For Immediate Release                                                                                                 Contact: Jacki Schechner (HCAN) 202-454-6196

December 17, 2009                                                                                                           Tiffany Ricci (AFSCME) 202-429-1145

                                                                                                                                                  Lori Lodes (SEIU) 202-730-7680

HEALTH REFORM SUPPORTERS RALLY NATIONWIDE TO SAY FINISH THE JOB AND FINISH IT RIGHT

Nearly 50 events in 31 states remind Congress if the insurance companies win, we lose

 Washington, DC – Health care reform supporters from SEIU, AFSCME, Change that Works, AFL-CIO, and other Health Care for America Now (HCAN) partners held nearly 50 different rallies and events in more than 30 states today to tell Congress it’s time to make sure health care reform gets done and gets done right. As the holidays approach and the Senate gets closer to passing health care legislation, families and businesses across the country can no longer wait for good health care they can afford.  Pro-reform advocates and organizers are calling on their elected officials to help see the process through and make essential improvements so everyone can celebrate health care reform in the New Year.

Continue reading Unions Urge Passage of Senate Healthcare Bill – Look to House-Senate Conference for Improvement →

 The latest Senate health care bill has no public option. No expansion of Medicare. And it does too little to guarantee that uninsured Americans will actually be able afford the coverage they’ll be required to purchase.

But it’s not too late to fix the bill. And as Joe Lieberman has shown, just one senator willing to stand in the way can force legislation to be changed dramatically.

Senator Bernie Sanders has already made clear that he’s opposed to the legislation in its current form. I just signed a petition urging him and other progressives to block it until it’s fixed. Will you join me?

http://pol.moveon.org/block/?r_by=18359-1490051-aKHPbBx&rc=comment_mailto

Part 1

Go to next page for Part 2.

Continue reading Keith Olbermann Special Comment on Senate Health Care Monstrosity →

The following article was posted as a comment to an earlier post about the closing of Commonwealth Medical Center in Aliquippa. It deserves to be at the top of our page. – Randy Shannon

Hi this is Erin Bradovich the dedicated former employee of Commonwealth Medical Center Inc. and I just want to say Merry Christmas to all the other former Employees of CMC that I considered my extended family and miss so much.

There still is no resolution to this scandalous, indecency brought upon us by the greedy former executives of CMC. Even today which is December 18, 2009 I know for a fact that not one single dedicated employee who was let go from that hospital where we all worked so hard to keep open and available to serve the needs of the public, even now 1 year later, still have not received our paychecks that we worked so diligently for. Just ask my family, my mom, my sisters and my neighbors who had to sit with my 3 young daughters while I faithfully worked sometimes mandatory 12-16 hour shifts in the end how much I loved my job.

I really don’t mean to sound regretful, because I really loved my job, and my work there changed my life, but while I was hard at work like all the  other faithful employees striving to serve the community of Aliquippa and their medical needs, my children were at friends and relatives homes while mommy was out EARNING a living and had I known that there was going to be no compensation for the time that I / WE devoted to the employers who have deceived us all, then I would gratefully had been home spending Quality time with my girls, making memories especially at Christmas Time.

Long story short then: CMC you not only robbed me and all of your other former employees of our earned paychecks but you have stolen away precious time i could have shared with my children. How can you sleep at night. Here’s your opportunity to make it right – better late than never huh- all I want THIS Christmas is the paycheck I earned LAST Christmas.

Oh and my New Year’s Resolution is never give up the fight for justice — Slavery was abolished in 1865. My fellow citizens of AMERICA, and to my extended family of former co-workers and friends Stay Strong in these tough economic times I miss you all. Merry Christmas to you, Erin Bradovich and her Family

by Randy Shannon

Sen. Bob Casey Votes to keep drug prices high

December 17, 2009

Merry Christmas from Senator Bob Casey! Yesterday the US Senate defeated 51-48 (60 votes to pass) an amendment to allow reimportation of US drugs from certain foreign countries. Senator Casey voted with the drug lobbyists against the people of his state.

Democratic Sen. Dorgan has introduced this bill repeatedly over the years. When the Democrats were in the minority and could not pass the bill, they all voted for it. Now that there are enough votes on both sides of the aisle to pass this bill, key Democrats voted against it.

Continue reading Sen. Bob Casey Votes against lower cost drugs for Pennsylvanians →

Trumka: The Senate Bill Is ‘Inadequate’
Rachel Slajda | December 17, 2009

The president of AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, said in a press release today that the Senate bill is “inadequate” and promised to fight for something closer to the House bill, which he said is “the model for genuine health care reform.” Here is the full text of the release:

The labor movement has been fighting for health care for nearly 100 years and we are not about to stop fighting now, when it really matters.

But for this health care bill to be worthy of the support of working men and women, substantial changes must be made. The AFL-CIO intends to fight on behalf of all working families to make those changes and win health care reform that is deserving of the name.

Continue reading AFL-CIO Pres. Rich Trumka: The Senate Bill Is ‘Inadequate’ →

Health-care bill wouldn’t bring real reform

by Howard Dean
Thursday, December 17, 2009; A33
The Washington Post

If I were a senator, I would not vote for the current health-care bill. Any measure that expands private insurers’ monopoly over health care and transfers millions of taxpayer dollars to private corporations is not real health-care reform. Real reform would insert competition into insurance markets, force insurers to cut unnecessary administrative expenses and spend health-care dollars caring for people. Real reform would significantly lower costs, improve the delivery of health care and give all Americans a meaningful choice of coverage. The current Senate bill accomplishes none of these.

Continue reading Howard Dean: Current Senate Healthcare Bill is worse than nothing →

The Next Most Underreported Health Reform Story

What will happen to SCHIP?

By Trudy Lieberman

Columbia Journalism Review

Where are the chips falling, so to speak, when it comes to the popular State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)? The press ought to be finding out, and fast. Last week, the Children’s Defense Fund sent me an invitation for an informational call discussing SCHIP’s future: “If the Senate doesn’t take a stand for children in the next days or weeks, our worst fears could clearly come to pass.” The dire-sounding invite piqued my interest, especially since I had read in the House bill that SCHIP would be repealed. What was going on?

It turns out that the House indeed wants to repeal the program and require kids to get coverage via the insurance exchange, the government’s soon-to-be gigantic brokerage service. Their parents, of course, would be getting subsidies to help buy coverage, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer. Rep. John Dingell, a Democrat no less, touted the advantages of dumping SCHIP. One advantage: the program wouldn’t be subject to the periodic and occasionally problematic Congressional reauthorizations that threaten its existence. Dingell said kids could have the same insurance as their parents—an incentive to force parents to cover their kids. (Sometimes parents, daunted by bureaucratic red tape, don’t enroll their children even if they are eligible.)

Continue reading Altmire’s “Budget Neutral” Healthcare Reform Leaves the Children to the Ruthless Insurance Companies: No More SCHIP →