http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/group_rss/HealthCareforAllColorado Advocates for Single-Payer Health Coverage - No other initiative would provide such immediate relief and benefit to all, while cutting costs for all sectors of society, e.g., education, big and small business, labor, etc. The truth is, our inefficient, inflationary health care delivery system renders U.S. business increasingly less competitive in the world, resulting in inflated costs of goods and services to consumers, and auto manufacturers (Toyota and General Motors) taking jobs to Canada. Currently, $1,500 is added to the cost of each U.S.-made automobile alone, the result of cost-shifting due corporations' escalating costs for employee health coverage. Latest Reports & Consumer Action: www.healthcareforallcolorado.org When Democrat Mark Udall debated Republican Bob Schaffer in July, he made no effort to refute Schaffer’s distortions surrounding health care reform. In fact, he essentially short-circuited meaningful debate by adopting the nebulous right-wing description of single-payer health care as “government health care,” thus capitulating to Republican framing of the issue. Just what is government health care? Is it the more than 60 percent of all health care costs that are paid by taxpayers, including subsidies for inflated costs of private insurances? Private insurers skim the cream and game the system for profit, and count on government (taxpayers) to pick up the health care costs of all whose coverage they reject. Does government health care include the 70 percent of our legislators’ health coverage that is funded by taxpayers? Democrats who facilely echo GOP talking points grossly misrepresent single-payer health care. In fact, contrary to assertions by the right-wing “free market” chorus, only single-risk-pool insurance provides true free choice of private providers, the same as traditional Medicare before Republicans moved to privatize Medicare (at 12 percent higher cost). Private insurance plans limit choice to “in plan” doctors, often requiring change of providers when plans are changed. Only single payer is capable of providing comprehensive, continuous health care benefits and protection against medical bankruptcy. Our leaders should vigorously protest the abomination of Medicare prescription drug reform that was written by insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies with billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies and inflated profits to benefit their bottom lines, while prohibiting negotiation of bulk drug prices. Instead of privatizing Medicare-for-profit, why not improve and expand its coverage for everyone? Traditional Medicare has lower overhead costs – less than 4 percent – whereas private insurances divert 25 percent or more to profits, lobbying, marketing, exhorbitant CEO salaries and wasteful administrative costs. Profit is a perverse incentive for health insurance, which protects its bottom line by reducing benefits and shifting ever-greater costs to consumers. The insulated political class in Washington, dependent upon corporate money and privy to 70 percent taxpayer-subsidized health coverage, seem out of touch with the U.S. people. Polls by Pew and others have revealed that increasing numbers – 54 to 65 percent – support a national single-payer health care plan. A recent study reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine (3-31-08) that 59 percent of U.S. physicians “support government legislation to establish national health insurance,” an increase of 10 percent since 2002. Notably, more than 20 federal and state studies since 1990, including the 2007 Lewin Group evaluation in Colorado, have demonstrated that single-payer health insurance is the only reform model that can both save money and provide comprehensive health care benefits for all. The Colorado single-payer proposal and Rep. John Conyers’ national health care bill, HR 676, both deserve serious further study. We have everything to gain from an honest dialogue about quality-, saftey-centered universal single payer health care, in place of profiteering health insurance gatekeepers. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqPs http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqPs/commentary#comments Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:50:53 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqPs Michele S Michele S 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqPs/ Progressive Democrats of America with The Nation magazine are setting up headquarters at Central Presbyterian Church (1660 Sherman St.), where they have scheduled issues forums over 5 days of the Democratic National Convention. Free daily panels moderated by The Nation 's John Nichols at 11 AM, are followed by additional panels covering Health Care on Monday, August 25, followed the rest of the week with forums on Media and Election Reform, Economic Justice, Global Warming and Constitutional Law. Participants include Reps. John Conyers, Barbara Lee, Robert Wexler, Keith Ellison and Lynn Woolsey; Tom Hayden, Jim Hightower and authors David Sirota and Vincent Bugliosi; various writers and publisher of The Nation ; journalist and radio host Laura Flanders; Jeff Cohen, author and founder of FAIR; and many others. For schedule and more info, check Web site http://pdamerica.org , click on "Progressive Central" in green bar at page top. Watch for posting of PDF event flyer. Also, check link to HCAC page for Democratic Convention Actions around Health Care . http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqPk http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqPk/commentary#comments Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:00:39 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqPk Michele S Michele S 1 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqPk/ Read Resolution overwhelmingly passed by U.S. Conference of Mayors at their Jun 22-24, 2008 annual meeting. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/Cqy5 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/Cqy5/commentary#comments Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:39:24 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/Cqy5 Michele S Michele S 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/Cqy5/ A study published in Health Affairs (6-10-08) documents a sharp (60%) increase in numbers of underinsured between 2003-2007. Underinsurance rates nearly tripled among those with incomes above 200% of poverty. Consequently, 42 percent of U.S. adults were under- or uninsured in 2007, reporting high levels of access problems and financial stress. Even among those with incomes over 400% of poverty, 15% are underinsured. The study indicates that the move toward greater consumer cost-sharing for minimum benefit insurance policies in recent years is pushing millions of insured non-elderly adults toward spending large shares of their incomes on health care. The clear impact is to increase the share of families at risk for medical debt and loss of savings for retirement, college, or other long-term needs. Our current insurance system is working well only for the wealthy, who can afford high costs. Politicians' promises that "you can keep the insurance you have" also apply to the wealthy.  Read the Report Following is a 650-word piece I wrote about the failure of profit-centered health care that has been picked up by several newspapers around the state.                               Failure of U.S. profit-centered health insurance Spending almost twice as much, the U.S. has worse health outcomes than other industrialized nations. Uniquely, U.S. health care is dependent on over 1200 for-profit health insurances, functioning as gatekeepers. Underwriting – the art of risk evaluation and avoidance – insures profits by covering the healthy and rejecting everyone else as a "pre-existing condition." Profit is a perverse incentive for quality health care: imagine for-profit fire or police protection. "Market-driven" health care treats health as a commodity, to be negotiated like a car or a house. The free market has also spawned "designer hospitals," offering only the most profitable specialties, e.g., cardiac procedures, and eliminating less profitable services, e.g., emergency and mental health. No reform proposal by current presidential candidates addresses the failure of the private health insurance industry, characterized principally by decreasing benefits and greater costs and risks shifted to consumers. In turn, more are subjected to underinsurance and unpaid medical bills – now the leading cause of personal bankruptcies. Premium increases of 87 percent over 6 years have outpaced both cost-of-living and median family income increases. Incremental reform proposals demonstrate lack of political will – the same failure to confront corporate profit-taking by insurance and pharmaceutical industries that wrote Medicare prescription drug reform with billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies and inflated profits to benefit their bottom lines. Commercial health insurance is the 800-pound gorilla, responsible for over 25% of health care dollars siphoned to excessive administrative costs, lobbying, marketing, CEO salaries and profit-taking: $30 billion annual health insurance profits; $32 billion insurance underwriting and marketing costs (McKinsey Group, 2007). Gaming the system for profit has given rise to the annual $20 billion business of "denial managment" – health insurance middlemen who search claims for excuses to delay, deny or renege on reimbursements. Responding to double-digit premium increases, more employers are opting to move employees into underinsurance – high-deductible catastrophic plans. Simultaneously, the American Hospital Association reports that both family out-of-pocket health expenses and unpaid medical bills have risen approximately 60% over a decade – still more costs ultimately shifted to taxpayers and consumers. Notably, more than 20 federal and state studies since 1990, including the 2007 Lewin Group evaluation in Colorado, have demonstrated that single-payer health insurance is the only reform model that can both save money and provide comprehensive health care benefits for all. Indeed, the single payer model is the only truly efficient, equitable, and sustainable financing system, enabling universal coverage by spreading risk across the entire population. Contrary to assertions by the "free market" choir, only single payer insurance permits true choice of pubic and private providers; private insurance is limited to "in plan" doctors. Only single payer provides comprehensive benefits and protection against medical bankruptcy. Rather than comprehensive health care reform, most current proposals revert to a Massachusetts-style nostrum, preserving insurance profits and requiring an individual mandate to purchase minimum-benefit insurance, subsidized by taxpayers as needed. It is a formula for continued inflationary consumer health costs and decreasing benefits. National single payer bill, HR676, calls for a progressive 3 to 4 percent employer and employee payroll tax to replace all health deductibles and premiums. Full-coverage costs for a family of four earning $40,000 annually would drop to $110 a month, from recent levels of $273/month for employer-sponsored coverage, or $489/month for an individually-insured family (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2007). A political class dependent on corporate money (and privy to 70 percent-taxpayer-subsidized health coverage) sidesteps meaningful reform. Nevertheless, polls by Pew and others have revealed increasing numbers – 54 to 65 percent of people – support a national single-payer health care plan. A recent survey reports that 59 percent of U.S. physicians now support national health care, up 10 percent from 2002. A grassroots movement and political reforms, including publicly-financed campaigns, may be necessary to instill the political will for meaningful reform. We have everything to gain from quality-, saftey-centered universal single payer health care to replace U.S. dependence on profiteering health care gatekeepers. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/Cq45 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/Cq45/commentary#comments Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:35:09 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/Cq45 Michele S Michele S 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/Cq45/ I wasn't goofing off because it was a holiday weekend, I swear! JUST as I was patting myself on the back last Friday evening for being almost caught up, I noticed I was suddenly awfully congested in my chest. As though it had been booked for a tour by Bronchitis and the Wheezers, the atonal faux-accordion-pop group. So I was mainly in bed from then until noon or so today. Thank goodness for my trusty laptop, which not only let me keep up virtually with the big world, but is warm and comforting to cuddle when you are sore from coughing. Could have been worse, of course. In a funny co-incidence, as I was looking over the blogs I read on Wednesdays I found this article on Damn Interesting.com about The Heroes of SARS. It's an excellent overview of the epidemic from start to finish, showing how some things that are often politicized worked RIGHT for once. There's even a whistle-blower who got listened to! And not stomped on later! By the way, if anyone is interested in ancient history, I did a write-up on my personal experiences and views of the State Assembly and Convention. First part of Friday Second part, Friday Saturday http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/neonnurse/CqYp http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/neonnurse/CqYp/commentary#comments Wed, 28 May 2008 23:48:37 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/neonnurse/CqYp Susan the Neon Nurse http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/4d9f8366c95149b114_4l1gmvoe1.jpg Susan the Neon Nurse 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqYp/ CheneyCare -- We taxpayers pay 70% of guaranteed coverage for VP Dick Cheney and 2 million federal legislators and employees.  Link: Bill Moyers' Journal 5/9/08 -- California Nurses' campaign for "CheneyCare" for all.  Read transcript or view program: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05092008/transcript1.html Video "Who the Health Cares?" gets straight to the point: Presidential candidates will not determine health care reform -- the ball is in the court of Congress. http://www.moblogic.tv/video/2008/04/30/who-the-health-cares/ For-Profit Health Insurance and Pharmaceutical Industries -- scary statistics 1) Melody Peterson's book "Our Daily Meds" reveals that the benefit of medicines marketed by pharmaceutical companies "has become secondary to how much it will bring shareholders in profit"...due to constant pressure by Wall Street for drug companies to exceed profits made the year before; Big Pharma employs 2 lobbyists for every Congress member. 2) Tests show that placebos often work as well as the drugs being marketed to the public. 3) 100,000 Americans die annually from taking prescribed drugs as prescribed (FDA reports). 4) U.S. experiences 75,000-100,000 preventable deaths annually, ranking 19 out of 19 nations. (Recent study, Ellen Nolte & Martin McKee, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)  http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqYV http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqYV/commentary#comments Sun, 25 May 2008 21:39:15 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqYV Michele S Michele S 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqYV/ Please join Be the Change-USA & Health Care for All Colorado for an exciting, engaging and fun event May 31 Are We All Really Covered? Closing the Gaps in Health Care 12 noon - 7:30 PM, Sat., May 31, 2008 First Plymouth Congregational Church 3501 S. Colorado Blvd. (Hampden and Colorado Blvd) Englewood, CO Registration: Full program: $35; Dinner & evening speakers: $25; Evening speakers only: $10. Discount for Seniors, students, veterans, BTC and HCAC members: $5 Special program features: 1-3 PM Providers and Patients Panel: "How did we get into this mess, and how can we get out?" 3-5 PM Presentations by CO elected officials and candidates: "Will Colorado begin to close the gap?" 5 PM Dinner "Legislative Grill" -- Members of Congress and candidates and representatives of Presidential campaigns: "Will Congress or our next President begin to close the gap?" 6 PM Evening Keynote speaker: Elizabeth Kucinich More info: www.BTC-USA.org or www.healthcareforallcolorado.org or call Dick Barkey, 303-808-8504, or Eliza Carney, 970-416-0636 To register online: www.BTC-USA.org   http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqYj http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqYj/commentary#comments Sun, 25 May 2008 21:20:23 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqYj Michele S Michele S 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqYj/ I just heard from our friends at the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative that the Fair Accountable Insurance Rates bill passed in the Senate Appropriations this morning. It could be voted on the Senate floor this afternoon. Thank you to everyone who has contacted your Senator. You can still help by email your Senator through our simple online site at ProgressNowAction.org/FAIRSpeakout . http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cq9p http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cq9p/commentary#comments Thu, 01 May 2008 08:51:10 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cq9p Bobby http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/ee6099c9a5ad8f13ea_6dm6bih04.jpg Bobby 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/Cq9p/ We've just learned that John McCain will be in Denver this FRIDAY (May 2) for a townhall on healthcare. McCain's campaign claims that this an "open townhall" that the general public can attend. Click here to rsvp. McCain says that his healthcare plan is designed to lower costs. But McCain's plan appears to lower costs "by cutting benefits to people." The mainstream media has basically given McCain a free ride so far by not asking him tough questions. So it's important for citizens to ask those questions ourselves. If you can make it on Friday, please attend McCain's townhall. After the townhall, tell us about your experience here on our blog. If for any reason you are not allowed to attend this "open townhall", please call 303-991-1900. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cq9j http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cq9j/commentary#comments Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:58:05 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cq9j Bobby http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/ee6099c9a5ad8f13ea_6dm6bih04.jpg Bobby 1 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/Cq9j/ UPDATE: The FAIR bill was held over until TODAY. The Senate Finance Committee hearing is about to begin. If you have a spare couple of minutes, please call one or more of the Senators on the committee and urge them to support the FAIR bill for more accountability and transparency from Insurance companies. The next hurdle for the Fair Accountable Insurance Rates ("FAIR") bill today will be in committee in the Senate. Following is a list of Senators on the committee. Please contact them TODAY (especially Veiga and Isgar) and urge them to support the FAIR bill for more accountability and transparancy from insurance companies: Senator Sandoval(D)(CHAIR and Senate sponsor for FAIR): 303-866-4862 Senator Romer (D): 303.866.4852 Senator Brophy (R): 303.866.6360 Senator Harvey (R): 303.866.4881 Senator Isgar (D): 303.866.4884 Senator Kopp (R): 303.866.2683 Senator Veiga (D): 303.866.4861 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cq9x http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cq9x/commentary#comments Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:45:42 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cq9x Bobby http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/ee6099c9a5ad8f13ea_6dm6bih04.jpg Bobby 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/Cq9x/ ProgressNow members have written over 800 emails to legislators in support of the Fair Accountable Insurance Rates ("FAIR") bill just since yesterday afternoon. You can contact your legislators using our simple online form at: www.ProgressNowAction.org/FAIRSpeakout . For more info on the FAIR bill, go to www.ProgressNowAction.org/FAIRFacts . UPDATE: The FAIR bill has now passed the House, and it's on to the Senate. You can still use the link above to contact your Senator by email. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/CqYl http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/CqYl/commentary#comments Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:50:08 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/CqYl Bobby http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/ee6099c9a5ad8f13ea_6dm6bih04.jpg Bobby 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqYl/ The Fair Accountable Insurance Rates ("FAIR") bill has passed out of committee and will now be voted on by the full House of Representatives. Please take a moment and contact your legislator right now and urge him/her to support the FAIR bill. We have a really simple online form that you can use. The form includes talking points that you can use to create your email. Cick here to participate. The insurance lobbyists are pulling out the stops to kill this bill and maintain the status quo. Please take just a couple of minutes to contact your legislator now. It really does make a difference! http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/CqYD http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/CqYD/commentary#comments Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:36:01 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/CqYD Bobby http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/ee6099c9a5ad8f13ea_6dm6bih04.jpg Bobby 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqYD/ The Fair Accountable Insurance Rates ("FAIR") bill passed last night out of the House Business Affairs Committee, and was referred on to the House Appropriations Committee. The bill passed along party lines, with all Dems voting YES and all R's voting NO. Please take a few minutes to call or email all the folks who voted YES and thank them. If you'd like to tell the other folks who voted NO how disappointed you are, that's okay too. And click here to sign the petition in support of FAIR if you haven't already . Here's a list of the folks who voted YES: Rosemary Marshall,Chair (D) (303) 866-2959 rosemary.marshall.house@state.co.us Joe Rice, Vice Chair (D) (303) 866-2953 joe.rice.house@state.co.us Dorothy Butcher (D - Pueblo) (303) 866-2968 dorothy.butcher.house@state.co.us Morgan Carroll (D) (303) 866-2909 morgan.carroll.house@state.co.us Edward Casso (D) (303) 866-2964 edward.casso.house@state.co.us Cheri Jahn (D) (303) 866-5522 cheri.jahn.house@state.co.us John Soper (D) (303) 866-2931 john.soper.house@state.co.us Here are the folks who voted NO: David Balmer (R) (303) 866-2935 david.balmer.house@state.co.us Larry Liston (R) (303) 866-2965 Victor Mitchell (R) (303) 866-2946 victor.mitchell.house@state.co.us Amy Stephens (R) (303) 866-2924 amy.stephens.house@state.co.us http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cql3 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cql3/commentary#comments Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:16:32 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cql3 Bobby http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/ee6099c9a5ad8f13ea_6dm6bih04.jpg Bobby 2 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/Cql3/ Below is another video of Rep. Morgan Carroll speaking about the FAIR bill. The first hearing is this Thursday, and the insurance lobbyists will be out in force to try and stop the bill. Take a stand for more accountability and transparency from the insurance industry by signing the FAIR petition now at: www.ProgressNowAction.org/FAIR We need to deliver a huge list of names to the hearing on Thursday to counter the insurance lobbyists. Sign the petition now and pass that link on to your friends. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cqlh http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cqlh/commentary#comments Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:12:43 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cqlh Bobby http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/ee6099c9a5ad8f13ea_6dm6bih04.jpg Bobby 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/Cqlh/ The U.S. spends on average twice as much on health care as other industrialized nations, and has overall worse outcomes. Paul Krugman’s & Robin Wells’ commentary ( "The Health Care Crisis and What to Do About It ," The New York Review of Books , 3/23/06 ) attributes the U.S. health care crisis to high dependence on fragmented, for–profit private insurances, hospitals and numerous middlemen that add health costs without adding value. Noting "the strange persistence, in the teeth of all available evidence, of the belief that the private sector can provide health insurance more efficiently than the government," Krugman and Wells remark that free-market ideology is "wholly inappropriate to health care issues." As many observe, health is not a commodity, like a car or house. Factors of declining U.S. health care:      -Washington and the Bush administration are in thrall to insurance and drug industry lobbyists.      -The privatization-for-profit increases the fragmentation of U.S. health care, swelling the ranks of the uninsured.      -Commercial insurance has abandoned the principle of shared risk, shifting more risk to consumers, and has adopted the principle of adverse selection to guarantee profits for shareholders.      -Private insurances continue to skim over 20 percent of costs for profit and CEO salaries. Employer-provided health coverage is unraveling, as U.S. health costs rise twice as high as inflation and 4 times faster than wages, prompting more employers to reduce/eliminate health coverage. Medicaid rolls grow, as Medicaid picks up the slack from the unraveling system of employer-based insurance.      -Medicaid is particularly vulnerable as a means-tested program – its consituency is not politically powerful.      -Authors: "Funding for Medicaid depends on politicians' sense of decency, always a fragile foundation for policy."      -States fund an average 40 percent of Medicaid – unable to operate at a deficit, states are squeezed by growing Medicaid costs.      -Attempts to privatize Medicaid for profit – states like South Carolina are seeking federal waivers to offer recipients vouchers for purchase of private insurance – certain to be inadequate for many. So-called ‘consumer-directed’ health plans requiring higher out-of-pocket medical expenses are not a cure.      -Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) serve as a tax break for the rich, but do nothing for the lower income.      -HSAs undermine employment-based health care, encouraging adverse selection – HSAs are attractive to healthier individuals, tempting them to opt out of company plans, leaving them less healthy individuals. The authors cite a large body of evidence indicating that public insurance of the kind in many European countries achieves equal or better results at much lower cost. Unfortunately, political will is lacking. Krugman and Wells call it "politically smarter" and "economically superior" to educate voters about the huge advantages of a single payer system, than to merely attempt to coopt the drug and insurance lobbies by writing them into compromise plans that they will likely oppose anyway. Alternatively, say the authors,"things will have to get much worse before reality can break through the combination of powerful interest groups and free-market ideology." Everything speaks to the need to grow a grassroots movement in order to overcome the powerful insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies that write policy, as they did Medicare prescription drug reform, with billions of dollars of subsidies and inflated profits to enhance their bottom lines. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqlG http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqlG/commentary#comments Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:04:53 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CqlG Michele S Michele S 501 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqlG/ The first hearing on the Fair Accountable Insurance Rates ("FAIR") bill will be next Thursday, April 17. If you haven't yet, click here to sign the petition in support of greater transparency and accountability from insurance companies in Colorado: www.ProgressNowAction.org/FAIR If you have already signed, please send the link to the petition to 5 friends right now and ask them to sign. We want to deliver a huge stack of names to Morgan Carroll (the FAIR bill's author) to hold up at the hearing agains the shouts of doom and gloom from the chorus of high-paid insurance lobbyists. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/CqfY http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/CqfY/commentary#comments Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:24:11 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/CqfY Bobby http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/ee6099c9a5ad8f13ea_6dm6bih04.jpg Bobby 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CqfY/ House Minority Leader Mike May goes after Rep. Morgan Carroll in today's Rocky: House Minority Leader Mike May and Rep. Morgan Carroll have privately exchanged terse words on the House floor this week over what May calls Carroll's "introduction of the politics of personal destruction into Colorado policy." What does Mike May consider "politics of personal destruction", you ask? The bad blood between the lawmakers began to boil last week when Carroll sent out a news release claiming that industry lobbyists were hard at work trying to defeat her House Bill 1389, which would require insurance companies to justify rate increases to a state agency before they could take effect. Carroll says Colorado's health insurance rates are seventh-highest in the country even though the state has one of the healthiest populations. She says rates are artificially high here because the state doesn't regulate increases. Carroll attached a spreadsheet to her news release identifying lobbyists who were paid a combined $118,000 to speak for the insurance industry in January and February alone. Here's where we come in: May said he really got angry when he learned Monday that the liberal group ProgressNow planned to "crash" a Republican press conference on GOP health care priorities. The headline of the ProgressNow press release read: "ProgressNow Crashes Insurance Lobbyists/Lawmaker Press Conference: Upstages Insurance Lobby with signature of thousands of consumers who want accountability now." Convinced that Carroll was behind the stunt, May confronted her. Carroll assured him she would not be in attendance, but would be available later by phone. May took that to mean that Carroll had a hand in the protest and accused her of stooping to a brand of politics that had been kept out of the Capitol for years. May complained to House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver. On Wednesday, Carroll approached May on the House floor and assured him she had not orchestrated the protest. Carroll said she had meant only to convey that she would be available to reporters by phone if they had questions about her bill. May said he would take Carroll at her word but that his issues with her still stand. For the record, we did nothing to disrupt the press conference. We didn't interrupt any speakers. We merely filmed their statements, including May's, quietely while they extolled the virtues of "free market" forces at the behest of the Big Insurance lobby that wants desparately to preserve the status quo and their record profits. At the end of his press conference, when everyone was mingling, we handed out our own press release that listed donations from the insurance industry to right-wing campaign coffers in Colorado since 2004. That May would complain about our mere presence at his insurance-sponsored press conference is truly absurd. Good for Morgan Carroll for her willingness to stand up and fight hard for working Coloradans. Click here to get the facts about her Fair Accountable Insurance Rates ("FAIR") bill. And click here to watch a short video of Morgan explaining the bill. The FAIR bill goes to committee on April 17. We're collecting the names of thousands of Coloradans from across the state who support more transparency and accountability from Big Insurance. If you haven't already, click here sign the petition: www.ProgressNowAction.org/FAIR . http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cqfz http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cqfz/commentary#comments Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:11:14 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cqfz Bobby http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/ee6099c9a5ad8f13ea_6dm6bih04.jpg Bobby 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/Cqfz/ Support more accountability and transparency from the health insurance companies in Colorado. Sign the petition in support of the Fair Accountable Insurance Rates ("FAIR") bill: www.ProgressNowAction.org/FAIR . Watch a special message from the FAIR bill's author, State Rep. Morgan Carroll: UPDATE: Click here to download a fact sheet regarding the FAIR bill. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cqff http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cqff/commentary#comments Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:08:57 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cqff Bobby http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/ee6099c9a5ad8f13ea_6dm6bih04.jpg Bobby 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/Cqff/ TOMORROW (Monday, April 7), the health insurance lobbyists will launch their scheme to try and defeat any meaningful healthcare reform in Colorado. They'll hold a pro-insurance press conference at the State Capitol, led by insurance-friendly legislators like Mike May (R-Parker). Since 2004, the insurance industry has pumped tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations into "527" entities and "candidate committees" formed to support pro-insurance legislators who will stop at nothing to do their bidding. Let's ensure that working Coloradans aren't silenced by the insurance companies! We're going to crash their press conference to present the names of thousands of Coloradans from across the state who have signed our petition in support of the Fair Accountable Insurance Rates ("FAIR") bill. Can you join us at this press conference tomorrow (Monday April 7) to show your support for more accountability and transparency from insurance companies? Bring a sign urging healthcare reform now and join us: WHAT: ProgressNow crashes pro-insurance press conference WHERE: West Steps of the State Capitol WHEN: Monday April 7 at 1:00 p.m. (MT) If you can't make it to the press conference, you can still help. Forward the following link to at least 5 friends right now and urge them to sign our online petition in support of the FAIR bill: http://www.ProgressNowAction.org/FAIR We need petition signers from all across the state. Please forward this link and urge your friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers to join us in demanding more accountability and transparency from insurance companies: http://www.ProgressNowAction.org/FAIR If you have questions, call us at 303-991-1900. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cqfv http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cqfv/commentary#comments Sun, 06 Apr 2008 21:26:20 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cqfv Bobby http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/ee6099c9a5ad8f13ea_6dm6bih04.jpg Bobby 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/Cqfv/ The Denver Post has reported that a major healthcare reform bill will be introduced this week--the Fair Accountable Insurance Rates ("FAIR") bill. It's Morgan Carroll's bill, which enough reason to support it (in my mind Morgan is closest thing in Colorado to Paul Wellstone). But it also has over 20 co-sponsors, which shows the kind of broad support the bill has. Believe it or not, right now in Colorado insurance companies can raise their rates without prior approval from the Insurance Commission and without having to justify those increases. The result is that we have the 7th highest premiums in the country, and we don't even know why! (AHIP Center for Policy and Research) The FAIR bill requires insurance companies to get prior approval for proposed rate increases before they pass those increases on to consumers and small business. The bill also requires insurance companies to disclose the percentage of consumers' premium dollars that they spend on actual care. Insurance lobbyists will pull out the stops to defeat the FAIR bill. So we need to send a loud and clear message to the State House to demand greater transparency and accountability from insurance companies to the hard-working Coloradans who pay their premiums. Click here to sign a petition in support of the FAIR bill: www.ProgressNowAction.org/FAIR After you sign the petition, be sure to invite at least 5 other people to sign the petition as well. We need to deliver the names of thousands of Coloradans on this petition to the State House, with people on the list from every corner of the state, in order to counter the insurance company lobbyists. Please also consider a dontation to ProgressNowAction to help fund our efforts to generate public momentum for healthcare reform like the FAIR bill. Click here to donate online now. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cqd7 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cqd7/commentary#comments Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:02:41 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/think/Cqd7 Bobby http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/ee6099c9a5ad8f13ea_6dm6bih04.jpg Bobby 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/Cqd7/