Huffpo: Obama Will Have Single-Payer Advocates At Health Care Summit

[FrenchieCat]

Obama Will Have Single-Payer Advocates At Health Care Summit

Sam Stein
3/4/09

There has been a lot of speculation over which sides of the health care debate will be present when the Obama White House hosts a summit on the topic this Thursday. Included in that has been concern among advocates of a single-payer system that their voices would not be included at the table.

An administration official put that unease to rest on Wednesday night, telling the Huffington Post that, "single payer advocates will be represented at the forum tomorrow."

Another source with knowledge of the event says: "Rep. John Conyers, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and a known single payer advocate, and at least one group advocating single payer, will be there as well."

The inclusion of Conyers and at least one other group or individual should quiet, for the moment, the growing chorus of voices who have been openly pressing the White House to be more open-minded to a single-payer system.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/04/obama-will-have-single-pa_n_171994.html

Single-Payer Health Care
Welcome to the new home for H.R. 676 and the movement for universal, single-payer health care!
http://www.johnconyers.com/healthcare

[Ken Burch]

1. Voices from below made this happen, and they should be praised.

It should simply go without saying that progressives will always have a say in this administration's policies.

I'm glad that this changed.

[vaberella]

4. How so? Obama has been talking about this during his Primaries.

Unless...there are people here who see him as a progressive (since I've seen that debated). This is something he'd always said he'd do alongside meeting with the insurance companies.

[harun]

11. Initially he wasn't going to even give the Single Payer groups a seat at the table

(like Conyers). This pissed everyone off so he is now giving them a seat at the table. We know Obamas first step isn't going to be Single Payer, but it gets us on a MUCH better path than we are now.

[vaberella]

20. I read the articles...

From what I could see it's speculation to create social tension when we don't know what was really going on. I don't think Obama called Conyers and others 5 hours before the day of the event to tell them they could come. That would be unhinged and unprofessional and I have yet to see Obama be unprofessional. Because a news source speculates on something because it's not talked about doesn't mean it wasn't going to happen. And I read teh white House response which leads me to believe they were putting in a clarification to the information that was out there----rather than saying some apology that weren't included but now are here.

[biopowertoday]

38. So, why would single payer advocates be spending time and money

if they were already included?

[biopowertoday]

13. Health Care Industry in (SECRET) Talks to Shape Policy: NYT...So

much has already been decided. He is late to bring ALL to the table, which is wrong.



http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/us/politics/20health....


February 20, 2009
Health Care Industry in Talks to Shape Policy
By ROBERT PEAR

WASHINGTON — Since last fall, many of the leading figures in the nation’s long-running health care debate have been meeting secretly in a Senate hearing room. Now, with the blessing of the Senate’s leading proponent of universal health insurance, Edward M. Kennedy, they appear to be inching toward a consensus that could reshape the debate.

Many of the parties, from big insurance companies to lobbyists for consumers, doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, are embracing the idea that comprehensive health care legislation should include a requirement that every American carry insurance.

.........
The talks, which are taking place behind closed doors, are unusual. Lobbyists for a wide range of interest groups — some of which were involved in defeating national health legislation in 1993-4 — are meeting with the staff of Mr. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, in a search for common ground.

.................

While President Obama is not directly represented in the talks, the White House has been kept informed and is encouraging the Senate effort as a way to get the ball rolling on health legislation.

...............

“While there was some diversity of views,” it said, “the sense of the room is that an individual obligation to purchase insurance should be part of reform if that obligation is coupled with effective mechanisms to make coverage meaningful and affordable.”

The ideas discussed include a proposal to penalize people who fail to comply with the “individual obligation” to have insurance.

......................................

The 20 people who regularly attend the meetings on Capitol Hill include lobbyists for AARP, Aetna, the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the American Cancer Society, the American Medical Association, America’s Health Insurance Plans, the Business Roundtable, Easter Seals, the National Federation of Independent Business, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and the United States Chamber of Commerce.

[vaberella]

18. Not so secret when the NYT is publishing articles...

First point is that President Obama is not even in the talks... so why is this an attack on him. Health insurance companies were always going to be in talks with the white house anyway...that means nothing in the long run---why because most people can't afford it and will decide to dump it when the economy goes to shit. Hence the reason so many people are going to food banks and not super markets.

Second all I see in your article is that all people should carry health care. Which I agree, since it is a right as Obama stated during the GE debates. Secondly, Obama has consistently said that he supported the idea of single payer and that would always be an option even with new legislation for health insurance because he knew some people would prefer to keep their insurance.

So I don't get the point of your article.

http://www.barackobama.com/factcheck/2008/01/05/fact_check_obama_consistent_in.php

[biopowertoday]

36. I am just glad that single payer advocated are now to be included

in this summit.

The nytimes article is basically addressing the Kennedy Plan---

[biopowertoday]

15. Yes, these single payer groups deserve a LOT of credit. I am glad they are Included

now. all options need to be on the table.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/04/obama-will-have-single-pa_n_171994.html


........The inclusion of Conyers and at least one other group or individual should quiet, for the moment, the growing chorus of voices who have been openly pressing the White House to be more open-minded to a single-payer system. The group Physicians For A National Health Program put out a press release last week hitting the president on this very topic.

"Groups representing physicians, nurses, and consumers who advocate for a single-payer system of national health insurance have thus far been excluded from the summit," says the release. "The Clinton task force on health reform made a similar mistake of excluding the voices of those who support a single-payer system... At a time when public support for single-payer is greater than ever - more than 60 percent in recent polls - we urge President Obama not to make the same mistake."

To be certain, Obama has generally shied away from publicly backing a single-payer system, saying only that he would prefer such a health care structure - which would eliminate private insurance companies in favor of a government-run approach - if he could start health care reform from scratch.

link embedded:
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/february/president_obama_must.php

[anonymous171]

26. Yep. We have to keep the pressure on.

Remember the Clinton years. We can't afford to stand down. This is our time.

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

2. cool

B-)

[vaberella]

3. Sanity...precious sanity. Thank you Frenchie...

I am so bloody fed up with all the do-dos on this board going around in the tizzy. They shout and pout Obama is a homophobe about "don't ask don't tell" because HE said he was going to review it. Because Obama said it, he'll be like all the other stupid President. Now he's taking step after step to repealing don't ask don't tell. But homophobe was all over this board.

Then came the war thing and the extension of troops. When he's ONLY delayed by 3 months but kept his word that he was going to get EVERYONE out by 2011. Then they quiet down after a while. Now this health care thing. He had said before and time and time and time again during the Primaries and GE he would speak to the insurance companies. This is not news or him not keeping his promise. He realised some people would like to keep their health insurance so he catered to them by saying he'd speak to the insurance companies so he could lower the rates in any way he could. But people are seeing him as an fuckin' enemy.

I'm really getting tired of these people all in a frenzy when we don't have all the facts. And it's frustrating talking to them because you end up in a circular conversation.

I'm excited by all of this and glad. As a person without health care I supported Obama for his stance on health care and I'm glad there was no reason for me to worry (not that I was).

[SpartanDem]

5. To be fair

it was right for people worry about the apparent lack of single payer proponents at the summit, but the President showed that he is listening. What I didn't like was some people transforming this to be some proof that he his in pocket of the industry and we won't see real reform. You saw this with Guantanamo he said closing it was going take more time than originally thought, but it set some people into a panic that it really wasn't going to close. I don't have anything against pushing the him on an issue, but the constant alarmist, he's gonna betray us crowd is tiring.

[vaberella]

6. Well this is the thing...

It was never stated that he would shut out single-payer people. It was someone's assumption based on an article that I saw came from yahoo news. I mean, and I respect what you say in defense of some of the people acting a bit anxious towards the President, I've just seen people get really up in a tizzy. This news report was casted today and I don't think Obama randomly called all these people to the summit all of the sudden. I find that a bit ridiculous. I don't think it was progressives who did anything in this regard. They just had a better reporter this time and there was a clarification posted. I think all these people were always planning on being there and I'm just getting annoyed by the way people jump to attack from one topic to another if it doesn't meet their needs.

And your last statement is what I'm getting at. Many people here seem to ready to sound that alarm at every turn. There was no solid article on this health topic except from a yahoo news article that I read on this board...yahoo news has been debunked more often than not because they get their shit from AP news who has been known to blatantly lie. I just think people need to calm down. Then I saw people sooner give props to the progressives for sounding the alarm without giving Obama any benefit of the doubt and assuming maybe the article chose not to report on such information or decided to say what they say for some reason without putting all the facts. As though Obama was ready to betray them so it couldn't have been him. I am already tired of it.

[biopowertoday]

14. they were initially excluded.....

Having said that. I am so glad they are allowed into the summit:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5180499&mesg_id=5180499

[vaberella]

17. I read that article before...

Much of it is speculation that single payer people were not included because all the details were not out. They talked about the health insurance companies being there...but there were also going to be doctors and nurses there as well and many of whom may actually support single payer as some apparently do. I think it's people going nuts rather than waiting for everything to be detailed. I don't think Obama just all of the sudden called Conyers and other single payer advocates while he was being under heat and from what I could tell of the White House reponse it seemed as though they were putting out a clarification to the earlier articles.

[asphalt.jungle]

22. like Gibbs said to a reporter the other day

when he was asked if the meeting on waste was put together because of republican criticism the previous day. he said something to the effect of he isn't losing his weekends so that they can hastily put together wednesday's business on a tuesday night. people want to jump to conclusions so that they can feel like they were the reason something happened. the odds are slim that those people were just hastily invited, so why be so quick to believe such a remote possibility?

there is a difference between holding someone's feet to the fire and jumping to conclusions before you have any facts.

[vaberella]

23. I couldn't agree more with you asphalt...

the reaction by so many people is just stupid. All of the sudden Conyers is called to show up to speak to people the next day. These people work day and night as you said. They're on top of it..but these people are so quick to judge.

[quickesst]

7. Those you speak of.....

...are the perpetual victims, never satisfied unless being victimized, even if they have to make shit up, and grasp at straws. So easy to read, and they shame Democrats everywhere with the incessant whining on things they do not have the patience to learn about before speaking. Why do they do it? Every time someone uses half their brain to showcase their ignorance, it takes about five minutes for someone to post a response showing them exactly how inane their crying is. The really sad part? They can't wait two minutes to step into the shitpile again. Thanks.
quickesst

[vaberella]

16. I'll agree with you on that. It's frustrating. n/t

[Cha]

40. And, when Obama does appoint

someone or does something those same people should really like..there's crickets on the thread.

So it's all about complaints, panic, tizzy, and bashing Obama..but no support.

[mopinko]

8. frenchie, how dare you go around putting out these facts!!

these people were probably on the list all along. i think it is perfectly clear that obama favored single payer all along. he just knows that will be the toughest way to go.

and btw, someone had a video clip from somewhere on the campaign trail, date unknown, supporting single payer, saying "everybody in, nobody out". that there is the mantra of a fellow hyde parker, dr quentin young, a leader in physicians for universal health care. (i think that is the name.) i can promise you that the president shared many a stage with the good dr. and obviously he has absorbed the message.

people need to keep their tizzies on a leash, and at least get the facts, and stop swallowing this propaganda.

[mmonk]

9. Thanks Frenchie.

Here's a hooray and shout out for those of us seeking real and effective reform.

[firedupdem]

10. President Obama is not going to do anything to hurt the

middle class or disadvantaged. He always looks at every side of an issue. Thanks for this information. The doom and gloom depressed threads are ridiculous. Same old mess daily.

[harun]

12. Agree. Obama's got the Middle Class's back, 100%.

[11 Bravo]

19. But I read right here at DU that Obama told all single payer advocates to fuck off!

Surely DU is not infested with knee-jerk, reflexive Obama bashers playing fast and loose with the truth!

[vaberella]

21. *GASP* for shame...

too many reactionists...I'm fed up with them.

[polichick]

24. He keeps saying that all voices must be heard - how could he NOT invite them?

[vaberella]

25. Oy...who ever said he didn't invite them? *read post #22*

I read the articles...those are all speculated posts.

Secondly, do you think it's professional and we've ONLY seen Obama as Professional, not to invite people at an orderly time and order?! Give me a break.

[polichick]

28. That's what I mean - how could he NOT invite them?

[vaberella]

32. Ahhh...we usually say, "NOT not invite..."

Just to make it more clear. Understood..my apologies. I'm hypersensitive to the reactionists that I'm becoming similar to them.

[biopowertoday]

27. It is telling that the WH only relented to the invite after "the growing chorus of voices"

spoke up. Thank you grassroots.




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/04/obama-will-have-single-pa_n_171994.html


........The inclusion of Conyers and at least one other group or individual should quiet, for the moment, the growing chorus of voices who have been openly pressing the White House to be more open-minded to a single-payer system. The group Physicians For A National Health Program put out a press release last week hitting the president on this very topic.

"Groups representing physicians, nurses, and consumers who advocate for a single-payer system of national health insurance have thus far been excluded from the summit," says the release. "The Clinton task force on health reform made a similar mistake of excluding the voices of those who support a single-payer system... At a time when public support for single-payer is greater than ever - more than 60 percent in recent polls - we urge President Obama not to make the same mistake."

[polichick]

30. So he only recently started saying that all voices must be heard???

[biopowertoday]

35. No, single payer spokespeople were not invited. So groups spent time

and money these last few weeks to get included. They have my thanks and a bit of money.

[polichick]

37. Then saying that all voices must be heard has to be a new message...

I heard him say that today.

[biopowertoday]

39. I did not hear him today but glad to hear he did say that.

[polichick]

42. I'm glad too - I don't envy any of them the enormous job of restructuring healthcare.

[biopowertoday]

41. Conyers blog on feb 25 about a wk ago asking to include single payer:

Conyers wrote this about a week ago:

http://www.johnconyers.com/blog


President Obama's Health Care Commitment
Submitted by JC on February 25, 2009 - 7:30am.

As I watched President Obama walk into the House chamber last night, I was once again filled with the hope and excitement I felt so often during the 2008 campaign -- recognizing that our country is on the brink of a new era in which we will rise to meet great challenges and ensure that the American dream is a reality shared by all.

I was especially heartened to hear the President say that health care reform can not wait for a later day and that providing affordable health care to all Americans is critical to ending the current economic crisis. But as President Obama gathers business leaders and doctors, and Democrats and Republicans, to begin working on a comprehensive solution to the health care crisis, I urge him to include the millions of voices asking for a single-payer plan.

My bill for single-payer health care reform, H.R. 676, had the most cosponsors of any health care bill during the 110th Congress, a number we're sure to exceed in the 111th. It has the support of labor unions, thousands of doctors and nurses, civil rights groups and religious organizations. Most importantly, it has the support of millions of Americans like you who are fed-up with the failures of for-profit health insurance. The single-payer movement needs a seat at every health care dicussion the President hosts.

[FrenchieCat]

31. Actually, the article doesn't "tell" at all......

Our President doesn't operate as is being represented by that article. Rather, there are folks who want to take credit for their voices having "Made" the President do something. Personally, I don't believe that it went down this way.....and that somehow President Obama called Conyers at 7:00 p.m. yesterday to tell him that he needed to show up for tomorrow's summit.

Certainly it makes the grassroots feel extra good to believe that this President only considered inclusion after pressure was exerted.... What they fail to understand is that there was no reason for the President to exclude single Payer advocates, as them being included allows the compromised position that has always been his Health Care reform offering to look that much more balanced.

Barack Obama is the President for a reason, and being stupid isn't one of them.

[vaberella]

33. He's not stupid or unprofessional...

And I find it utterly unprofessional that he would scramble around and do such a thing. Once again Frenchie you've said exactly what I was thinking. There are progressives here taking credit for something that I sincerely think they didn't have any part of. It's reminiscint of the Repubs after their states got funding and they took it.

[FrenchieCat]

34. That's alright......let folks who believe if it wasn't for them,

Obama would be in the pocket of private insurers.

Part of Barack's plan is for all of us to feel empowered,
and Barack Obama is very much the leader in making folks feel that way....

I'm sure that Barack Obama would rather everyone pat themselves on the back,
then to pat him....since he's doing what it was that he always said and wanted to do anyways.

Far as he's concerned, its a win-win for health care, and the prospect
of actually getting something constructive achieved.

[biopowertoday]

29. Unions for Single Payer Healthcare: Congratulations! Please email

them a thank you for their work.
Thanks,


x-posted.


Forum Name General Discussion
Topic subject Unions for Single Payer Healthcare: Congratulations! Single Payer Advocates Given Invitations
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5191355#5191355
5191355, Unions for Single Payer Healthcare: Congratulations! Single Payer Advocates Given Invitations
Posted by marmar on Thu Mar-05-09 05:59 PM

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/03/05


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 5, 2009
8:24 AM

CONTACT: Unions for Single Payer Healthcare
[phone]
Email: [e-mail]


Victories are Good, Congratulations! Single Payer Advocates Given Invitations


WASHINGTON - March 5 - The White House has reversed itself and extended invitations for two single payer supporters to attend Thursday’s Healthcare Summit.

Congressman John Conyers, author of HR 676 single payer legislation in the House, and Dr. Oliver Fine, who currently heads Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), received invitations on Wednesday.

Single payer advocates should take heart and great pride in their role in reversing what had been a refusal to invite any single payer advocates to the Summit. The White House was inundated with phone calls, faxes and emails all urging that the invitations be extended.

A great big thank you is extended to all those who posted, distributed and otherwise spread the word and, to many, many more who actually took the time to contact the White House to object to the exclusion of single payer advocates.

This small victory should give us all hope. It should also send word to any and all who seek to keep single payer “off the table” that single payer advocates must be heard in all the committees and subcommittees of the House and Senate which will be considering healthcare reform legislation.

#30#

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

HR 676 would cover every person 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, hearing services including hearing aids, chiropractic, durable medical equipment, palliative care, and long term care.

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

In the current Congress, HR 676 has 62 co-sponsors in addition to Conyers.

HR 676 has been endorsed by 485 union organizations in 49 states including 120 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
[phone]
Email: [e-mail]
http://unionsforsinglepayerHR676.org 03/04/09