Unions & Kay Tillow

Kay Tillow keeps plugging away - I get an email from her a couple times a week saying that this or that union has joined the movement and endorsed HR 676, Rep. John Conyers' bill that would create an American single-payer healthcare system by expanding an improved Medicare system.

Four hundred and twenty union organizations in 48 states have endorsed it, including 107 Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations and 33 state AFL-CIOs (in the order in which they endorsed: 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).

Today Kay's email reads:

IBT, APWU Locals and Building Trades Council Endorse HR 676

Teamster and Postal worker local unions and another building trades council have all endorsed HR 676, single payer healthcare legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI).

In New York City, Teamster Local 805 (IBT) has endorsed HR 676, reports Local President Sandy Pope.

In Medford, Oregon, the Southern Oregon Area Local of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) has also endorsed the Conyers legislation.

In San Diego, California, the San Diego Building and Construction Trades Council unanimously endorsed HR 676, reports Council President Tom Lemmon.

#30#

So how improved would this "improved" Medicare be? Sounds pretty good. As Kay puts it, HR 676 would cover every person in the U. S. 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, chiropractic and long term care.

HR 676 ends deductibles and co-payments. HR 676 would save billions annually by eliminating the high overhead and profits of the private health insurance industry and HMOs. The resolution currently has 90 co-sponsors in addition to Conyers. Co-sponsors and bill text are at the Library of Congress's "Thomas."

FL's Ben Graber & single-payer

Ben Graber, MD, is running a sleepy campaign against six-term Democratic Rep. Robert Wexler in Florida. Congressional Quarterly reports that Graber only raised $700 in the last quarter of 2007 -- unlikely to be enough to unseat an incumbent.

His lack as a candidate makes for bitter reading when compared to his good sense in health care reform. In an opinion piece in the Sun Sentinel, Graber writes, "A wise person once said, 'There is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come.' A single-payer health plan is that idea."

Here's are his talking points:

• Expand Medicare to include people 55 to 64 years old, veterans and the chronically ill.
• Eliminate the need for any HMO involvement in regular Medicare by stabilizing premiums. This is accomplished by providing a formula for a much expanded and reduced-risk population.
• Offer an affordable premium until age 74 and then freeze the premium at age 75 and beyond.
• Enhance the Medicare D program by eliminating the doughnut hole and negotiating with pharmaceutical companies worldwide for a bulk discount on medications.
• Remove research and development costs from the price determinator and offer independent U.S. research grants.
• Incorporate the Veterans Health Administration into Medicare and Medicaid.
• Fund Medicaid premiums for those below the poverty line — 75 percent by the federal government and 25 percent by the states.
• Develop Medicare and Medicaid buy-in programs to expand the single-payer system to all ages, including children.
• Place premiums for small businesses and individuals on a sliding scale based on the ability to pay.
• Change annually based on individual financial circumstances.
• Utilize existing infrastructure, saving billions in conversion costs.
• Allow insurers to participate, but in a new capacity as facilitators, product enhancers and recruiters.

This phased-in approach may have a better shot than HR676.

More Unions for Single-Payer

Kay Tillow of Unions for Single-Payer HR676 has an inspiring steadiness of purpose. She's like Elinor Christiansen, MD, of Health Care for All Colorado in that she's been at this for decades. Most of us would throw our hands up at some point, buy a sailboat and head for Bali. Enough!

Not Kay or Elinor.

I get Kay's email blasts a couple times a week -- about big news, like the Executive Council of the California AFL-CIO unanimously endorsing HR 676, (With 2.1 million plus members the CA Federation is the largest state affiliate of the AFL-CIO.)

California was the thirty-second state to endorse HR676 -- Alabama was the 31st a couple weeks ago.

Kay also emails about local steps, like these endorsers of HR676:

• In Charleston, SC, Local 502, Coastal Carolina Association of Professional Musicians voted to endorse HR676,
• In El Segundo, CA, the Executive Board of Transport Workers Union Local 564 voted to endorse HR676,
• In Louisville, KY, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) voted to endorse, and
• In San Francisco, CA, the Sailors’ Union of the Pacific voted to endorse.

HR 676 would bring universal health care to the U.S. through a single-payer financing mechanism, a bit like a greatly improved Medicare for all.

It would cover 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, chiropractic and long term care. HR 676 ends deductibles and co-payments. It would save billions annually by eliminating the high overhead and profits of the private health insurance industry and HMOs.

HR 676 currently has 87 co-sponsors in addition to Conyers.

Faculty Unions Endorse Single-Payer

Unions for Single-Payer reports that college faculty unions in three states have endorsed HR 676, the legislation that would institute a single payer system in the U.S. introduced by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI).

In Anchorage, Alaska, the Representative Assembly of Local 4996, United Academics-AAUP/AFT, endorsed HR 676. The local represents 950 faculty members on the three major campuses of the University of Alaska system. In New York, Local 3998, Long Island University Faculty Federation, NYSUT/AFT, has endorsed HR 676. In Philadelphia, AFT Local 2026 endorsed HR 676. Local 2026 represents 1,300 faculty and staff at the Community College of Philadelphia.

Indiana 30th state AFL-CIO to endorse HR 676

This from Kay Tillow at Unions for Single-Payer:

At its December convention, the Indiana AFL-CIO became the 30th state federation to endorse HR 676, single payer healthcare legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers (D-Michigan). The Indiana AFL-CIO represents 320,000 union members and retirees.

Endorsement resolutions were submitted to the convention by the Northwest Indiana Federation of Labor in Hammond and the White River Central Labor Council in Bloomington.

Steven E. Henderson, Staff Representative for the Indiana AFL-CIO, said of the endorsement of HR 676: “Starting in the mid-to-late 1980s, health care has been the number one issue in collective bargaining. We cannot, this time, allow the Insurance-Medical Complex to buy our legislators and congress to kill this needed law.”

Henderson noted that in the early 1990s many thought that Americans were not yet ready to accept a single payer system despite a report by the GAO that showed the effectiveness of single payer health care. “The State AFL-CIO now thinks that we are at that point, the single payer system is the only solution,” concluded Henderson.

Faith and single-payer healthcare

Donna Smith, the editor who with her husband Larry was featured in "Sicko," has a new piece in The Black Commentator. It's Part 26 (!) in their series on single-payer healthcare. Donna writes:

Is universal health care the right and moral thing to do? Are we who reside in faith communities within our churches and our communities called to action on this issue? Will we cast off all the things we have accumulated and follow what we have been taught to follow, in the face of this battle on behalf of those who cannot join the fray? Or will the vast majority of us remain silent, as we have over the past 30 years, giving our power and our presence over to those who express only the narrowest of Godly intentions?

Donna also writes that "This health crisis cannot be prayed away."

It's a great piece, ending with a call to action: write or call or set up a visit with your representative to thank them for co-sponsoring HR 676 if they have, or to urge them to do so if they haven't.

Go to Healthcare-NOW to see where your legislator stands.

Dennis Kucinich on healthcare

We're already paying for universal healthcare. We're just not getting it.