If you would like to help pressure Congress to pass single payer health care please join our non-partisan voting bloc at:
http://www.votingbloc.org/Health_Bloc.php

Employer paid health insurance adds cost to everything we buy. In Japan, everyone has national health care largely gov't sponsored.

this adds $500 to the cost of a new $12,000 car.

In the US, private, employer-paid insurance adds $2000 to the cost of a $12,000 car.

you do the math: Single Payer will bring prices down and stimulate the economy.

Private insurance directs profits into CEO pockets, not towards care for those who need it.

Health care is a human right.

AMERICA’S NATIONAL HEALTHCARE EMERGENCY!

It’s official. America and the World are now in a GLOBAL PANDEMIC. A World EPIDEMIC with potential catastrophic consequences for ALL of the American people. The first PANDEMIC in 41 years. And WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES will have to face this PANDEMIC with the 37th worst quality of healthcare in the developed World.

STAND READY AMERICA TO SEIZE CONTROL OF YOUR NATIONAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM.

We spend over twice as much of our GDP on healthcare as any other country in the World. And Individual American spend about ten times as much out of pocket on healthcare as any other people in the World. All because of GREED! And the PRIVATE FOR PROFIT healthcare system in America.

And while all this is going on, some members of congress seem mostly concern about how to protect the corporate PROFITS! of our GREED DRIVEN, PRIVATE FOR PROFIT NATIONAL DISGRACE. A PRIVATE FOR PROFIT DISGRACE that is in fact, totally valueless to the public health. And a detriment to national security, public safety, and the public health.

Progressive democrats the Tri-Caucus and others should stand firm in their demand for a robust government-run public option for all Americans, with all of the minimum requirements progressive democrats demanded. If congress can not pass a robust public option with at least 51 votes and all robust minimum requirements, congress should immediately move to scrap healthcare reform and request that President Obama declare a state of NATIONAL HEALTHCARE EMERGENCY! Seizing and replacing all PRIVATE FOR PROFIT health insurance plans with the immediate implementation of National Healthcare for all Americans under the provisions of HR676 (A Single-payer National Healthcare Plan For All).

Coverage can begin immediately through our current medicare system. With immediate expansion through recruitment of displaced workers from the canceled private sector insurance industry. Funding can also begin immediately by substitution of payroll deductions for private insurance plans with payroll deductions for the national healthcare plan. This is what the vast majority of the American people want. And this is what all objective experts unanimously agree would be the best, and most cost effective for the American people and our economy.

In Mexico on average people who received medical care for A-H1N1 (Swine Flu) with in 3 days survived. People who did not receive medical care until 7 days or more died. This has been the same results in the US. But 50 million Americans don’t even have any healthcare coverage. And at least 200 million of you with insurance could not get in to see your private insurance plans doctors in 2 or 3 days, even if your life depended on it. WHICH IT DOES!

If President Obama has to declare a NATIONAL STATE OF EMERGENCY to rescue the American people from our healthcare crisis, he will need all the sustained support you can give him. STICK WITH HIM! He’s doing a brilliant job.

THIS IS THE BIG ONE!

THE BATTLE OF GOOD Vs EVIL!

Join the fight.

Contact congress and your representatives NOW! AND SPREAD THE WORD!

(http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/publicoption) (http://www.actblue.com/page/healthcareheroes)

God Bless You

Jacksmith – WORKING CLASS

Basic health care should be provided to all. But should we be paying for expensive heart procedures for those who smoke and are overweight? Individuals have to step up to the plate and take responsibility for themselves as well. A big part of this re-do of our health care system will require reducing the demand we place on the system.

Health insurance is why I have been at my job(s) for 22 years with the same company. Many times I would have quit except it covered me and my husband who died of cancer. We would have been wrecked if we had had to pay the costs of the two surgeries, the chemo, the radiation. Everyone has made their money, it is time for nationalized health care. Look at Kaiser, that is a great system. Not fancy, but you get what you need.

Nationalized Healthcare/Socialized Medicine is the worst that could happen to our country in the medical field. I have family in Canada and trust me it does not work. It is fine for general check-ups but if you need anything more extensive you may well die first. Our healthcare is the best in the world today. Why do you think foreigners chose to come here for serious medical care? It is one of those things that first blush sounds good, but sure isn't.

I read a related article about how the field of Nursing was attracting mid-career switcher as well as new workers in response to the Nursing shortage and the attractive benefits of being a Nurse. As a nurse, I welcome more people to enter this exciting helping profession. The article also mentioned that some people would train to become Nurses, people who really did not have the constitution of a nurse. Would you want a nurse at your hospital bed who did his/her job out of deep interest in the work, or because sh/e needs the health insurance benefits?

One experience was clear: I had an ER visit two years ago when I had a reaction to an antibiotic, with symptoms of wheezing, anaphalaxis, and wheels and hives from my head to toe. The nurse in the ER was a young woman with a beautiful set of full-length acrylic nails and a full face of cosmetics (something that should be forbidden in the hospital setting because of hygiene). She took one look at me and fled the room, likely thinking I had chicken pox (varicella) or a communicable skin disease, and she left me there in the room alone for almost 20 minutes with no attention, even though I shouted for a doctor or med tech to administer Visteryl to keep my airway open. Someone passionate about their job would have alerted a doctor, stayed with me to make sure I didn't croak, and put a pair of gloves and a mask on if she wasn't sure I had a communicable disease. I peaked my head out of the ER curtains, and watched the nurse gossip and drink a cup of coffee at the front desk. Nice!

I can't speak for everyone, but I want to see people in the right field of work for them. I want a mechanic who likes fixing cars working on my car, a chiropractic doctor who likes adjusting backs working on my back, and a fitness trainer who enjoys seeing me meet my goals helping me meet my goals. When people stay in jobs for the insurance benefits, I have compassion -- we do what we need to do, but it is a temporary fix that doesn't address the underlying problem. We end up with too many unhappy workers doing jobs they dislike, and taking that unhappiness into other sectors of their life. It is very difficult to do a good job when it isn't the right fit. When it is the right fit, work feels more like a kind of "play" - it's interesting, engaging, and fulfilling.

OK, it's a Utopia I am asking for, I know. But when gardener becomes an organic farmer and sells his vegetables at the local farmer's market, and a writer publishes her book and people buy it and enjoy it, I'm willing to pay a little more for all of this and I understand sh/e will be buying their own health insurance to care for their needs. That, or we'll all be moving to France and England someday, enjoying their socialized medicine.

Imei
Seattle Direct Counseling

I'm too old to get independent health insurance and too young for Medicare. I'm looking to freelance, but it would only be for 18 months at a time so I could hang on to my COBRA. At the moment I don't find a better solution.

The latest rumour circulating in grass roots blogs is that if Congress forces a non-partisan health care reform through, many of the top 10% earners who pay 65% of all taxes are going to rebel by (a) quitting their jobs - especially if they were working for Health Benefits or more likely (b) taking a week off without pay (with employer permission of course) in 4Q 2009. The employers will love the latter because it reduces their employment expense for 2009. Uncle Sam may not be so happy to lose 1/52 * .65 of its tax revenue however. Should be interesting to watch!

Whenever I read a complaint that is some version of the "we shouldn't cover people who have expensive conditions due to lifestyle," I get discouraged that we have all been brainwashed by the current system.

Any method we use to separate out the "deserving" from "undeserving" would cost a HUGE amount of money when used on a large scale. What do we do? Genetic tests and lifestyle police so that we know that Jane Doe's heart condition happened even though she really DID do her cardio? How does a person prove they "did everything right" and still got sick? What about those lucky suckers like the world's oldest living woman who stopped smoking past the age of 100 because she could no longer see to safely light the cigarette?

In addition to all that, once we've identified the lifestyle sinners, we are back to some of the same problems we have now, if are refused care and have to be treated in emergency rooms.