Single Payer Universal Health Care for All Pennsylvanians
Pennsylvania is on the threshold of breaking new ground because of her Single Payer Universal Health Care initiative, HB 1660 and SB 300, which, if passed, will make health care available to every Pennsylvanian.
Health Care For All PA is taking this initiative to the next level, which I will explain shortly.
Meanwhile, the press ignores these Bills.
Meanwhile, the HighMark/Independent Blue Cross (IBX) merger is building its case.
Meanwhile, Governor Rendell plans to pass PA ABC which will cover only 200,000 Pennsylvanians, out of the 1.4 million who currently have no health insurance at all.
This will make a bad situation much, much worse here in the Commonwealth.
But no matter how media and corporate monopolies ignore the inevitable, we are heading toward Single Payer one way or the other.
Single Payer is publically funded while the Blues are privately funded.
The insurance companies compete against the for profit powers represented by Aetna and United and all the rest while Single Payer is designed for the public good.
One enriches shareholders and an elite few while the other is designed to provide quality, affordable health care for everyone here in Pennsylvania.
The IBX/Highmark merger has prompted concern among critics about competition in the insurance market and clout the new company would wield in setting reimbursement rates for hospitals and doctors, an article in Pittsburgh’s “Business Times”, May 26, 2008 states.
The consolidation of IBX and Highmark is the largest insurance company deal ever proposed within any state and will create a $22 billion dollar company.
Our grassroots group, Health Care 4 All PA, supports Single Payer because it’s the best way to fulfill our mission: to bring quality, affordable health care to all Pennsylvanians.
We’ve decided to protest the merger because it runs counter to our mission.
Governor Rendell has cut a deal with Highmark and IBX to help them get the merger approved in return for their help, financial and otherwise, in passing PA ABC.
PA ABC replaces Adult Basic which provides health insurance to approximately 55,000 poor Pennsylvanians.
Approximately 95,000 are on the waiting list and these plus 120,000 others would in theory gain access to PA ABC.
However, because there is a 4% annual increase by the health insurance companies after the second year, and add to this increased rates for participants under PA ABC than they were paying under Adult Basic, you can safely project that poorer Pennsylvanians will be forced to lose health insurance coverage.
People on the waiting list will potentially be withdrawing their names.
The Governor is not telling us the truth: that at the very least, PA ABC is under funded and enrollment ends when the money is spent.
Yet Rendell continues to assert that PA ABC will cover everyone.
Additionally, PA ABC will also reinstate the State subsidy for malpractice insurance which the Governor had withdrawn previously, in the attempt to gain support for PA ABC.
Malpractice would only be reinstated, however, for those physicians who add the PA ABC patients as enrollees, with payout at low Medicaid-like fees.
Health Care 4 All PA needs to empower those legislatures who resist this ploy by helping them to see that resisting this makes moral sense.
(Thanks to Jerry Policoff for making available the above statistics on Adult Basic and PA ABC. Jerry will be writing a more comprehendsive article on this very topic in the days to come).
Governor Rendell is on record as saying he will sign HB 1660 if it comes across his desk.
Our grassroots efforts have many dimensions. We see the corruption of the insurance companies and we see the politicians who pander to them.
But to date, we have 43 sponsors for HB 1660 and SB 300 in the State House and Senate.
Our growing grassroots movement needs to become aggressively disciplined and organized to fight the forces of ignorance here in Pennsylvania.
So we have taken it to the next level which is: Gaining support for an economic impact study to outline exactly how much Universal Access to health care will cost in the Commonwealth.
We need the economic impact study because our group is not a legislative body.
The study does not guarantee passage, but makes the case for passage.
Keep in mind that Rendell’s PA ABC did not have an economic impact study.
Sounds like it could have used one.
The Casino and Gaming initiatives had no economic impact study.
The bar is set higher for us.
We’ve hit every standard and crossed it.
We will not back down.
We will get the money for the economic impact study in the Autumn of this year.
Here this nice Video about health care
Be My Friend – www.myspace.com No More Health Care Choice, Wake Up America #5 This is introduction video to attempts to curtail your health freedom by Big Food, Big Pharma and Medical Establishment including comments Codex Alimentarius. There are attempts being made to make all forms of alternative health illegal, regulate vitamins so they can only be obtained through doctorâ??s prescription and even outlaw anyone giving nutrition advice except members of the American Dietetic Association …
I think if someone could get this site running it would be worth millions in advertisements, and help the American people take their government back.
Let me know what you think.
The Obama health care plan is just the Mitt Romney plan, which was vetted by the right-wing Heritage Foundation. This means even Obama’s plan is a give-away to the insurance companies
The only real reform is universal single-payer health care, as provided by H.R. 676
Democratic Sen Max Baucus, who sits on the Senate Finance Committee, received hundreds of thousands of dollars from insurance companies and drug companies in the last 2 election cycles. That’s why single payer is off the table
Chap:1 Ballooning cost is caused by the poor and immigrants.Becase they cant afford too pay the hospital back..Then the hospital pass it on the consumer.Secondly,those who are insured.run to their doctors for everything under the sun.Making insurance cost to go up.Thirdly sue the doctors for malpractice.
Okay if you won't have any clinical skills or any managerial/administration skills, just what will you do? You'll have a lot of knowledge but nothing to do with it.
They have a 100 percent covered plan for them and their families for life (assuming they serve at least 6 years), along with an excellent pension plan for life.
They will care about the crisis if it is something the voters want! After all, if they are not acting in the interest of the voters, they will lose their seat and their health care plan.
Unfortunately, there is so much disagreement between the "left" and the "right" that it is difficult for congress to do anything. In addition, many people (even those who truly need health care reforms) vote based on moral values, leaving health care to be ignored.
I know it is hard to handle the frustration of being in the monitory, but over 70% of Americans want a public option sorry.
Oh crap it just hit me, Your a girl! Daddy’s little girl! hahahah. Nurse, LOL. Anyway I really hate to say it, because I really don’t like Obama that much, but he really did get stuck with this mess. I hope that like Clinton did, Obama can pull us out of this economic disaster. Its like daja vu. but bigger republican mess. why is it that the republicans always leave office with the country in the hole and the democrats have to pull us out again.
As a member of the healthcare community, we are advised to not be judgemental towards patients. I take pride in being a non-judgemental providing care for all. Have I seen it? Yes. Do I like it? No. Will something be done about it? Hopefully, but probably not.
The fact is, every patient is an individual. Each patient deserves unbiased care to make them as healthy as they can be.
Amazing. Nursing is like the best profession out there. There are so many sub-specialties in all professional areas.
There are about 100 different nursing specialties. See below for the list. I know that doesn't completely answer you question, but the list can give you some ideas. Research, for instance, or Business Administration, There the CSI angle, but the TV show seems to make it more glamorous than it probably really is. Then there are legal nurse consultants.
You can find a list of the highest paying nursing specialties here on the right hand column: http://www.jobs-in-registered-nursing.com/nursing-specialities/index.php
Another approach is to see what all the nursing schools offer.
You can find a list of all nursing schools here: http://www.my-nursing-career.com/nursing-degrees/index.html.
Since you already have your degree, the online option is a good one. You'd be amazed at what is available for nurses online. Check out the nursing degree search here: http://www.my-nursing-career.com/index.php
List of nursing specialties:
* Ambulatory care nursing
* Advanced practice nursing
* Behavioral health nursing
* Burn nursing
* Camp nursing
* Cardiac nursing
* Cardiac catheter laboratory nursing
* Case management
* Clinical nurse specialist
* Clinical research nurse
* Community health nursing
* Correctional nursing
* Critical care nursing
* Developmental disabilities nursing
* District nursing
* Emergency nursing
* Environmental Health nursing
* Flight nursing
* Forensic nursing
* Gastroenterology nursing
* Genetics nursing
* Geriatric nursing
* Health visiting
* Hematology oncology nursing
* HIV/AIDS nursing
* Home health nursing
* Hospice nursing
* Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Nursing
* Intavenous therapy nursing
* Infectious disease nursing
* Legal nursing
* Legal Nurse Investigator
* Maternal-child nursing
* Matron
* Medical-surgical nursing
* Military and uniformed services nursing
* Neonatal nursing
* Neuro-surgical nursing
* Nurse anesthetist
* Nurse-midwife
* Nurse practitioner
* Nursing educator
* Nursing informatics
* Nursing management
* Obstetrics gynecology nursing
* Occupational health nursing
* Oncology nursing
* Operating room nursing
* Orthopaedic nursing
* Ostomy nursing
* Pain management and palliative care nursing
* Pediatric nursing
* Perianesthesia nursing
* Perioperative nursing
* Plastic and reconstructive surgical nursing
* Private duty nursing
* Psychiatric or mental health nursing
* Public health
* Pulmonary nursing
* Quality improvement
* Radiology nursing
* Rehabilitation nursing
* Renal dialysis nursing
* Renal nursing
* Research
* School nursing
* Sub-acute nursing
* Substance abuse nursing
* Surgical Nursing
* Telenursing
* Telemetry nursing
* Telephone triage nursing
* Transplantation nursing
* Travel nursing
* Urology nursing
* Utilization management
* Wound care
Health insurance is the number one reason US businesses are uncompetitive in the world market. Conservatives think just because your employer pays your health insurance its free, wrong. The cost of insurance is passed on to you and me with every thing we buy, $3000 dollars on a new car just to cover worker health insurance, and soon they off shore jobs to get around health care for workers and good bye job and insurance.
I am currently researching grants to non-profit organizations in order to find funding for parent support groups for parents of children with disabilities, and would be glad to forward m Excell Spreadsheet on
Grants to those providing their e-mail address.
I know that insurance companies like Blue Cross and Aetna have set-up foundations to provide grants to non-profits engaged in educating young people in healthcare matters.
my email:
abelke59@yahoo.com
Indeed. Bush sucked, but I bet he is fun as hell to have a beer with! LOL. Man this marx shit is scary! Because the marxist critique of capitalism is right on the money! It says that we have a smell minority that dominates and exploits the vast majority that takes their wealth to get even more power until the accumulation goes too far and causes an economic meltdown! Frack! that sounds just like us.
oh, and thats waste, not waiste, and life, not live. way to win literacy points on that one. your condescending tone along with those kinds of errors when talking about my intelligence really combine to make you look like an even bigger jackass
think of the largest number you can – then raise that number to the 10th power
do that for every year.
Of all the President’s, who do you believe was the closest to being a Marxist?
Right ON Loki! I would have a little more respect for the GOP if they were bitching this loud during the bush administration. They were as silent as church mice! And yes, bush was the worst President since dinasours roamed the earth. According to the GOP, America gambled on voting for a black muslim, best friend of Ayres, socialist, fascist, no experienced guy that was born in Indonesia, instead of voting for a Republican! Ummm!
oh, are we reduced to spell checking, grow the frak up. So daddy a doctor? STFU u little rich brat! fracking rich kids! OMG now it makes sense. Daddy’s little republican bitch boy. You have no clue. and enough with the marxist crap you sound like a broken record. thus, repeater. case in point. I know, why don’t you make an argument that at least sounds original. talk about “spoon fed.” I should have realized that the one in your mouth was silver. So what are you, a nurse LOL
You need to talk with a local agent that works with all of the major companies in your area. Insurance companies and the plans they offer will vary from state to state and the premium with any one plan can vary by zip code.
At 22 if you are in good health you should be able to find a catastrophic plan for less than $100 in most states and a comprehensive plan shouldn't be much more than $100.
The agent will be able to explain what you need to know – there is not enough space here to tell you everything. You'll need to know about the deductible, the co-insurance, the co-pays and what is covered with the co-pay, what procedures are and are not subject to the deductible, what is excluded from the plans, which doctors accept the plans, the different types of plans and how they operate, the prescription coverage if any, and much more. There is no extra charge using an agent.
In theory, health care manager try to provide the best coverage for the lowest cost. In practice, it seem that they tend to have some initial success in reducing some unnecessary cost, but occassionally their focus in reducing or avoiding costs results in major malpatience law suits.
Shhhh! I am reading about our last President. The title of the book I am reading is “I Wouldn’t Mind A Dictorship, If I Could Be The Dictator!” The ass actually said that! Good God!
shhh. Im reading up on Marxism.
Oh shut it baby girl:) I do indeed respect anyone who has made it by his or her own boot straps. As I have and of course respect the same. I do not distain some one that has become wealthy in said manner. However, your wonderful experiment in capitalism has run amok! The Robber barons are back and wearing $1000 suits, and living on wall st. not all is well in camelot. Perhaps I should look into this marxist thing u speak of.
Not for everyone, but for Medicare 77% costs occurred in the last year of life, 52% of them in the last 2 mo, and 40% in the last month, When you are old and become seriously ill, you are more likely to die than the seriously ill young.
Here's something to think about: according to the census bureau, of the 47 million or so that are uninsured almost 10 million are illegal immigrants, 8 million make over 75,000 a year, another 8 million make over 50,000 a year, and 14 million qualify for medic-aid or medicare but do not apply. Hmmm. makes you think that maybe our system isn't so bad after all. So Obama needs to quit with his fear mongering and quit lying to us. There are a lot of unemployed, but 47 million is very misleading. Give us a real number!
Also the idea is that by giving health care to everyone, businesses don't have to pay for it, and then they can give more jobs, increase profit, and help the economy. Which sounds great, if you're stupid. Since Universal health care is insanely expensive, guess who pays for it? raised taxes on business and on the rich, (and apparently companies that aren't green). So it's basically a beat-around the the bush way to distribute wealth. And ask yourself this? Is it a good idea to take from from the rich? Take money from a poor man, and he becomes poorer, take money from a rich man, and he goes to work and fires his workers. So which is worse? MAYBE GOVERNMENT JUST SHOULDN'T TAKE PEOPLES MONEY!
Click here :
http://yfrog.com/5g21403615j
So conservatives need to look at the total cost of the health insurance industry and stop the fear mongering and intimidation
Campaign Reform
We need someone that can set up and run a campaigning web site that Politicians can use to campaign without having to take lobbyists money. I was going to keep this idea for my self but it can be called My Vote and it can be set up like My Space but it can have poling tabs on the issues. Each state can have a tab and each politician can have a bio of how they voted on the issues.
its deja vu. and no, not a girl. and no, dentists dont have nurses in their offices. they have dental assistants and hygenists. im the former.
brilliant arguments, by the way, you really made a class act of yourself.
at least my view point hasnt been around since marx was alive, originality…zero. sorry brotha, folk already thought of what ur saying and implimented it, didnt work in any case, but here’s four examples, russia, nazi germany, spain, and italy
Rude spelling critics don’t get to use “cuz” I wouldn’t say conservatives are dying out. But it does look like they have lost their way. I mean, come on, Rush Limbaugh? What a joke. Anyway I don’t really care about that argument as I don’t care for either party. It is interesting that you feel that we have a “liberal Media.” Have you heard of Rupert Murdoch?He is very interesting and u should look him up. on the christian thing. Do you believe in the division of church/state?
Loki,Im guessing..You have never dealt with the government..Its a bureaucracy,its a nightmare.Red tape,paper work,lost paper work.Its a joke..
Baby girl: Just taking a shot in the dark here, but how do you feel about religion? Do you believe America is a “Christian” nation? or a secular one?
we just hired two people in the compliance department at the hospital where I work. Neither had experience in compliance but lots of experience in healthcare. Keep watching for job opportunities, read as much as you can about compliance – the regulations seem to change daily!
I've encountered a payroll services company that also manages pre-tax health savings or spending accounts for small and mid-sized companies. You might check them out. PrimePay is the name of the company.
OMG…NO!!!!!!!!!
Back in 1990, the Government seized the Mustang Ranch brothel in Nevada for tax evasion and, as required by law, tried to run it. They failed and it closed. Why would you trust the country's health care system to a pack of nit-wits who couldn't make money running a whore house and selling booze?
Exactly… dont vote for her. Amazingly enough, while on the Board of Walmart, she helped devise the current scheme to avoid providing health care to as many employees as possible…
Dont let the insurance lobbyist propaganda machine and a few wing nuts brainwash us, its not about whats best for you its about keeping the money flowing in. You think the ultra rich power base in Washington will feed us the facts about their cash cow. NO they get cash for votes and the guarantee of a fat corporate job if they get voted out for going against the people.
yep, my dad’s a doctor, one who pulled himself by his own boot straps. son of butcher, paid for it himself off of loans and his own work. me? why, ive just worked since i was legally able to. so you might want to quit with your marxist disdain for those who are successful and those who work to be successful. losers like u that need the government to bring everyone down to their level are whiny babies. at least im going through school and payin for it so i can make something of myself by myself
Why can people not understand the simple fact that there is no free lunch. Will doctors treat patients for free, can hospitals run without money. Will drug cos. give away medicines at no charge. Medical care is very expensive and someone has to pay for it. So called free health care will be paid by the government which does not have ANY money it did not first squeeze out of the tax payers. There is no hospital in the country that is allowed to turn away a sick person just because they have no money. Maybe they will not get world class care, but they will be treated.
They don't and this is why i think mccains strategy to win is flawless.He's running so much negative stuff on obama until obama has to spend most of his time defending himself thus meaning mccain has yet to talk about his plans for the economy,healthcare or any of that stuff.And to think people have the nerve to say whats obama's plan.Whats Mccains except talking about war?
Canada's healthcare isn't perfect. Neither is the US. From what I've heard from people who've moved from the US to Canada, quality of care and wait times are far better here in the US. Most people would rather pay for a higher standard of care and shorter wait times than move to a lower standard of care and far longer wait times for free. The fact that Canada is losing many of it's better doctors and nurses to the US should tell you something about the situation.
I wouldn't want a socialized healthcare system period. What I would like to see is a reform in the US healthcare system, especially in terms of US insurance companies. In the words of Obama "why take a hatchet to something that only requires a scalpel"?
I worked in the Emergency Room for a long time. After awhile you learn that death is as much a part of life as life itself. Healthcare workers have free counseling at their disposal to help deal with those situations. Death is a part of living; I learned that one morning two years ago when I suffered a massive heart attack that should have killed me, I learned that three weeks ago when my friend died. Death is never easy to deal with; but when you're in the healtcare field you learn to keep your distance; you have to or it would kill you. I've seen children come in from drownings and baby's who were murdered at the hands of the very people who was suppose to protect them. Those, my friend, are the hardest deaths to deal with.
Death is not something we accept but IT IS something we learn to live with.
In any plan made by Clinton the only financial incentives are to put money in her personal bank account.
Depending on where you live, it may be very similar. Health care management and administration deals much with the same tasks such as budgeting, marketing, meeting with stake holders, dealing with several of hospitals in your given area, organizing and managing the staff that are through various departments. They also are in charge of orchestrating different rules and regulations in process of discipline, hiring and firing etc. through various hospital regions.
I will also provide you a couple of links that may explain things a little clearer to you regarding this.
http://www.aaham.org/
http://www.mshealthcareers.com/careers/healthcareadmin.htm
http://www.healthmanagementcareers.org/careers.cfm
http://www.ache.org/
From what I could see, I believe that you would need a little bit higher than a diploma. It would be either a bachelors or a masters.
christian as in it was founded by christians or christian as in the majority of the country is still christian? cuz both happen to be true. and before u start blowin smoke about how conservatives are dieing out, the most recent national poll says 40% conservative, 20% liberal, with the rest being moderates. and of those groups, 4% said they were very liberal and 9% said they were very conservative. seems like a liberal media has the nation tricked on that one.
rude spelling critics use “cuz” to save characters. Rush has been made to be the voice of the party by the media, i sure dont like everything he says.
i believe in the division of church/state to the extent that the founding fathers did. which is that the government will not dictate to others the religion to which they must prescribe. i doubt that they meant that there shall be no religion, and by association the morals that come with it, in politics and gov. since they mention god frequently
Chap2: I think the hospitals,doctors and congress.Should hold a hearing,too discuss the problems. they are having with the cost.Before they going passing any bill.Before this becomes a bigger mess
It doesn't fail, almost every first world country has it setup as a system.
Unless of course you view treatment of the poorer people a failure.
The benefit to not treating a lot of people, is faster care for the wealthy.
If you don't want to have universal health care, the government can step in and price fix medical procedures like they do in japan. It works okay for them. They can afford adequate medical treatment because the government forces it to be affordable, and the same prices in rural as in urban areas.
The real problem with our system, coming from someone who has an entire family in medicine (Doctors, surgeons, nurses)…is the insurance companies. They buffer every side. The doctors, the hospital, the patients, everyone has to get insurance, and they are the ones forcing prices higher and higher.
I agree with a lot of what Nemisis said, but I think I can simplify it even further.
Insurance is gambling. How do we keep Casino's from getting more and more corrupt, like the insurance industry is?
Caps on profits. If an insurance company had to pay out 90 cents of every dollar that it takes in, it would have to lower premiums. Pass transparent billing, enforce contract law and anti-trust laws. That is very important too, but if insurance companies were obligated to return a percentage of what they take in, not a percentage of net, but a percentage of each and every dollar they touch, health care costs would come down to a realistic level.
One law, enforce the others. Done!