Of all the State sponsored bills, this one is the strongest.
This is a solid bill, one Pennsylvanians can trust that insurance companies will be fully exempt from corrupting.
Democracy For America promoted house parties across the country November 14, where thousands of people watched Sicko, then listened to a conference call with film maker Michael Moore and DFA President Jim Dean for more than thirty minutes.
Or if people were watching on the West Coast, they tuned into the conference call before they watched the DVD.
In any case, a certain percentage of watchers had never seen the movie before, so Jim Dean and Michael Moore were careful not to divulge key movie points.
I saw Sicko for the third time that night and thoroughly enjoyed watching it with my Progressives For Pennsylvania friends, a handful of union leaders, and a few liberals I grew up with in my hometown.
The conference call itself was inspiring.
Michael Moore was asked about state sponsored versus federally sponsored bills, and which did he support. For instance, John Conyers and Dennis Kucinich have a National Single Payer Health Care Bill, H.R.676.
Moore said we need a National Single Payer bill, thus supported the Conyers/Kucinich bill. John Conyers has said he supports the bill here in Pennsylvania, HB 1660.
Having said that, and given the current stranglehold on anything good coming out of Washington these days, I believe we have no choice but to develop a model Single Payer Health Care Bill that other States and eventually the Country are free to adopt.
Another point in the call was how the propaganda machines like to stop all discourse on a real Universal Health Care Plan that covers all Americans minus Insurance Companies, by stating that such plans are Socialized Medicine.
Michael Moore said Single Payer is not Socialized Medicine, but rather is Christianized, Krishna-ized, Mohammad-ized Medicine because of the impetus for caring for every citizen in America in a true spirit of service.
The question arose about the supposed waits that people have in the Canadian health care system, (although Canadians in the movie told us that they really don't have the waits that the propaganda machines in this country want us to believe).
Moore said that when 50,000,000 people are taken out of the health care equation, obviously our waiting times at the doctors, those of us with Health Insurance, will obviously be shortened.
When we add the 50,000,000 people back into the system, yes, we will have longer waiting times.
Isn't this preferable to making Health Care unavailable to so many millions of citizens?
Governor Rendell of Pennsylvania has a Health Bill before the Pennsylvania House of Representatives called Prescription for Pennsylvania.
This bill is losing support with only 8 sponsors as of this writing.
HB 1660 currently has 35 sponsors.
Why is HB 1660 superior to Prescription For Pennsylvania?
HB 1660 guarantees health care protection for all Pennsylvanians thus delivering quality, comprehensive health care.
Rendell's plan does not.
HB 1660 takes Insurance Companies out of the equation.
Rendell's plan does not.
HB 1660 preserves the rights of patients to choose their own doctors with out deductibles, co-pays or life-time caps.
Rendell's plan does not.
HB 1660 allows for prescription drug and behavioral health care coverage.
The Rendell plan does not.
Alternative Medical Modalities are allowed in the HB 1660 plan.
Not so with Rendell's plan.
A comprehensive comparison between the two plans can be accessed at: http://www.progressives4pennsylvania.com
Progressives4Pennsylvania plans to create teaching workshops about HB 1660 and present these to Labor affiliated groups, retirement homes, small businesses and other potential arenas.
Health Care For All Americans started with a vision that Pennsylvania birthed and now shares with the nation.
John Edwards is the only candidate running for President who has a plan to deliver health care to all Americans without the interference of Insurance Companies.
He needs Health Care Reform Activists to work with him.
He cannot do it alone.
And neither can we.
Several questions were raised during the course of our call.
1) Why is Washington not the right venue for Single Payer Passage?
We can see the "why not" right now as our President confronts Washington Insiders to settle on an Economic Stimulus Package. He was not getting anywhere so he took his pleas on the road to present the stimulus plan to the American people.
Washington Insiders are stuck. Getting Single Payer passed in Washington is frankly, a joke.
2) We must depend on grassroots power to get Single Payer enacted State by State.
3) John Conyers, Jr, United States Congressman, who orchestrates HR 676, the United States National Healthcare Act, is now putting his energy into state sponsored Single Payer Bills. We know this because he will be coming to Pennsylvania, then to Massachusetts and then Ohio, to help these states with their Single Payer initiatives.
4) We need look no further than the lessons of United States History.
Major reform has always occurred historically first in the states.
For instance, consumer rights, women's right to vote, minimum wage laws, child labor laws and Civil Rights all were initiated first on the state level.
Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal started on the state level, as well, when he gave the crucial "Economic Bill Of Rights" speech at the end of World War II.
Additionally, at the end of WW II, when England, France and Germany formulated Guaranteed Healthcare For All, the United States was also on the verge of doing the same thing, with Harry Truman's visionary leadership. But the conservative control in Washington at the time opted for employee based health insurance coverage.
Guaranteed Universal Healthcare became a corporate For Profit entity from that point on.
5) The United States Constitution provides for division of power. This is spelled out in the idea of Federalism, which is used to describe a system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between national and state governments.
James Madison, America's fourth President, had a vision that each state represented a laboratory where new ideas are tried out and propelled onto the national stage.
Let us also keep in mind that the Canadian Healthcare System began first in Saskatchewan, 1962, and then went national a year later.
Why Pennsylvania?
1) Pennsylvania's Governor, Ed Rendell, has repeatedly said he will sign the bill, if the people can get it on his desk. Governors elsewhere have not given similar support.
2) Health Insurance and Pharmaceutical Companies spend huge amounts on advertising to influence against the Single Payer alternative. However, because Pennsylvania is a non-referendum state, higher legislative entities have the final say as to whether a bill is passed, or not and theoretically, are not influenced by propaganda designed to sway the minds of the people.
3) The Quinnipaic Survey poll taken in May 2008, said that 68% of Pennsylvanians supported Single Payer legislation. Apparently, the propaganda discussed in item #2 is having little effect in the mind's of most Pennsylvanians.
This poll was completed before the economic downturn. It is safe to say that with so many people out of work and without health insurance, this number is well over 70%.
This, my friends, is considered a consensus, hands down.
Furthermore, Pennsylvania polling percentages for Single Payer are higher and more favorable than any other state in the union.
4) Republicans are coming aboard in support of HB 1660/SB 300. Republicans elsewhere have not given similar support.
For instance, Tom Murt, State House Representative in Montgomery County, and an Iraq War Veteran, strongly supports the bill.
Twenty- One other House Republicans signed on in support of the Economic Impact Study, which is a prerequisite for these bills passing in the Commonwealth.
5) Healthcare For All PA has 8,000 members from all walks of life; nurses, doctors, medical and nursing students, teachers, farmers, labor and business leaders, Chamber of Commerce, League Of Women Voters, Council Of Churches, AFL-CIO, as well a Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Greens, who allsupport the bills.
Pennsylvania is at the epicenter for passage of HB 1660/SB 300 for reasons that form a groundswell of bipartisan, economic, moral and democratic (with a small d) gathering of energy.
We are excited to be apart of this energy.
Once we pass it, every other state will follow.
Thanks to Chuck Pennacchio for an excellent history lesson, and for providing the facts in this article!!
Kate Loving Shenk has sinced written about articles on various topics from Fitness, self improvement and motivation and Pixel Advertising. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-Kate Loving Shenk is a writer, healer, musician and the creator of the e-book called "Transform Your Nursing Career and Discover Your Calling and Destiny." Click here to find out how to ord. Kate Loving Shenk's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.