All posts by randyshannon
Pittsburgh Rally for Single Payer Healthcare May 29th
NATIONAL DAYS OF ACTION
HEALTHCARE–YES!
INSURANCE COMPANIES–NO!
PLEASE JOIN US IN PITTSBURGH FRI, MAY 29
SINGLE-PAYER RALLIES
11:30 am – 12:15 pm: Rally in front of Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield headquarters, corner of Liberty and Fifth Aves., downtown
12:15 pm – 12:30 pm: Group Walk to UPMC headquarters, Grant St., downtown
12:30 pm – 1:15 pm: Rally in front of UPMC headquarters, Grant St.
Pittsburgh is joining close to 50 other cities across the country this week and next to speak out for single-payer healthcare. A majority of Americans want single-payer; a majority of physicians want single-payer. The only think missing is the political will in Washington for sane and humane healthcare reform.
WE NEED OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS TO REPRESENT THE PEOPLE, NOT THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
PUT PATIENTS FIRST:
Support H.R. 676 The National Health Care Act, aka “Expanded and Improved Medicare for All” and S.703 American Health Security Act
sponsored by WPA Coalition for Single Payer Healthcare
Update on 2010 Pennsylvania Race for Arlen Specter’s US Senate Seat
Only two years ago Pennsylvania voters gave Bob Casey a victory over the Republican ultra-right darling Rick Santorum in the U.S. Senate contest, and sent several Republican Congressmen packing.
The 2008 election results in Pennsylvania saw a stronger shift of the electorate to the left across the whole political spectrum. In 2008 first-term Democratic Congressmen like Joe Sestak and Jason Altmire strengthened their positions while Kathy Dahlkemper defeated 3rd CD Republican Phil English to gain another Democratic seat in Congress for Pennsylvania.
Barack Obama won Pennsylvania with the help of central rural counties in Pennsylvania shifting to the Democratic column for the first time in decades while the suburban counties around Philadelphia accelerated their shift to the Democratic column. Even though the rust belt along the Ohio River lost Democratic votes, the margin was small. Beaver and surrounding counties voted about 48% for Democrat Barack Obama.
Perhaps more importantly for the 2010 race for U.S. Senator, over 22,000 Pennsylvania Republicans changed their registration to Democrat.
The upshot of these developments is the uneasy alliance between the Heinz-Hillman financial oligarchy and the far-right Mellon-Scaife group has collapsed. The Hillman strategy has been to control Pennsylvania politics by funding conservatives in the Democratic Party primaries and centrists in the Republican primaries. Sen. Arlen Specter has been one of their best investments. He has been able to maneuver for 16 years to prevent labor and progressive forces from gaining a political voice in Washington.
Continue reading Update on 2010 Pennsylvania Race for Arlen Specter’s US Senate Seat
USW – Steelworkers District 2 Endorses HR 676 – National Healthcare Act
Menasha, Wisconsin.
The United Steelworkers District 2 Council has endorsed HR 676, single payer healthcare legislation introduced by
Congressman John Conyers (D-MI).
One of thirteen districts in the USW, District 2 represents 75,000 union members in Michigan and Wisconsin.
A copy of the adopted resolution has been posted on the district’s website at:
Indiana IBEW Local Endorses HR 676 – US National Healthcare Act
Terre Haute, Indiana. IBEW Local 725 has endorsed HR 676, single payer healthcare legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI). Local 725 is a construction local with jurisdiction in nine Indiana and six Illinois counties.
R. Todd Thacker, Local 725 Business Manager, said: “Health care coverage continues to be a critical issue, either in finding coverage or dealing
with ever increasing costs. Health care needs to be addressed to help the millions of American families who are uninsured and underinsured. The best way to solve the problem is to pass singe-payer health care coverage that would finally put us on the same level playing field with the rest of the world’s industrialized countries.”
Tom Szymanski, Organizer and Business Representative for the local, said in a press release: “Health care coverage and cost increases are always a fight at negotiations. Health care needs to be addressed as a Human Right, not as a privileged right, and must have the profit-motive removed
to be effective in providing coverage for all American families.”
The Local 725 resolution can be found at: http://www.ibew725.org/
NY Labor Council Urges AFL-CIO Convention to Endorse HR 676
The Troy Area Labor Council has submitted a resolution to the AFL-CIO September Convention, calling for the AFL-CIO to endorse HR 676, and to lobby against “any fallback program of mandated insurance or public option plans which include the wasteful for-profit insurance industry.”
The Troy Council’s resolution also asks that “the AFL-CIO help organize and financially support a ‘Healthcare is a Human Right’ Solidarity March
and Rally in Washington, DC.”
The upstate New York labor council has sent copies of its resolution to all 491 Central labor Councils and Area labor federations requesting “that your Labor Council join with us in submitting this or a similar resolution to this year’s AFL-CIO Convention.”
In the letter, sent to all 491Labor Councils, Mike Keenan, President of the Troy Council, said: “While the discussion of health care reform goes
on in the White House and in the Congress, unfortunately, what we are hearing from the media are mostly the voices of the insurance industry and pharmaceutical lobbies; and misguided politicians who think that the healthcare crisis can be solved by either taxing healthcare benefits or
mandating that we purchase health insurance.”
The AFL-CIO Convention will meet September 14-17th in Pittsburgh, PA. Labor Councils are entitled to vote in the convention. One hundred and twenty-seven Labor Councils have endorsed HR 676, single payer healthcare legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) and 75 co-sponsors.
The Troy Council’s letter is at: http://www.pefencon.info/HR676/TALC_Cover_Letter.pdf
The Troy resolution is at: http://www.pefencon.info/HR676/Resolution.htm
Sen. Arlen Specter’s Employee Free Choice Propaganda
by Randy Shannon
In an April 28th statement on Sen. Arlen Specter’s decision to run for office as a Democrat, the AFL-CIO said: “We look forward to continuing an open and honest debate with Senator Specter about the issues that are important to Pennsylvania and America.” http://tinyurl.com/c4cdqo This is a commendable position given the fact that Specter himself is not conducting an honest debate on the Employee Free Choice Act. Specter is a servant of the Mellon and Hillman financial elite of Pennsylvania, regardless of political label. His switch reflects the loss of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania to the far-right Scaife money.
In an April 5th email Sen. Specter made the following statement: “There has been a mixed reaction to my announcement that I will not support legislation known as the Employee Free Choice Act, also referred to as Card Check, because I simply could not go along with legislation which would remove the secret ballot. The secret ballot is very fundamental in our democratic process so people can exercise their free will without coercion from either side.”
Continue reading Sen. Arlen Specter’s Employee Free Choice Propaganda
Ambridge Showing of Michael Moore’s Film Sicko on Monday May 11th
AMBRIDGE AREA for CHANGE
PRESENTS A FREE SHOWING OF
MICHAEL MOORE’S FILM
ABOUT THE U.S. HEALTH CARE CRISIS
AND WHY 46 MILLION OF US GO WITHOUT
Monday, May 11, 2009
6:30 PM
Center For Hope
233 Merchant Street, Ambridge
For More Information Call 724-251-0994 or 724-882-3100
Dr. David Himmelstein Corrects AARP About HR 676 – Improved Medicare for All
David Himmelstein is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program. The author of numerous studies and books, he is a leader in the movement for universal health care.
AARP: H.R. 676 does not address the problem of increasing healthcare costs. Rather, it allows costs to continue to grow. By 2016, projections show total health spending almost doubling to $4.1 trillion and consuming one-fifth of the nation’s gross domestic product. Possible efforts to control costs include: “comparative effectiveness” research, a generic pathway for biologic drugs, and increased attention to prevention and care coordination, none of which are included in H.R. 676.
Dr. David Himmelstein: There is absolutely no evidence that the AARP’s favored cost control mechanisms work. The CBO has refused to credit significant savings from care coordination, or prevention. The recently published Medicare Demonstration project of care coordination found no savings. A New England Journal of Medicine review of prevention found that most prevention efforts result in increased costs, not decreased.
Comparative effectiveness research is worthwhile – as are prevention and care coordination – if done right – but is unlikely to significantly cut costs.
Continue reading Dr. David Himmelstein Corrects AARP About HR 676 – Improved Medicare for All
Borough of Ambridge, PA Urges Congress to Pass HR 676 – Single Payer National Healthcare
Ambridge Borough Council recently passed a resolution endorsing single payer healthcare and calling on Congress to enact HR 676. A copy of the resolution is to be forwarded to all Pennsylvania representatives in the US Congress.
Ambridge was founded in 1905 by the American Bridge Company on the site of land formerly owned by the Harmonist Society. The structural steel for many of the great bridges in the USA was made in Ambridge. Ambridge was a key battleground in the struggles that led to the founding of the CIO and of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee. Ambridge has experienced a severe economic downturn since the decline of the steel industry began in the 1980’s, and is struggling to survive in the new economic crisis.
The Borough currently pays out over $391,000 per year in medical insurance premiums. Under HR 676 the Borough’s healthcare expenses would be reduced to the mandated 5.95% payroll tax, or just under $77,000 per year. National Healthcare would save Ambridge Borough about $26,000 per month in healthcare insurance premiums.
Ambridge Mayor “Buzzy” Notarianni remarked that a national single payer healthcare system would make a big difference in the lives of Ambridge residents. He stated: “I have looked over HR676, and I am all for it. It would relieve a lot of stress in the community. The savings could be used to reduce debt and taxes, reopen the Ambridge pool, which has been closed since 1995, pave streets, hire full time police officers, and build badly needed recreation facilities for our young people.”
Please click on the ‘Ambridge Borough HR676 Resolution’ tab at the top of the website to read the resolution.
Beaver County Blue: Voice of the 17th CD of Progressive Democrats of America 