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The Single-Payer Solution: The Real Way to Universal Health Care”

Progressives for Pennsylvania is pleased to host:

Healthcare for ALLPA.org’s first statewide conference:

“The Single-Payer Solution: The Real Way to Universal Health Care”

Agenda:: “The Single Payer Solution: The Real Way to Universal Health Care”; 3 Panels: Business Leaders, Healthcare Leaders, Legislative Leaders; Multiple Break-Out Sessions for Citizen Leaders (that’s you!)

Registration: 12n-1 PM with food and beverages provided

· Introduction: “How We Got Here”; Policy Overview Chuck Pennacchio (5 minutes)
· Keynote: Dr. Walter Tsou (30 minutes, including Q&A)
3 Panels:
· Business Leaders: Charlie Crystle (CEO Mission Research – 20 employees; Allan Jacobs (President of Isaac’s Restaurants – 700 employees); Mike Stout (President of Steel Valley Printers – 7 employees)
Moderator: Dr. Scott Tyson (Pittsburgh-based pediatrician, business owner)

· Healthcare Leaders: Gale Thomason (Water Street Clinic); Dr. Bill Davidson (Physicians for a National Healthcare Plan; Kate Loving Shenk (Nurse)
Moderator: Linda Beckman (Educator, Journalist, Activist)

· Legislative Leadership: Rep. Kathy Manderino (Prime Sponsor of HB 1660, Philadelphia); Rep. Barbara McIlvaine Smith (First Co-Sponsor of HB 1660, Chester); Candidate for State Senate, Cindy Purvis (Speaking on SB 300, Erie)
Moderator: Bob Mason (Lobbying Coordinator, Southwest Pennsylvania, Social Workers)

· Breakouts Sessions: Citizen Leadership (That’s You!) – topics will include: Organizing Grassroots & Democrats to influence Legislators; Organizing Business and Labor to influence Legislators; Organizing Medical Providers to influence Legislators. We will also touch on some combination of organizing tools, using the Internet and Email, SiCKO House Parties, petitioning, canvassing, fund raising, research, communications, and more.

· Closing Statement: Chuck Pennacchio: “How We Win This Year” (5 minutes)

NOTE: While the conference is free and open to all (including multi-milllion dollar health insurance and pharmaceutical CEOs), we do ask you to consider making a donation of any amount to help offset the cost of the event ( www.healthcare4allpa.org).

If you would like to attend, please RSVP (RSVP requested, but not required) by replying to this e-mail. See you in Lancaster!

The Single Payer Solution: The Real Way to Universal Health Care

When: Saturday, January 12, 1:00-4:15 pm

What: Statewide Single-Payer Universal Healthcare Convention (in support of HB 1660 and SB 300)

Where: Lancaster Host Resort & Conference Center, 2300 Lincoln Hwy E., Lancaster, PA 17602
www.lancasterhost.com
717-299-5500

Participant Bios:

Linda Beckman: a writer on healthcare and a professor of English Literature [at Arcadia University]

Charlie Crystle: CEO of Mission Research (20 employees)

Dr. William R. Davidson Jr. M.D: ; Cardiologist; President of the Good Samaritan Medical Staff; Lebanon, Pa.; member of Physicians for a National Healthcare Plan (PNHP)

Allan Jacobs: President of Issac’s Restaurants (700 employees)

Kathy Manderino: Democratic Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for parts of Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties. Member of the Appropriations, Health & Human Services, Insurance, Judiciary, and Urban Affairs Committees. Ms. Manderino is the Prime Sponsor of HB 1660.

Bob Mason: a clinical social worker for 30 years, for the past 15 employed by a very successful psychological services practice that still can’t afford to provide health care coverage because of the insurance industry. As Director of Employee Assistance Program services he works with many small and medium size businesses and social service organizations.

Chuck Pennacchio: Chuck is history program director at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, founder of Citizen Solutions for Pennsylvania, and recent United States Senate candidate (2006). A longtime advocate of publicly-financed, privately-provided universal healthcare, and organizing veteran of 34 years, Chuck lead-negotiated comprehensive health benefits for thousands of working graduate students while at the University of Colorado. A native of Delaware County, resident of Bucks County, husband of 16 years and father of two school-age children, Chuck sees the state-level, single-payer healthcare question as the “tipping point” opportunity capable of triggering dramatic turnarounds on numerous fronts (social, economic, legal) and at all levels (local, national, and international).

Cindy Purvis: A founding member of the Lake Erie Alliance for Democracy, which has the adoption of a single-payer health care system as one of its primary goals. She is a 2007 Fellow with the Center for Progressive Leadership. Ms. Purvis is a candidate for the Pennsylvania Senate in the 49th District.

Kate Loving Shenk: A Nurse and Nurse practitioner for 24 years. Currently a Labor and Delivery Nurse. Also an active blogger and writer of 3-books dealing with healthcare reform distributed globally via the internet.

Barbara McIlvaine Smith: Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for part of Chester County. Member of Aging & Older Adult Services, Children & Youth, Education, Health & Human Services, and Local Government Committees. Ms. McIlvaine Smith is a co-sponsor of HB 1660.

Mike Stout: President of Steel Valley Printers (7 employees)

Gale Thomason: Executive Director of the Water Street Clinic which provides free medical and dental care to more than 2,000 uninsured homeless and formerly homeless residents of Lancaster, Pa. Gale is also a nurse of 32 years

Dr. Scott Tyson: Dr. Tyson is a Pittsburgh area pediatrician and a strong advocate for a single-payer healthcare system.

Walter Tsou, MD, MPH: was appointed Health Commissioner of Philadelphia in April 2000. Prior to his appointment, he was Deputy Director for Personal Health Services and Medical Director of the Montgomery County Health Department from 1991-2000. He was formally Clinical Director in the Division of Ambulatory Health Services for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. He has extensive experience in public health and currently serves on the Executive Board of the American Public Health Association and the National Board of Physicians for a National Health Program. In Philadelphia he has served on the boards and committees of the Maternity Care Coalition, the Philadelphia HIV Commission, Bridging the Gaps, the Asian American Health Care Network, and the United Way of SE Penna. Currently, Dr. Tsou teaches healthcare policy as several universities in Pennysylvania and he is now the go-to guy for Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), author of single-payer-based HR 676 (“The National Health Insurance Bill”) who endorsed our own HB 1660/SB 300 (“Family and Business Healthcare Security Act”) in April, 2007, as the “single best means to achieving a national solution to our healthcare crisis.”

Single payer health reform conference, Lancaster, PA

I’d like to make every one aware of Lancaster-based Progressives4Pennsylvania’s plans to host a healthcare conference On Saturday, January 12, 2007 at approximately 1pm at the Lancaster Host Resort & Conference Center. The conference itself will be presented by Health Care for All PA, the group sponsoring The Pennsylvania Family and Business Healthcare Security Act (HB 1660 and SB 300), the single-payer bill that, when passed, will bring comprehensive universal health care coverage to every man, woman and child in Pennsylvania. First of all, allow me to apologize if you receive this message more than once as I am sending it to multiple lists that may overlap.

There will be a lot going on at the Host on January 11th and 12th. The Democratic State Committee will be holding its State Committee Meeting there on those dates along with a series of workshops and panel discussions. Health Care for All PA was already planning to hold a statewide conference of its own in January, so it seems only natural to hold it at the Host in order to take advantage of the other gathering of many like-minded activists in the hopes of enticing them to attend our gathering, (which will commence at about the time the Democratic State Party meetings conclude) as well.

Our conference is tentatively scheduled to take place in Ballroom B at the Host. We will open the doors at approximately 12 noon and will be serving snacks and beverages at that time. The State Committee Meeting begins at noon as well, but we are told it will likely be a relatively brief meeting. We will likely begin our conference when the Committee Meeting ends or at 1pm, whichever comes first.

Progressives4Pennsylvania will have a table set up at the Host on both Friday, January 11th and Saturday January 12th in order to provide information about the conference to all thinking about attending or for the benefit of those just seeking more information.

The agenda for Health Care for All Pa’s conference is still being put together, and we will make the details known as they develop. We’ll post regular updates on our P4P web site (www.progressives4pennsylvania.com), and they’ll also be posted at Health Care for All PA’s site: http://www.healthcare4allpa.org/home.php

I wish I could tell you more about the conference now, but we are still in the preliminary planning stages. On the other hand, we want to alert you early so you can make plans to attend and to tell your friends.

If you do plan to attend we’d appreciate an RSVP so we will have a general idea how many people to expect and can make sure we prepare accordingly. You can RSVP at: info@progressives4pennsylvania.com

Thank you, and see you in Lancaster on January 12th.

Sincerely.

Jerry Policoff
Progressives4Pennsylvania
717-295-0237

EYEWITNESS CUBA: HEALTHCARE FOR ALL

EYEWITNESS CUBA: HEALTHCARE FOR ALL
Featuring Laurena White, local student at
Havana’s Latin American School of Medicine
speaking and presenting a screening of’Salud!’
widely-hailed movie about some of the thousands
of Cuban doctors delivering free care in
some 67 countries across the Third World.

Thursday November 1st at 7pm
Calvary United Methodist Church
48th & Baltimore Ave., Philadelphia

1) Laurena White is in her fourth year of living
in Cuban neighborhoods and delivering
community healthcare. This is a unique
opportunity to get first-hand information from
Cuba, given Washington’s travel ban
preventing Americans traveling there and
Cubans coming to the United States.

2) ‘Salud’ is a U.S.-made film by Oscar nominee
Connie Fields (‘Rosie the Riveter’ and ‘Freedom
on My Mind’). Accolades include:

“Salud! is an excellent, accurate and
deeply moving portrayal of a healthcare
system designed to keep people healthy
rather than the ‘sickcare’ system that
currently exists in the United States.”
Joycelyn Elders, MD, former U.S.
Surgeon General

“I salute Salud! for teaching us how
much we can learn not just about – but
from – Cuba.”
Julian Bond, Chairman of the Board,
NAACP

“Salud! is compelling, upbeat
and moving, a great tool for learning the
much there is to learn from Cuba.”
Paul Farmer, MD, Partners in Health
and Harvard Medical School

“Salud! is a powerful film whose time has
come. It’s essential to those seriously
working for a national health insurance
program in the United States: it shows
what is possible when the focus is the
patient, not profits.”
Quentin Young, MD, National Coordinator,
Physicians for a National Health
Program

Please join us for this special event.

Thursday November 1st at 7pm
Calvary United Methodist Church
48th & Baltimore, Philadelphia

Event is free.
Please circulate to your friends and
lists.

Sponsored by the Philadelphia Cuba
Solidarity Coalition

Philly@CubaSolidarity.com
484.431.0182

Trick or Treatment, Oct 30, Meet the Democrats

On Tuesday, Oct. 30, the Democratic presidential candidate forum at Drexel University. Why are the leading candidates not supporting single payer, national health insurance? Because there aren’t enough demands. Let’s start asking for what we want! Join ACT UP, Spiral Q and us for a demonstration on “Trick or Treatment”. 34th and Chestnut Streets, meet around 7 – 7:30 PM.

For more information about the Oct 30 event, read more below.

This Halloween, join ACT UP and activists from across the country to Philadelphia for a rally and march against AIDS and for universal healthcare. We will be gathering at the debate of Democratic presidential candidates. (Location TBD, somewhere in Philadelphia) Demand the candidates commit to ending AIDS and keep United States’ pledges to achieve universal access to comprehensive treatment and prevention, in the U.S. and around the world. Our demands:
$50 billion over 5 years to fight global AIDS
REAL universal, free health care in the United States
Evidence-based prevention policies
Sponsored by: ACT UP Philadelphia, ACT UP New York, African Services Committee, American Medical Student Association, Campaign to End AIDS – Youth Caucus, Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project, Health GAP, Housing Works, and the Student Global AIDS Campaign. For more info, to endorse the march, or help plan the action, contact kaytee@healthgap.org or 267 334 6984.

National mobilization for Healthcare not Warfare

National mobilization for Healthcare not Warfare. There will be a march from the VA Hospital (39th and Woodland) to Independence Hall on Sat., October 27. Each group will be asked to fill a block on the parade route. Our health care group has chosen 19th and Market, Independence Blue Cross as a gathering place. There is a wide sidewalk in front or across the street from the building. SO, we can take the 19th & Market block for Philadelphia Area Committee To Defend Health Care. Please plan to participate on Saturday, October 27th, 12:30 to 1:00pm. After that we wait for the March from the VA hospital to reach us and join behind them (or take the bus) to Independance Square for a Rally Celebration(if so inclined.) More updates will come.

Make a movie, support single payer

OK, this is a chance to support national health insurance and put our money where our mouths are. We should send it out widely. I think Mark Webber’s mom is Cheri Honkala, KWRU. There is a little blurb on Explicit Ills here. and the Inky below.

Inqlings | Indie role for Rosario Dawson

By Michael Klein
Inquirer Columnist

Rosario Dawson should be in town soon to join the cast of explicit ills., an independent film exploring the effects of drugs and poverty and the choices that people make.
A month of filming starts this week in North Philly under the eye of actor/first-time director Mark Webber (Broken Flowers), who in April won the Philadelphia Film Festival’s Rising Star Award; his mother, Cheri Honkala, is an activist with the Kensington Welfare Rights Union.
Dawson, who grew up poor herself in New York, plays a woman with an asthmatic son and no insurance.
Sound like a downer? “It’s uplifting,” says Mike Lemon, who is handling the casting.
Also cast are Paul Franklin Dano (Dwayne in Little Miss Sunshine); Naomie Harris (the voodoo princess in Pirates of the Caribbean); Lou Taylor Pucci (Thumbsucker); and Tariq Trotter (a.k.a. Black Thought of The Roots).

Walter
————————–

Dear Healthcare Organizers: We have an extraordinary opportunity to make a great impact in Philadelphia this coming Sunday, October 7th. A Hollywood film crew is going to be filming “Explicit Ills,” a new film about a child who is sick, cannot get healthcare coverage and dies. The stars are big, and the media is going to be there. Mark Weber who is a young star in several new films wrote the script.

Mark is asking that we be at Constitution Center at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday to be a part of a demonstration there for H.R. 676, national guaranteed healthcare for all carrying banners, signs, getting petition signatures – and all those things we do.

Mark’s mom will be leading a year-long effort in Minneapolis to create the atmosphere at the Republican Convention that makes clear that we must have a national healthcare system run by us, the people, not the corporate healthcare industrial complex. We’ll be able to use his film for openings and fund-raisers everywhere with all of our people featured in the campaign to get healthcare for everybody.

Please be there if you can. I cannot be there because of a family obligation, but I’ll be there in spirit. We need to do this, folks.

Marilyn Clement,
National Coordinator
Healthcare-NOW
www.healthcare-now.org

Forum on Single Payer Delco

Green Solutions presents a Forum on
Universal Single-Payer Health Insurance for PA

Which do you prefer?

The way it
is now?

Or the way it
could be?

Join us Saturday, September 29th, 6-8:30 PM, at the Peace Center of Delaware
County (1001 Old Sproul Rd in Springfield, behind Sproul Lanes Bowling Alley) to learn:
-What is Universal Single-Payer Health Insurance & what would it mean for me?
-What is in the PA Family & Business Health Security Act (SB 300 / HB 1660) & how
does it compare with Rendell’s Prescription for PA?
-What is in the US National Health Insurance Act (HR 676)?

Featured Speakers:
Walter Tsou, MD, a physician specializing in public health who has worked persistently to obtain
adequate health benefits for everyone. Recently he has presented his popular power point
program on universal, single-payer health care to Congress.
Chuck Pennachio, a history professor at The University of the Arts. He has been traveling
around Pennsylvania in a tireless effort to promote health care legislation in Pennsylvania. He ran
against Senator Casey in the Democratic ‘07 primary.

Following the presentation will be a question and answer session. Refreshments will be served. More
information can be obtained at www.DelCoGreens.org or by calling 610-543-8427.
Co-sponsored by the Green Party of Delaware County & Citizen Access

Public Forum on Health Care Reform

While the following is directly oriented toward Bucks County residents, it would be quite applicable and relevant to all:

Public Forum on Health Care Reform
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Bucks County Community College
Library Auditorium
275 Swamp Rd., Newtown, PA
9:30am to 12:30pm.

Free and open to the public.

The purpose of the forum is (1) to establish basic principles that Bucks County residents want to see incorporated in any health care reform developed at the state or national level, (2) and to inaugurate a network of Bucks County residents ready to respond and work for those principles.

Dr. Walter Tsou, past President of the American Public Health Association and Former Philadelphia Commissioner of Public Health, will speak about the problems with our current health care system. Congressman Patrick Murphy and State Representative David Steil will talk about the process of how legislation becomes law, and how citizens can be effective in their advocacy.

The participants of the forum will decide what basic principles need to be included in any current or future health care reform legislation.

Sponsored by Bucks County League of Women Voters and many others.

The upcoming edition of democratic Left will feature more information and background on the event.

For information, contact Dr. Henry D’Silva at 215-860-7442 or Greater Philadelphia DSA at PhilaDSA@gmail.com. For directions, visit www.bucks.edu.

Spread the word!

Norristown Health Care Town Meeting

PLEASE FORWARD TO ALL APPROPRIATE INDIVIDUALS AND LISTS

To: Norristown-area folks concerned about healthcare
From: Phila Back, Working Families Win Organizer
Subject: Healthcare for All – What Are the Plans? 7 pm Wednesday, August 22, Carver Center, 249 Jacoby St., Norristown

Healthcare for All – The push is on! There are competing state proposals plus some federal bills AND the presidential candidates’ plans. Working Families Win is having a program on August 22 for the public to learn about the different plans and to compare them. Get the facts and judge for yourself.

What: Forum on current state & federal healthcare proposals

Who: Speakers for:

Physicians for a National Health Program
Healthcare for All PA
Prescription for Pennsylvania
Status of Montgomery Hospital

When: 7 pm Wednesday, Aug. 22

Where: George Washington Carver Community Center, 249 Jacoby St., Norristown

Please attend; bring your family & friends; post the attached flyer.

Phila Back
Organizer
Working Families Win
30 Pine Street, Kutztown, PA 19530
610-334-5563
610-683-8629 (FAX)
Phila_Back@verizon.net

www.wfwin.org

HELP PROTECT HEALTH INSURANCE FOR CHILDREN AND SENIORS!

SCHIP needs $50 Billion. The House of Representatives has identified the offsets to get us there. Will our elected leaders to take a stand for children?!

In the Senate– In a show of bi-partisan work, the Senate Finance Committee approved $35 billion to support a major expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover 4 million children with health insurance.

The bill is not perfect – first it only give $35 billion to SCHIP when we are asking for $50 billion – but it is a major step along the way of providing meaningful reauthorization. The Senate Finance Committee is asking for this money to come from an increase in the tobacco tax.

ACTION!!!

CALL SENATOR CASEY AND SENATOR SPECTER AND TELL THEM:

SUPPORT the Finance Committee-approved bill

OPPOSE any weakening amendments

UTILIZE funding from overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans (which is undermining the Medicare system for seniors) and from an increase in the tobacco tax in conference

You can call your Senators through the Capitol Switchboard at 1-800-828-0498 or through their direct lines. For Senator Specter 202-224-4254 — For Senator Casey 202-224-6324

The House is going to vote on the “Children’s Health and Medicare Protection Act” (CHAMP Act) this week. The CHAMP ACT includes the following important provisions:

The entire $50 billion needed for full SCHIP reauthorization
Ending Citizenship Documentation Requirements by making it a state option for children applying for Medicaid. The CHAMP bill does not apply the citizenship documentation requirement to SCHIP.
Allowing States the Option of Covering LEGAL Immigrant Children and Pregnant Women
Giving States the Option of Covering Pregnant Women Under SCHIP
ACTION!!! CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN AND TELL THEM YOU WANT SCHIP FULLY FUNDED AT $50 BILLION!

SUPPORT the CHAMP SCHIP bill

OPPOSE any weakening amendments

UTILIZE funding from overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans (which is undermining the Medicare system for seniors) and from an increase in the tobacco tax

You can call your Congressman through the Capitol Switchboard at 1-800-828-0498 or

Congressman Brady – 202-225-4731 Congressman Gerlach – 202-225-4315
Congressman Fattah – 202-225-4001 Congressman Patrick Murphy – 202-225-4276
Congressman Sestak – 202-225-2011 Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz – 202 225 6111

How can we pay for SCHIP Reauthorization and provide millions of children with health insurance?

Raise the Tax on Tobacco

Raise the federal tobacco tax- The federal tax on cigarettes has remained at 39 cents per pack since 2002. An increase to the cigarette tax of 61 cents per pack would raise over $35 billion over five years. This would pay for a portion of SCHIP reauthorization.
Stop Costly “Medicare Advantage” Overpayments, protect Medicare and Expand SCHIP

Reduce Medicare overpayments to private health plans which were brought into Medicare to save the program money. Instead private plans are costing the Treasury tens of billions of dollars because they are significantly overpaid – receiving 12% higher reimbursement rates than fee-for-service Medicare plans. This money is NOT being used to offer additional benefits to seniors – instead, it is being used for marketing and profits and is undermining the Medicare program!
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), Congress’ expert advisor on Medicare payments recommends that Medicare level the playing field by adjusting the payment formula to essentially pay private plans the same amounts it would pay to treat the same patients under fee-for-service. Matching the private Medicare plans rates with the fee-for-service rate would save $54 billion over five years.

· Overpayments to Medicare Advantage Programs hurts seniors because premium costs are tied to total Medicare costs. Senior citizens in traditional Medicare are paying $24 more in Part B premiums this year because of overpayments in Medicare Advantage

1 Medicare Advantage overpayments will shorten the life of the Medicare Trust Fund by two years
2 Most low-income seniors are not in Medicare Advantage plans. Instead, they are in a mixture of traditional Medicare and Medicaid.

Alisa Simon, Health Director
Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth
Seven Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Sixth Floor
Philadelphia, Pa 19103
215-563-5848 x 13 / 215-563-9442
alisasimon@pccy.org / www.pccy.org

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