from AfterDowningStreet.org:
"Cindy Sheehan, one of the best known peace and justice activists in the United States, will be joined by other speakers in support of public healthcare at a cookout open to the public and the media. Please join Cindy for lunch at noon on Saturday, July, 18, 2009, rain or shine, at 707 Gillespie Ave, Charlottesville, VA, 22902. Cindy will talk about her new book and the need for an expanded public healthcare system.
RSVP: http://afterdowningstreet.org/cindyevent
Also at noon on Saturday, elsewhere in Charlottesville, others have announced plans to hold an anti-healthcare rally that they misleadingly call a rally for "Patients First." Participants include Kay Coles James, the disgraced director of the United States Office of Personnel Management known for hiring unqualified government employees based on their attendance of a fourth-rate, right-wing university; Del. Ben Cline, whose opinions are paid for by his campaign funders, including Medical Facilities of America, US Tobacco, Va. Hospital & Healthcare Assn., Medco Health Solutions, and Va. Independent Insurance Agents; Tito Munoz, a small business owner who helped John McCain lose Virginia; former city councilman and aspiring Rush Limbaugh, Rob Schilling; and Ben Marchi, a former employee of ethically reprimanded and indicted congressman Tom Delay.
Marchi says: "Health care legislation being pushed by the liberals in Congress will threaten the sacred relationship between doctor and patient and strip away patients' rights to choose a plan that best suits them."
Yet, Americans consistently tell pollsters that they want public health coverage: http://tr.im/sENL
Other nations that have public health coverage (government spending on private or public healthcare) provide their people with better care. The U.S. system is ranked 37th by the World Health Organization. The United States is 24th in life expectancy and 29th in reducing infant mortality. Infants who do not survive the US system do not get a chance to possess patients' rights.
A single-payer system, which would go further than the compromise that has Marchi so upset, would cover everyone at all times with no exceptions, allow completely free choice of doctors, invest in preventive care, allow patients and doctors to make their own decisions free of insurance company restrictions, reduce the 30 percent waste in the current system to the 3 percent overhead in Medicare, and create a net gain of 2.6 million jobs, $317 billion in business revenue, and $100 billion in wages. See: http://tr.im/sETE
House Resolution 676, backed by 86 congress members, would accomplish these things and meet every one of Congressman Tom Perriello's goals for healthcare as listed on his website: http://tr.im/sEUO
Cindy Sheehan said: "Health care is a basic human right and the only way to get obscene profits out of the way of patient health is single-payer, as many nations around the world do. We challenge both Democrats and Republicans to put people before insurance companies, big-pharma, and HMO's."
Summaries of this issue:
http://charlottesvillepeace.org/node/1939
http://charlottesvillepeace.org/node/1854
Video of recent forum in Charlottesville:
http://charlottesvillepeace.org/node/1882
Join us at noon on Saturday, July 18, 2009, at 707 Gillespie Ave, Charlottesville, Va. Kids are welcome! There is no charge, but it is appreciated if you bring something to eat or drink. Please go to this page and post a comment that you are coming and how many are coming with you. And if you are able to bring something to eat or drink and know what it will be, please post that: http://afterdowningstreet.org/cindyevent"
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Cookout for Healthcare with Cindy Sheehan--Saturday, July 18, 12:00pm
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2 comments:
"A single-payer system, which would go further than the compromise that has Marchi so upset, would cover everyone at all times with no exceptions, allow completely free choice of doctors, invest in preventive care, allow patients and doctors to make their own decisions free of insurance company restrictions, reduce the 30 percent waste in the current system to the 3 percent overhead in Medicare, and create a net gain of 2.6 million jobs, $317 billion in business revenue, and $100 billion in wages."
Dave, I have followed the link to the article, and then the article to the study. I have also watched some video of the single payer forum held in Charlottesville.
I'd point out that the link is to a press release, which by itself is not a reliable source (sorry for the WikiSpeak). The study, does not jive completely with the summary in the press release. Nor is the study "vetted" in any way. There are a host of assumptions made, that serve the final conclusion. Many of the assumptions are erroneous. The terms "overstated", "understated", and "conservative" are used way too frequently to suit me, seeing as there is no citation, just argument without a factual basis, in each usage.
I bring this up not to argue against a single payer system. I bring this up because I think this is an important enough issue to work with facts. And where there are no facts, to document assumptions. And where there are assumptions, to ask the "what if" questions. Lacking the rigor of such an analysis, I cannot give the consultant a passing grade, and I would not pay for it. JMHO
A last comment is related to something one of my earliest Engineering professors told me, related to analysis: "Eric, no matter what the numbers say, ask yourself, does this make sense? If not, look deeper." My gut tells me, Dave, that the idea that a Single Payer system modelled on Medicare would result in lower costs, better care, more choice, more jobs, etc. -- is that this deserves a better look.
One last comment: I am troubled by the forum video clips. More WikiSpeak, but I like to be informed from a NPOV. I enjoy my political debates as much as anyone, but when it comes to making informed decisions, I find it really crumby that we can't seem to have forums that provide "experts" that are reasonably objective, or barring that, provide some balance. Married to a Family Doc myself, I can tell you, very little of what was said by the family physician comports with my spouse's experience with medical practice, patients in Medicare, and her testimony concerning insurance.
Eric Schmitz
Charlottesville, VA
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