Four Voices in the Senate for Healthcare Justice
by Donna Smith
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. Donna Smith is alsl the National Organization for Women’s, 2009 Woman of Action.
July 15, 2009
There were no reports in the media Tuesday about the four United States Senators who voted for a bit of sanity today in the midst of the complexity of the race to reform healthcare in the United States. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio all voted to allow individual states the right to pass and implement publicly funded, privately delivered single payer healthcare programs, if they should choose to do so.
But the other Senators on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee didn't want to support the amendment to the health reform legislation. Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico was perhaps the most vocal in his opposition to the state single payer enabling amendment as he argued that he felt those Americans happy with their coverage through private or some of the public plans would not want to face a change to a single payer system.
Sen. Sanders offered clarification that answered the concern, but Sen. Bingaman did not budge. That made me mildly sad, though didn't surprise me. Many people in New Mexico have been working on a state healthcare reform bill that would allow citizens of the state to pool together to "self insure" in their single payer system. It is an innovative and interesting answer to a crisis that looms as large in Santa Fe and Albuquerque as it does anywhere else in the nation.
It was refreshing to hear the four Senators affirm their support if not for single payer outright then at least for states' rights. Many state and local governments have been absolutely devastated by the costs of providing healthcare to their employees and their retirees - and that has hurt school districts and road improvement programs and recreation districts and more for years. It seems to me common sense that states ought to have the absolute right to fix the mess in a way that makes sense for their citizenry. But that argument just didn't prevail in the Senate.
There may be many reasons our Senators argue against single payer, but the one that is the most powerful is the one they'll least admit. The insurance industry in investing $1.4 million a day to make sure no state is allowed to innovate with anything close to a single payer plan, as Sen. Sanders reiterated in the mark-up session, and the insurance industry must make sure that they'll be sitting pretty when the monstrosity of a 2009 healthcare reform bill is signed in the Rose Garden.
Please read the complete article at:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/07/15-0-----------------------------------
Donna Smith
Woman of Action Honoree
Donna Smith helped draw attention to the troubled U.S. health care system when she appeared in Michael Moore's 2007 movie, "SiCKO." Despite being insured, Smith and her husband were forced to move into their daughter's basement after suffering major illnesses and losing everything to outrageous medical costs. A uterine cancer survivor, Donna traveled to Cuba with Moore to compare the country’s national health care system with her experiences in the U.S.
Since then, Smith has campaigned in 41 states and D.C. in support of single-payer health care reform as co-chair of the Progressive Democrats of America's "Healthcare Not Warfare" campaign. Smith also founded American Patients United, a non-profit group dedicated to raising awareness about national health care and works as a community organizer for the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.
A graduate of Colorado College, Smith's journalism career includes work with NEWSWEEK magazine. She has been honored by the Associated Press Managing Editors, and also received the Inland Press Association’s top honor in 2006 for community-based journalism.
Smith continues an active writing and speaking career, blogging and writing op-eds about the health care crisis. This May Donna spoke about the issue on PBS' Bill Moyers' Journal.
http://www.now.org/organization/conference/2009/speaker... Donna Smith
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CNA’s Donna Smith, National Organization of Women’s 2009 Woman of Action
By Mike Hall
July 10, 2009
Donna Smith, a community organizer and legislative representative for the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), was recently honored as the National Organization for Women’s (NOW’s) 2009 Woman of Action.
Smith first came to the public’s attention in Michael Moore’s 2007 movie, “SICKO.” Despite having health insurance and even a health savings account, Donna and her husband Larry were forced to move into their daughter’s basement after being unable to pay staggering health care costs—and were left in financial ruin.
Donna’s husband, Larry, suffered three heart attacks and Donna was diagnosed and treated for uterine cancer. There is even a scene in the movie “SICKO” where Michael Moore takes Donna to Cuba to get the necessary treatment their insurance wouldn’t pay for.
After the film was released, Smith became a health care activist, taking her story and those of other victims of the badly broken health care system around the country at rallies, teach-ins, seminars and demonstrations. She is a founder of the health care advocacy group American Patients United.
At the group’s recent national conference, NOW President Kim Gandy said Smith “epitomizes how to best confront the injustices in this world.”
Donna is speaking out, organizing, pressuring and advocating for solutions to fix the long-standing crisis produced by our unfair for-profit health care system.
Donna’s story is remarkable—from illness, bankruptcy, financial ruin—to fighting back and becoming an icon to millions as a health insurance reform advocate. We salute Donna for her hard work and tenacity.
http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/07/10/cnas-donna-smith-nati... /