12 attendees at the Blaine meeting and at the Ferndale meeting; and there were 47 attendees at the Bellingham meeting held at the Laborers Hall on December 30.

The 47 persons who attended the Bellingham meeting represented a good cross section of our community-- ranging from physicians and nurses to college professors, office workers, factory workers, social service workers, teachers, business owners, disabled workers, and retirees. To me the most remarkable thing about the meeting was that all these people from different walks of life came to virtually unanimous agreement on what needs to be done to reform our health care system.

After these three meetings, the hosts transmitted the results of the meeting to the Obama Transition Team web site appropriate to their meeting. It was truly a wonderful opportunity to make our voices heard by the upcoming administration.

If you would like a full copy of the report for the Bellingham meeting, please e-mail me at the address below.

Aileen Satushek
Board Member
United for National Healthcare

You can e-mail me at: supporter {at} unitedforhealthcare.org. Please do not reply to this e-mail as replies to the e-mail are “bounced” and not received.

You can call me at [phone].
web site www.ufhc.org