Bi-partisan Vote to Permit State Single-Payer Laws

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

RNs Praise House Vote to Permit State Single-Payer Laws

The nation's largest union and professional association of registered nurses today hailed passage of a key amendment in the House Education and Labor Committee to the national healthcare reform bill this morning that would enable individual states to go a step farther and adopt single-payer, Medicare-for-All style reforms.

Introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, the amendment would remove potential legal impediments for states to pass single-payer bills by waiving federal exemptions that apply to employer-sponsored health plans.

The amendment passed on a bi-partisan vote of 25-19, with the support of both progressive, single-payer Democrats and many Republicans who endorsed the ability of individual states to pass their own versions of health care reform...

http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/press-releases/2009/july/rns-praise-house-vote-to-permit-state-single-payer-laws.html?print=t

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

...Recent reports from both the Department of Health and Human Services and the prestigious medical journal Health Affairs have documented that compared to people with private insurance, Medicare enrollees have greater access to care, fewer problems with medical bills, and greater satisfaction with their health plans and the quality of care they receive.

The reason for improved access, quality, and lower costs under Medicare, said DeMoro, "is that under Medicare, insurance companies, whose central focus is profits for their shareholders not delivery of care, don't have the ability to deny care, limit coverage, or continually raise prices that endanger the health and financial security of patients."

"The successes and standards of Medicare should be the model for reform for all Americans," said DeMoro. "If the final national bill will not meet that test by establishing Medicare for all, then let's give Americans the tools to pass it in individual states."...

http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/press-releases/2009/july/rns-praise-house-vote-to-permit-state-single-payer-laws.html?print=t

[UKRNinUSA, RN]

Dennis you are the man

This is great news!

California has already voted for single payer, but unfortunately it was vetoed by Arnie the governator.

Here's hoping that we can change him out for a single-payer advocate in 2010.

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

Congressman Kucinich has gotten an amendment passed through committee that would give each state the ability to implement their own Single Payer Healthcare Plan.

The current federal plan, that has no Single Payer components, and is being shoved through by special interest money used to buy members of Congress.

It requires Mandatory purchase of Healthcare insurance by all Americans while eliminating much of the public funding for Medicaid recipients, the poorest segment of the population, as well as severely limiting treatment options for Americans currently on the Medicare program; a program they paid for all their working lives. Yet another government mandated product for the private for-profit corporate Insurance goliaths.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuZXaIZRKBc