Philadelphia City Council Votes to Support Single-Payer Healthcare
February 7, 2009
Philadelphia City Council Votes to Support Single-Payer Healthcare
January 29, 2009 by HC-N!
Today, groups representing doctors, nurses, healthcare advocates and labor unions are applauding the Philadelphia City Council for passing a resolution in support of national, single payer health care (HR 676) and two state single payer bills.
The resolution, sponsored by Councilman Greenlee and Councilwoman Tasco, makes Philadelphia the 28th city and 46th local government to pass a resolution in favor of HR 676, the National Health Insurance Act, sponsored by John Conyers (D-Mich.). The resolution also calls for the enactment of the two single-payer state bills, SB 300 and HB 1660.
Nearly 40 people watched the city council pass the resolution. One audience member, Walter Tsou, MD, MPH, former Health Commissioner of Philadelphia, said of the resolution, “Single payer is a win win for Philadelphia. It not only would give 160,000 uninsured Philadelphians health insurance, but it would redirect hundreds of millions of city dollars toward other important priorities, like libraries and fire stations.”
Jed Dodd, a Teamster Union official who represents railroad construction workers in the Northeast stated, “Single payer health plans ensure all people living in the United States access to quality health at a fair cost. Ninety-seven percent of the resources allocated to support these plans are spent on health care. All other plans waste 30% of these resources on insurance companies who provide no health care to anyone and ironically make more by limiting access to health care instead of making people well. We are heartened that the Philadelphia City Council has endorsed a health care plan for the people of America.”
A fact sheet circulated to Council members demonstrates that if HR 676 were enacted, the city would save $539 million a year, enough to cover its budget shortfall of $2 billion over 5 years. In addition, the bills would guarantee access to comprehensive healthcare at less cost than what average families currently pay for care.
Sabrina Nixon, a medical technologist at Temple University Hospital, and a member of PASNAP, said, “As a healthcare professional of 20 years and a parent, I see that HR 676 would not only fix the current healthcare crisis, but eliminate every parent’s worry that their child will not have access to quality healthcare once they turn 18 or as they move between jobs. If HR 676 were passed, the dream of universal healthcare will become reality.”
Groups that have signed on to a letter asking the Council to sign the resolution, many of which were present at the vote, include: Healthcare-NOW; Healthcare for All – Philadelphia; Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals; United Steelworkers Local 10-1; International Federation of Professional and Technical Employees Local 3; Faculty and Staff Federation of Community College of Philadelphia, AFT 2026; Pennsylvania Federation of the Brotherhood of Maintenance and Way Employees – IBT; American Medical Students Association; Physicians for a National Health Program; Philadelphia Chapter Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom; Citizen Access; and Leadership of Neighborhood Networks.
Obama Inauguration photos
January 18, 2009
Here are some pictures from our demonstration outside 30th St. Station where Obama began his Inaugural train ride.
Happy New Year!
January 1, 2009
Let’s hope that 2009 will bring real health care reform for this nation. There is a disconnect between what the American people want and what the media and politicians think we want. We want a properly financed, single payer, national health insurance program which provides quality, affordable health care for all Americans. Let’s hope that the Obama Administration will be bold and lay down the pathway to get there.
Vote
November 4, 2008
Today is Election Day! After two years of intense campaigning it finally comes down to today. Health care moves every 4-8 years around the presidential election. Absolutely, this is the most important election of our lives and will define the direction of our health care system for the decade.
No excuses! VOTE!
Don’t Miss Drs. Himmelstein and Woolhandler on Oct. 14
October 4, 2008
Due to the dinner with Drs. David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler on Tuesday, Oct 14 (details below), the GENERAL meeting of Health Care for All Philadelphia will be moved up one week to Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at the Penn Newman Center, 3720 Chestnut St, Philadelphia. This is the normal time of our steering committee meeting, but we will be making it a GENERAL meeting instead.
Please come on Oct 7 for the GENERAL meeting.
On October 14, 2008, please come to dinner at the Imperial Inn for an eight course chinese banquet and hear Drs. David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler, Harvard Medical School speak on health care and the elections. Dr. Himmelstein and Woolhandler are the founders of Physicians for a National Health Program and the leading national spokespersons on behalf of single payer national health insurance. Don’t miss this special event.
Please mark your calendars NOW for several major healthcare events
scheduled in Philadelphia, PA on Tuesday, October 14, 2008
They will be speaking on “Health Care Reform: A Medical Emergency”
Dr. Steffie Woolhandler will be speaking 12 noon- 1:30 PM at
Penn’s Huntsman Hall, Room 360, 3730 Walnut Street.
Dr. David Himmelstein will be speaking at:
1. Temple Medical School 1:00 – 2:00 pm
Kresge Bldg, Lecture Room A, Broad and Tioga Sts., and then
2. Jefferson Medical School 3:00 – 4:30 pm
Bluemle Life Sciences Bldg., Room 101, 233 South 10th Street.
AND PLEASE COME & ENJOY
An 8 Course Chinese Banquet & conversation with
Drs. David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler
present on “Health Care Reform and the Elections”
On the same Tuesday, October 14, 2008 from 6:15 pm until 9 PM
At the Imperial Inn, 142-146 North 10th Street, Philadelphia 19107
Restaurant Tel: (215) 627-2299 . Reservations Required. Space Limited
Cost is $50.00 per person & $30.00 per med. student payable at the door
Please make checks payable to: “PNHP” Memo: Philadelphia Chapter
Credit Card payment is also accepted
For reservations or further information,
please contact our Coordinator, Diane Mohney, RN:
(215) 385-0455 OR Email: dianemohgo@aol.com
If you cannot come, you can still support us by mailing your check or credit card information to:
PNHP, 29 E. Madison St., Suite 602, Chicago, IL 60602.
Be sure to memo your payments to the “Philadelphia Chapter”.
Thank you for your support !
National Day of Protest Against Health Insurance Companies
May 23, 2008
National Day of Protest Against Health Insurance Companies
In “honor” of the meeting of America’s Health insurance Plans in San Francisco on June 18-20, a large protest is scheduled on June 19. Locally, we will be supporting a protest on June 19 at 12 noon, in front of CIGNA, Two Liberty Place, 16th and Chestnut Sts, Philadelphia. Don’t miss this event!
March 19 Public Hearings on Pennsylvania HB 1660
March 16, 2008
Here is the agenda for public hearings on HB 1660, the Family and Business Health Security Act which will create a single payer health plan for Pennsylvania. Please come if able to the hearings on Wed, March 19, 2008, Majority Caucus Room 140, State Capitol, Harrisburg PA.
PUBLIC HEARING ON HOUSE BILL 1660
PROVIDING FOR STATEWIDE COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
MARCH 19, 2008 – WEDNESDAY – 10:00 A.M.
ROOM 140, MAIN CAPITOL BUILDING, HARRISBURG, PA
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
Hon. Frank L. Oliver, Chariman (D) Hon. George Kenney, Chairman (R)
AGENDA
10:00 A.M. – 10:05 A.M. Hon. Kathy Manderino
Prime Sponsor of House Bill 1660
10:05 A.M. – 10:35 A.M. Chuck Pennacchio, ED – HealthCare4ALLPA
Walter Tsou, MD, MPH – University of PA
10:40 A.M. – 11:00 A.M. William George, President
AFL-CIO
11:05 A.M. – 11:20 A.M. Stewart Anmuth, President
Ray Doreian, Member
PA Association of Health Underwriters
11:25 A.M. – 11:45 A.M. Michelle Griffin Young, Vice President
Public Policy Greater Lehigh
Chamber of Commerce
11:50 A.M. – 12:15 P.M. Dr. Davidson –
Sean Flaherty PhD. – Franklin & Marshall College
Marty Schorr – Health Care for All Pennsylvanians
Kate Loving Shenk, CRNP, RN – Entrepreneur
12:20 P.M. to 12:35 P.M. Susan M. Lowenberg
Christian Science Committee of Publication for PA
The Rev. Sandra L. Strauss,Director
Pennsylvania Council of Churches
12:40 P.M. to 1:00 P.M. Janice Horn
League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania
Save the Date
February 6, 2008
Public hearings on the state single payer bills, HB 1660 and SB 300 will be held on Wed. March 19 in Harrisburg. Place: The Pennsylvania Capitol, Majority Caucus Room, #140. Time: 10 AM. Mark your calendars now. It holds 250 and we would like every seat filled!
Universal interest in health care
January 14, 2008
considering we get almost no publicity, this was a reasonable article about our Lancaster conference.
LancasterOnline.com
Universal interest in health care
Conference advocates a single-payer state system
By SUZANNE CASSIDY, Staff writer
Sunday News
Published: Jan 13, 2008 12:11 AM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA – Americans know more about Britney Spears than about how the American health care system works, a health care-reform activist told a conference Saturday in Lancaster.
Dr. Walter Tsou, a former Philadelphia health commissioner, was the keynote speaker at a conference organized by HealthCare4AllPA and held at Lancaster Host Resort & Conference Center. The conference was intended to ignite grass-roots support for legislation proposing a single-payer health care system for Pennsylvania.
More than $2 trillion was spent on health care in the United States in 2006, and yet Americans aren’t quite sure what this country’s health care policy is, Tsou contended.
What is known is that a great many people — some 47 million — lack health insurance, and millions more are under-insured, Tsou said, noting that if the economy goes into recession, more people will lose their health coverage.
Moreover, he said, both the public and private sectors are facing the massive, looming burden of paying health benefits to retirees. “We are in deep, deep trouble,” Tsou said, and “the only way out of this mess is a single-payer system.”
In Pennsylvania, legislation for just such a system was introduced last June.
The Family and Business Health Care Security Act — state House Bill 1660 and Senate Bill 300 — proposes the establishment of a single-payer system, which would provide Pennsylvania residents with unlimited, comprehensive health care coverage.
The plan would replace private insurance and government programs except for Medicare and Veterans Affairs. It would pay for the malpractice insurance of participating doctors. Patients would be able to choose their own doctors and dentists, and would not have to deal with co-pays, caps or deductibles.
It would be subsidized by a 10-percent levy on payrolls and a 3-percent tax on personal income.
The legislation faces a rigorous battle from private insurance companies. Rep. Kathy Manderino (D-Philadelphia and Montgomery), the primary sponsor of the bill, told the more than 100 people at Saturday’s conference that they would need to commit themselves to the fight.
“This is a movement we need to build,” she said. “This is not something that’s going to happen overnight.”
In the meantime, Manderino said she supports Gov. Edward G. Rendell’s own proposal to provide health coverage to uninsured adults. The governor wants to extend health coverage to 767,000 uninsured Pennsylvania adults through a program he has called Cover All Pennsylvanians, or CAP.
Saturday, however, was dedicated to making a case for a comprehensive single-payer health care plan.
Gale Thomason, the director of the Water Street Clinic, a free medical and dental clinic at the Water Street Rescue Mission, was among the health-care providers who spoke.
Her clinic has 2,000 patients, including homeless people, and formerly homeless people who have jobs but remain uninsured. Her clinic, she said, also gets calls from middle-class people who are uninsured and seeking health care.
Thomason said she would love for legislators to put her out of business by establishing a universal, single-payer health plan in this state.
Alan R. Jacobs, president of Isaac’s Restaurant & Deli, was on a business panel at the conference. Jacobs said that Isaac’s provides health insurance to employees who work a minimum of 25 hours. So, his company pays roughly $750,000 for health coverage for about 200 part-time and full-time employees (the company also pays for workers’ compensation coverage).
“We work really hard to insure our employees because we feel an obligation,” Jacobs said, “but it’s within a system that to me feels broken.”
Every year, he said, his company has to review its health plan, and decide what they’re going to offer for the next year. He has no medical training, and yet he’s deciding what specialists his employees can or cannot see, and deciding what medicines will or will not be covered.
“I’m ‘The Man,’ ” he said, wryly, and his employees “have to take what I give them.”
Jacobs said he has concluded that a single-payer system would be much more efficient and much less wasteful. There would be no more squabbles between his company’s main insurer and its workers’ comp insurer over which should pay for disputed injuries. There would be fewer administrative costs.
He acknowledged that some of his business friends would heartily oppose a government-run, single-payer health care plan. But, he added, “There’s always hope good things will happen.”
Suzanne Cassidy is a staff writer for the Sunday News. Her e-mail address is scassidy@lnpnews.com.
© 2004-2007 Lancaster Newspapers
PO Box 1328, Lancaster PA 17608, (717) 291-8811
Terms of Service Privacy Policy
Successful Single Payer Conference in Lancaster, PA
January 13, 2008
About 150 people across Pennsylvania gathered to hear business, providers, and legislators discuss the Family and Business Health Security Act (House Bill 1660 and Senate Bill 300).
Dr. Walter Tsou served as the keynote speaker with a packed half hour talk on the reasons why our current health care system has failed and why single payer is the best and only way of getting to universal health care at an affordable price.
Business leaders Charlie Crystle, Allen Jacobs, and Mike Stout and moderated by Dr. Scott Tyson gave strong personal experiences of how choices in picking health plans can profoundly limit choices for their employees and how rising costs are killing their businesses.
Health providers Dr. Bill Davidson, Gale Thomason, and Kate Loving Shenk and moderated by Dr. Linda Beckman gave testimony to the problems faced by their practices with the rising numbers of uninsured and the cost of medical care.
Legislative leaders Reps. Kathy Mandarino, Barbara McIlvaine Smith and Senate Candidate Cindy Purvis spoke about the issues faced by the legislature in passing a single payer plan. Rep. Mandarino says to be prepared to be in this fight for the long haul and that there will be public hearings probably this spring. She said it will not happen unless the general public is demanding it everywhere representatives go. Rep. McIlvaine Smith said that this fight has personally affected her own business and her health and that she strongly supports the bill. Senate Candidate Purvis said that her city of Erie spends $5 million more because of the excessive cost of health care over what they would pay under a single payer plan.
There was a lot of enthusiasm about this first state conference on single payer and we were both inspired and challenged by the work ahead.
Sign Up
If you're already an email discussion group member, you can go directly to the forum here.
If you want less email, join our events email list here. We only send about one email a month to this list.
