Conyers petition: Passage of Universal Health Insurance

[babylonsister]

http://www.conyersblog.us/archives/00000547.htm

Petition is here:

http://johnconyers.com/index.asp?Type=SUPERFORMS&SEC={2E1B7B91-D9A6-45BE-9460-7C6C6D4FEAFA}

Join the Call for Passage of Single-Payer National Health Insurance

Join in calling for a single-payer universal health care for all Americans.

The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not guarantee health care to all its citizens. The U.S. spends $1.7 trillion, or $5,800 per citizen, each year on health care, yet tens of millions of Americans do not receive adequate care.

Despite spending more on health than any other country, the U.S. ranks 37th in citizens' health outcomes. Many European and Asian nations cover all their citizens with quality health care while spending less than the U.S. and achieving better health outcomes.

I have introduced the United States National Health Insurance Act, H.R. 676, to establish a national health insurance program to cover every American with comprehensive health care from birth. In effect, this program would strengthen, improve and expand Medicare to cover all Americans.

75 Members of Congress have co-sponsored H.R. 676 which would create a universal health care system by expanding, strengthening, and improving the Medicare program so that all Americans would have access to comprehensive medical services including prescription drugs, mental health services, and dental care throughout their lives.

Help support passage of single-payer national health insurance by signing onto the HR 676 petition today.

We, the undersigned, call on President George W. Bush, Speaker Dennis Hastert and the United States Congress to take a leadership role in resolving our nation's health care crisis by passing and enacting H.R. 676.

Make your voice heard now.

[babylonsister]

1. Kickin' for health care! nt

[liberaldemocrat7]

12. Sign my petition for universal health care too at

http://www.dmocrats.org

[Vidar]

2. done. Conyers is our very best.

[Ravenseye]

7. agreed

[Red Right and BLUE]

3. done! and kick.

[Rex]

4. There's a typo in the article.

It should say, 'The U.S. wastes $1.7 trillion in a system where medicine is pimped to anyone with money.' :evilgrin:

[Nikki Stone 1]

5. kick!

:kick:

[Subdivisions]

6. Done. Mail it to everyone you know. eom

[babylonsister]

8. One last kickety; this is important, pls. sign! nt

[Jcrowley]

9. K&R

n/t

[Rosemary2205]

10. Is the Conyers plan federal or state based?

If it's left to the states like Medicare is then I won't support it. Problem is someone in a backwoods state with poor available healthcare resources gets a rare disease and Medicare refuses to cover them outside their home state except for life threatening emergencies.

I refuse to support any national plan unless it covers every person for every state in the country. -- Meaning someone from West Virginia is covered at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio etc. I don't mind a phasing in over time but lets get this part right from the start.

Looked at the Conyers sites and did not see whether his proposal is state or federal based.

Anyone know?

[Selatius]

13. I would assume single-payer means federal level

The "single-payer" would be no one except the federal government. If there is only one customer, the federal government, in the market, then that would give the federal government tremendous collective bargaining power against pharmaceutical companies and health care providers. If you tried to negotiate alone, they'd laugh you out of the office, but if you represented all people in the nation and tried to do the same thing, they would have no choice but to listen to you.

[Rosemary2205]

17. Medicare is not single payer.

Conyers mentions expanding Medicare. Medicare money comes from the feds but it's state based and the states only cover you within that state. It's not actually single payer.

[midnight]

11. Signed the petition.....

[Keepontruking]

14. Healthcar

Visited France this year.Loved it.all expense paid due to
husbands job loved it more!!!!!!!  talked to lots of locals at
all stations in life.  they love their health care system!!! 
They make a little less than we do but have health care life
long!!  also tram systems& great train systems. we could
learn alot from the "old country"   Circus Girl

[cosmicdot]

15. signed, K&R

Our health care system is broken, and H. R. 676, the Conyers-Kucinich bill, is the only comprehensive solution to the problem. It is also the system endorsed by more than 14,000 physicians from http://www.pnhp.org">Physicians for a National Health Program. Nearly 46 million Americans have no health care and over 40 million more have only minimal coverage. In 2005 some 41% of moderate and middle income Americans went without health care for part of the year. Even more shocking is that 53% of those earning less than $20,000 went without insurance for all of 2005. In fact, the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine estimates that 18,000 Americans die each year because they have no health insurance.

~snip~

re We Cannot Afford to Cover All Americans.

FACT: We already spend enough to have universal health care. "The truth is, we cannot afford to not reform the health system." We spend about 50% more than the next most expensive nation and nearly twice per person what the Canadians do. On May 1, 2006 Paul Krugman explained in Death by Insurance how incredibly wasteful the current system is. The doctor he referenced has two full-time staff members for billing, and two secretaries spend half their time collecting insurance information on the 301 different private plans they deal with. This type of waste is easily 20%. Also consider that 98% of Medicare funds are spent on medical care.

~snip~

http://www.kucinich.us/issues/universalhealth.php

COSPONSORS(76)


Rep Abercrombie, Neil - 5/5/2005
Rep Baldwin, Tammy - 5/10/2005
Rep Becerra, Xavier - 11/17/2005
Rep Berman, Howard L. - 9/12/2006
Rep Bishop, Sanford D., Jr. - 6/14/2006
Rep Brown, Corrine - 11/15/2005
Rep Brown, Sherrod - 2/1/2006
Rep Capuano, Michael E. - 12/13/2005
Rep Carson, Julia - 6/7/2005
Rep Christensen, Donna M. - 2/8/2005
Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy - 5/10/2005
Rep Cummings, Elijah E. - 5/5/2005
Rep Davis, Danny K. - 5/26/2005
Rep Delahunt, William D. - 12/15/2005
Rep Doyle, Michael F. - 5/22/2006
Rep Engel, Eliot L. - 6/7/2005
Rep Evans, Lane - 6/7/2005
Rep Farr, Sam - 5/5/2005
Rep Fattah, Chaka - 5/17/2005
Rep Filner, Bob - 4/5/2005
Rep Frank, Barney - 5/18/2005
Rep Green, Al - 2/16/2006
Rep Grijalva, Raul M. - 5/25/2005
Rep Gutierrez, Luis V. - 5/18/2005
Rep Hastings, Alcee L. - 6/13/2005
Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. - 5/5/2005
Rep Honda, Michael M. - 6/22/2005
Rep Jackson, Jesse L., Jr. - 5/25/2005
Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila - 5/19/2005
Rep Johnson, Eddie Bernice - 7/25/2006
Rep Jones, Stephanie Tubbs - 11/14/2005
Rep Kaptur, Marcy - 2/14/2006
Rep Kilpatrick, Carolyn C. - 5/26/2005
Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. - 2/8/2005
Rep Lantos, Tom - 6/7/2005
Rep Lee, Barbara - 5/5/2005
Rep Lewis, John - 5/25/2005
Rep Lynch, Stephen F. - 11/17/2005
Rep Maloney, Carolyn B. - 5/26/2005
Rep McDermott, Jim - 2/8/2005
Rep McGovern, James P. - 5/10/2005
Rep McKinney, Cynthia A. - 6/16/2005
Rep McNulty, Michael R. - 12/6/2005
Rep Meehan, Martin T. - 5/22/2006
Rep Miller, George - 5/10/2005
Rep Nadler, Jerrold - 5/25/2005
Rep Napolitano, Grace F. - 11/14/2005
Rep Norton, Eleanor Holmes - 7/25/2006
Rep Olver, John W. - 4/13/2005
Rep Owens, Major R. - 5/10/2005
Rep Pastor, Ed - 5/18/2005
Rep Payne, Donald M. - 5/10/2005
Rep Rangel, Charles B. - 4/5/2005
Rep Reyes, Silvestre - 2/14/2006
Rep Roybal-Allard, Lucille - 2/8/2006
Rep Rush, Bobby L. - 12/15/2005
Rep Sanchez, Linda T. - 7/25/2006
Rep Sanders, Bernard - 6/7/2005
Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. - 12/13/2005
Rep Scott, Robert C. - 5/25/2005
Rep Serrano, Jose E. - 5/12/2005
Rep Solis, Hilda L. - 7/12/2005
Rep Stark, Fortney Pete - 5/5/2005
Rep Thompson, Bennie G. - 5/19/2005
Rep Tierney, John F. - 6/15/2005
Rep Towns, Edolphus - 5/26/2005
Rep Udall, Tom - 5/26/2005
Rep Velazquez, Nydia M. - 12/15/2005
Rep Visclosky, Peter J. - 6/22/2006
Rep Waters, Maxine - 12/15/2005
Rep Watson, Diane E. - 5/5/2005
Rep Waxman, Henry A. - 5/19/2005
Rep Weiner, Anthony D. - 5/25/2005
Rep Wexler, Robert - 2/1/2006
Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. - 5/10/2005
Rep Wynn, Albert Russell - 5/5/2005

[mom cat]

16. Done .... with great pleasure!