Hi Everyone,

-We had the UHCAN-MN retreat last fri/sat w/ 15 attending, ok for
late notice and already scheduled.
It was a ton of work organizing it, and if we do another one, at this
beautiful place, we're going to need
a lot more participation in coordinating it. Pulling these together
does not happen magically. In addition
to the 9 hrs of mtgs we had (1 1/2 of which i had personally w/
Roseangellica to specifically determine
her role in food service only). Note that i had to f/u on all the
things that people said they would do but
didnt. So 150 phone calls, photocopying, coordinating food,
coordinating the place, shlepping a ton of
food later, we had a really good Retreat. so i hope folks can
appreciate that in the form of a thank you once in awhile.

-Big thanks to David Sundeen for creating and donating 24 "single-
payer" t-shirts which we can use as a fundraiser.

-BUILDING the NETWORK:
What we decided at the Retreat was that several of us- David, Mike,
Kari, Joel, Greg, Dorothy, Sarah, and
a few others will all do outreach to faith, indy business, labor,
community groups, practitioner etc to form a loose,
decentralized single-payer NETWORK. This simply means an organization
(via a contact person), agrees to:

1. endorse single-payer at any level (state, federal etc) and single-
payer actions (demos, press conferences, written position statements,
etc)
2.endorse any single-payer publicly issued statements:  press
releases, flyers, other written statements to media, the public,
legislature
3.forward any actions (see #1 above) to an organizations distribution
lists to potentially turn out people to actions.

If you are reading this and are a contact person of an organization
that would like to be on board let me know. Or if you know of any
groups of
whom might want to become part of this NETWORK or more info, pls
contact that group, and let me know.
We decided that a script for calling groups would facilitate this
outreach. If you need more info than the 3 criteria above, in the form
of a script, let me know. The uhcan-mn.org website has info on
defining single-payer. I will be putting a brief 1 paragraph script
together
based on the above points.

-ART AND PROTEST:
We had a great discussion on this. Kari obtained a lot of paint
brushes, paint, sheets, along with UHCAN-MN's existing banner
materials/placards
for painting on. Thanks for that. at the Retreat we didnt have enough
time to paint banners, but Roger has suggested we could do this at
his house,
and show us the how-to. Roger suggested a sat  from 1-4pm or other
time ?

-MEDIA CAMPAIGN (CHANGING THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE):
Great discussion, brainstorming on this too. To putt all the great
suggestions together, we would ideally need to form a MEDIA NETWORK
for skills-sharing
on this incl: videographers, photographers, graphic designers,
writers etc.

-Next UHCAN-MN mtg is monday Dec 7, 7pm, Walker Church, 3104 16th ave
s,mpls (near lake street and bloomington avenues).

Amy's Minneapolis Office    612-727-5220

Washington  202-224-3244

Al's St. Paul Office  (651) 221-1016

Washington (202) 224-5641

Published on Monday, November 23, 2009 by CommonDreams.org

Before You Carve that Turkey: All In for Bernie Sanders

by Donna Smith

Those millions of us who support a Medicare for All, single-payer, reform for the healthcare crisis in this nation have some work to do over the next few days.  Senators are on their way to their home states for the one-week Thanksgiving recess - and they need a little up close and personal constituent attention before dinnertime on Thursday.

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is a stalwart supporter of doing the right thing for his state, our healthcare system and this nation - and he has said repeatedly that moving toward a just and economically sound system is possible through Medicare for All, single-payer.  In the purest sense of giving patients control over their own healthcare, single-payer gives us all control over our choice of providers - and it gives our healthcare professionals the freedom they need to advise us on the basis of health rather than payment source.

So, even though the current Senate bill is not what we want - Senator Sanders will offer an amendment that would be a substitute for that bill and is mirrored on S. 703, The American Health Security Act.

We need to make it clear before our Senators are immersed in their own holiday events and then in traveling  back to Washington, DC, that we want them to support Senator Sanders' amendment. 

Call today, call tomorrow and keep calling until the home offices of the Senators close for the holidays - and many will stay open until Wednesday at noon.  Tell the staff you want to talk turkey about the Senate effort.

Time is drawing short for our Senators to hear from us.  Debate will begin on November 30 on the current Senate bill.  Senator Sanders needs support.  He has already told us that he does not expect a win on his amendment.  But we are all laying groundwork for this nation to move in the right direction before long - we know that the current bills do not "bend the cost curve" enough and we know they certainly do not bend the death or bankruptcy curve nearly enough to make the bills what this nation needs.

Additionally, we want the legislation to contain language that will allow states that opt in to a single-payer system to be able to do so with the appropriate waivers from federal legal provisions which might otherwise present obstacles to doing so.

So, the ask of our Senators - each and every one, liberal, centrist or conservative - is two-fold and urgent:

1.       Vote with and for Sanders' S. 703 substitute amendment; and

2.       Support state single-payer enabling language in the final bill.

Calls to DC won't be effective this week.  We can all return to that effort next week.  Thanksgiving week calls must go to your Senators' offices in your state.  Look them up here, using your zip code: http://www.votesmart.org/

Tell friends, neighbors and relatives.  This year, talk a little turkey about healthcare.  Ask folks how thankful they would be to have healthcare as a basic human right for their neighbors and for themselves.  And then help them look up their Senators' contact information and tell them how easy it really is to call and log your concerns and your expectations for an affirmative vote for the Sanders' amendment.

Oh, and don't forget to thank one another for caring enough to join in the struggle.  It matters.   Everybody in, nobody out.  Thank you all for believing that together we can change this, because we can.

Donna Smith is a community organizer for the California Nurses Association and National Co-Chair for the Progressive Democrats of America Healthcare Not Warfare campaign.

----- Original Message -----

From: kari sprung

To: Socialist Alternative Minnesota ; UHCAN

Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 1:09 AM

Subject: [uhcan-mn] Videos From Health Care Rally (Sept.)

 

Hi All,

Below I have additional links to video I took from the Obama Rally in September.  I thought that with the health care bill being debated in the senate, it would help give some inspiration to keep fighting on for single-payer.  Videos are a lot of fun!!

Thanks everyone,

Kari

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej-eehTrIFM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQcLj7TAGMk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OvmAka1jiU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Deru43yUSaE

An Event about Single Payer Health Care Michael Cavlan RN will be the featured speaker at an event this Saturday, November 21st at 5:00 pm at Mayday Books. In addition to Michael Cavlan’s appearance, the Michael Moore movie entitled: “Sicko” will also be screened free of charge. If you have not had the opportunity to see this film and hear Michael Cavlan speak, you are in for a real treat. We hope that you will support this event by virtue of your attendance and invite others who may not be educated on the Single Payer Health Care reform idea to attend along with you. This is a crucial time in our nation and many people support this reform for our country. Find out how you can be helpful to push forth this cause with our elected officials. For more information about the event, please contact the Bookstore at: MAYDAY BOOKS 301 CEDAR AVENUE SOUTH MINNEAPOLIS, MN 612-333-4719 For the record, Jack Nelson Pallmeyer is being officially, respectfully and publicly invited to attend this event. Michael Cavlan RN

,___

From a non Astro-Turf organization on healthcare.

For those who have eyes to see and ears to hear.

Michael Cavlan RN


Dear Healthcare-NOW! Supporter:

On Saturday, November 7, 2009, the House passed H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health
Care for America Act, to much celebration by the Democratic party.
Healthcare-NOW!'s view, however, is that the House bill is a gift to the
insurance industry at the further expense of the people of this nation.

The bill's advocates claim it will cover an additional 36 million people,
subsidize the cost of insurance for families up to 400% above the poverty level,
increase Medicaid coverage to 150% above the poverty level, close the Medicare
donut hole by 2019, place a surcharge on individuals making more than $500,000
and couples making more than $1,000,000, will end rescissions and pre-existing
conditions.

What the Democrats fail to mention is the bill leaves millions of people
uninsured, allows medical bankruptcies to persist, criminalizes and fines the
uninsured, increases the number of underinsured, does nothing to contain the sky
rocketing costs, blocks women from their reproductive rights, transfers massive
public funds to private insurance companies strengthening their control over
care, protects pharmaceutical companies' superprofits at patient expense, fails
to reclaim the 31% of waste in our system, expands Medicaid without regard to
the state budget crises, discriminates based on immigration status and age, and
sets up several levels of care covering less for those without the ability to
pay. Those who have coverage will increasingly find care unaffordable and will
go without. The whole system will inevitably fail from being fiscally
unsustainable.

So is the House bill better than nothing?

"I don't think so," writes Marcia Angell, M.D., former editor of the New England
Journal of Medicine. "It simply throws more money into a dysfunctional and
unsustainable system, with only a few improvements at the edges, and it augments
the central role of the investor-owned insurance industry. The danger is that as
costs continue to rise and coverage becomes less comprehensive, people will
conclude that we've tried health reform and it didn't work. But the real problem
will be that we didn't really try it. I would rather see us do nothing now, and
have a better chance of trying again later and then doing it right."

Given that the bill does nothing to contain or reduce rising costs or end the
private health insurance industry's dominance, we hoped that the Progressive
Caucus would stand strong. But they did not. All but two of H.R. 676's
cosponsors voted for H.R. 3962 -- Rep. Eric Massa [D-NY] and Rep. Kucinich
[D-OH].

Rep. Massa stated, "At the highest level, this bill will enshrine in law the
monopolistic powers of the private health insurance industry, period. There's
really no other way to look at it."

Despite telling single-payer advocates that Congressman Weiner's single-payer
amendment could not go to vote because it would open the floodgates for
regressive amendments on abortion and immigrant access, the Democratic
leadership allowed votes on both. Prior to the vote on H.R. 3962, the Stupak
Amendment passed that will prevent women receiving tax subsidies from using
their own money to purchase private insurance that covers abortion and in many
cases will prevent low-income women from accessing abortion entirely.

"The House of Representatives has dealt the worst blow to women's fundamental
right to self-determination in order to buy a few votes for reform of the
profit-driven health insurance industry," writes Terry O'Neill, President of
National Organization for Women. "We must protect the rights we fought for in
Roe v. Wade. We cannot and will not support a health care bill that strips
millions of women of their existing access to abortion."

Healthcare-NOW! fought to win a fair and open debate on healthcare reform
including the merits of a single-payer system. This has not yet happened, but
the advocacy for this system has greatly impacted the debate in meaningful ways.

We need to continue to build the grassroots movement for single-payer,
not-for-profit, national healthcare. We look forward to much brain-storming at
our upcoming national strategy conference in St. Louis this weekend, and the
opportunity to move forward with renewed energy, creative ideas, and resolve.

Meanwhile, we have the opportunity NOW to continue to support the Sanders'
Single-Payer Amendment to be introduced in the U.S. Senate, Congressman
Kucinich's efforts to get the state single-payer amendment back in when the
House and Senate bills are reconciled, and the efforts of the Mobilization for
Health Care for All.


Thanks for all that you do,
Healthcare-NOW! National Staff

P.S. We need your support. Please donate today.

Healthcare-NOW! survives on the generosity of our supporters. Please consider
making a donation to support our efforts to pass HR 676 using our secure server.



- Follow us on -

>  this seems correct in its major conclusions...
>
>
>
> > Date: Sun, 11 Oct 2009 08:14:23 -0800
> > From: activist.thepen@...
> > Subject: [157888] Delightful New "Medicare For All" Video And Fax
> Action Page, "I'm A Democrat, And I'm A Republican"
> > To: jclayfuller@...
> >
> >
> > A couple weeks ago the Democratic Senate Committee put out a video
> > called "I'm A Democrat, And I'm A Republican" (itself a play on the
> > cultural icon Mac ads), begging us for more campaign contributions
> > based on the premise that even 60 votes in their caucus is not enough
> > to pass a decent bill. So we decided to produce a series of our own
> > issue advocacy satire videos, to propagate the truth that NEITHER the
> > Democrats NOR the Republicans want real health care reform. And you
> > can watch the first one on this page.
> >
> > Medicare For All Fax Action Page:
> > http://www.peaceteam.net/action/pnum1020.php
> >
> > And from the same action you can also send a fax (for no charge) to
> > all your members of Congress (or special new advocacy capability)
> > calling for the passage of Medicare for All, instead of the
> > ridiculous sell out to medical corporation special interests that
> > barely squeaked out of the House over the weekend, and only at the
> > additional price of a total betrayal of a woman's right to choose.
> >
> > For this special fax action there is a prepared petition text which
> > you can read on the page above, calling on Congress to get serious
> > about doing something the American people all want, and pass to
> > economical and efficient Medicare for all. But you can still add any
> > personal comments of your own you like.
> >
> > And if you are represented by any member of the Congressional
> > so-called Progressive Caucus, you might tell them how profoundly
> > ASHAMED of them you are, given that outside of the courageous
> > exceptions of Dennis Kucinich and Eric Massa not one of others voted
> > against this terrible, awful bill (HR 3962). Remember back in June
> > they all signed a letter that they would only support a bill with a
> > "robust" public option. Instead they all voted for a total corporate
> > insurance take over of our national health care system, and they were
> > so anxious to sell out any principle they ever claimed to have, that
> > they threw a woman's right to choose under the bus along the way.
> >
> > Please take careful note we said a CORPORATE take over of health
> > care. Because the only thing more dishonest that the Democrats
> > claiming there is some kind of meaningful public option in the bill
> > are the Republicans braying that it is a government take over. It is
> > not "socialized" medicine as the "one smear fits all" demagogues on
> > the right shout, but instead capitalist medicine, with the most
> > feeble possible public plan they thought they could pass off to the
> > American people.
> >
> > And of course, nobody expects the Senate to turn it into something
> > better. Instead, it will be a monumental struggle now to even derail
> > the horrible anti-choice provision, which dictates that after a woman
> > is forced to buy one of the official overpriced insurance exchange
> > plans, even if she paid for it with 100% of her own money, that
> > provider cannot cover the expense of an abortion.
> >
> > For those who argued we should just pass SOMETHING, even if it was a
> > bad bill, because they said we could fix it later, this is what you
> > get from a strategy of perpetual compromise, a bill that is utterly
> > beyond redemption. It's time to throw HR 3962 in the medical waste
> > bin, and do what should have been done in the first place, build a
> > new national health care system on what actually DOES work, by
> > extending the existing economical and efficient Medicare plan to all
> > ages.
> >
> > Medicare For All Fax Action Page:
> > http://www.peaceteam.net/action/pnum1020.php
> >
> > So please check out the entertaining new video on the action page
> > above. And send the link to every one you know. And bookmark the page
> > above to check back, because we will be posting a new installment of
> > the "I'm A Democrat, And I'm A Republican" Medicare for All video
> > action series at least once a week.
> >
> > And if you want one of the new single payer health care caps, with
> > the "economical and efficient" counter-branding language, you can
> > request one from the return page after you submit the fax action
> > page. Or you can use this form.
> >
> > Single Payer Health Care Caps: http://www.peaceteam.net/all_gifts.php
> >
> > We just got in the new shipment from embroiderer, so if you had
> > already requested one in the last week or so, you will have yours in
> > just a couple more days by first class mail.
> >
> > And here is the one click Facebook page for this same fax action.
> >
> > Single Payer Amendments Action:
> > http://apps.facebook.com/fb_voices/action.php?qnum=pnum1020
> >
> > And the Twitter reply to send, to send this message to all your
> > members of Congress that way, is
> >
> > @cxs #p1020
> >
> > Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed
> > to be ours, and forward this alert as widely as possible.
> >
> > If you would like to get alerts like these, you can do so at
> > http://www.peaceteam.net/in.htm
> >
> > Or if you want to cease receiving our messages, just use the function
> > at http://www.peaceteam.net/out.htm
> >
> > usalone352b:157888
> >

Memorandum

November 10, 2009

 Dear Brothers and Sisters,

 We are all inspired by the current groundswell of single-payer health care   mobilizing  amid intense national  debate . In the last  few weeks alone,  over 150 activists, including a number of physicians and nurses, have been arrested doing sit-ins at  companies like UnitedHealth (Medica), WellPoint, Aetna, Cigna and Humana, and at offices of key legislators, according to Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP).

 This time of heightened public awareness affords activists the opportunity to both mobilize AND Base-BUILD the single-payer movement. Four recent meetings,   “Unity Building”  and  “ Health Care Reform based on the American Nurses Association’s Vision for HC Reform”   (Feb. 2007, Feb 2008, and July and Oct  2009) mostly  convened  at the MN Nurses Association have  attempted just that  . To further  build  the capacity  of this movement, we are inviting  a diversity of groups to attend  a single-payer network- building  retreat to brainstorm specifically on what can be accomplished in common, while maintaining  individual group autonomy to  form a loose, decentralized network of groups. We believe that unless the traditional single-payer progressive base  in Minnesota can be reconstituted, it will be very difficult  to achieve  our goals.

 Please RSVP to joel@...   to attend  if your organization:

I have not seen any language from Sanders! Does anyone have a copy or a
link to the language. I hadn't heard that it would be any different than
the kucinich amendment
Amy Lange

John Schwarz wrote:
>
> Some words on the Kucinich amendment, what it can and can't do, and
> the Bernie Sanders proposal that goes even further than Kucinich's to
> advance state-based single-payer efforts.
>
> There are two major barriers to the implementation of state-based
> single-payer systems, _self-insured employer plans_ and _federal
> health programs_, e.g. Medicare and Medicaid.
>
> Kucinich's amendment addresses _self-insured plans_. States cannot
> regulate those plans due to the federal law ERISA which put regulation
> of those plans in federal hands. However, the federal government
> didn't adopt regulations to substitute for what states had been doing,
> so there's been a regulatory vacuum for _self-insured plans_. 40% of
> Minnesotans are in self-insured plans, the single biggest health
> coverage type in the system.
>
> Kucinich would let states regulate those self-insured plans if they're
> adopting a single-payer system to the point of eliminating them.
>
> But states face another major barrier to regulating health coverage in
> their inability to regulate _federal health programs_, e.g. Medicare
> and Medicaid--where state authority is ultimately subject to federal
> approval. Approximately 25% of Minnesotans are in federal programs at
> about 35% of total MN health spending.To implement state-based
> single-payer, Minnesota needs to be able to regulate Medicare and
> Medicaid, to actually turn them over to the state for the state to
> handle covering and paying for those programs' enrollees. To change
> Medicare is one of the most difficult legislative challenges around,
> and only the federal government can make the changes needed.
>
> Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a bill in the summer that would let
> states incorporate _Medicare and Medicaid_ into their state
> single-payer system with federal approval. Sander's bill also would
> allow states to regulate _self-insured plans_, as Kucinich's bill would.
>
> For all the attention given to Kucinich;s bill, even if passed it
> won't give states all the powers they need to implement single-payer
> on their own. Sanders' bill would give states what they need on both
> fronts. 40% + 25% = 65%, the number of Minnesotan's whose coverage
> cannot truly be regulated by the state; Sanders would let us do that
> for single-payer here and in other states.
>
> In light of the current voting and debate, let's realize that
> Kucinich's proposal isn't going to get states all that they need; the
> ability to regulate coverage and financing that are in the federal
> programs also needs to be given to states.
>
> While neither Kucinich nor Sanders will be successful in this reform
> bill, let's keep working on this and get everyone behind Sander's
> proposal to remove all federal barriers, relating to both
> _self-insured employer plans_ and _federal health programs_, to state
> single-payer reform.
>
> John Schwarz
>
> p.s. On my website, I have 3 documents I've written about the federal
> barriers standing in the way of state-based single-payer.One is an
> op-ed that I posted to Huffington Post. On the front page, upper-right
> is where you'll find the papers.
>
> www.unitedhealthsystem.org <http://www.unitedhealthsystem.org>
>
>