Guaranteed Healthcare

By Donna Smith, community organizer, CNA/NNOC 

ROCHESTER, NY -- Seems I just got off that 1980 school bus touring the southeastern U.S. and stumping for HR676, single payer healthcare reform.  But that was 10 months and 24 states ago, and the mood in this country is shifting.

Here in New York in just three days, I have meet with more than 500 people (like the Raging Grannies pictured above in Rochester) to talk about single payer -- publicly funded, privately delivered healthcare. And while the audiences have varied greatly in age and economic status, the support for true reform and the desire to fully understand is much greater than it was in late 2007.

 You see, creating hope and energy sometimes has its own unintended consequences.  And this time, people are beginning to sense a shift that could actually mean the era of selfish and nationally damaging greed is winding to a close.  And I can almost hear a collective sigh of relief tempered with the reality that a lot of hard work over the next few weeks will be required of all who care.

By Donna Smith, American SiCKO, National Co-Chair, Progressive Democrats of America Healthcare NOT Warfare campaign, and communications Specialist, CNA/NNOC

DAY 1:  Over the past three weeks, the road to the DNC convention in Denver has taken me from Cleveland to Pittsburgh and now on a drive from my home in Chicago to just outside of the Mile High City.  The history swirling around Barack Obama's nomination combined with the commitment to bring guaranteed publicly funded, privately delivered healthcare to every person in America is a powerful draw for me.  I want to compel the party of opportunity for all and equality for all to stand tall and firm and proud in this moment and right through the election in November. 

And who doesn't enjoy a good ol' road trip (except for the $4/gallon gasoline) every so often?  So off we went, leaving the Loop and bound for Denver via Iowa and Nebraska and through a wholeot of corn fields.

Debbie Cook – California’s 46^th District

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- California’s 46th congressional district stretches along the Pacific coast from Costa Mesa to the Palos Verdes Peninsula.  The district’s U.S. Congressional Democratic Congressional candidate is Debbie Cook, the second our “healthcare heroes” featured during this countdown to the November general election.

Debbie has been on the front lines for her community for many years but it was issues like the healthcare crisis, energy and what she terms a convergence of issues that compelled her to run for Congress. “How can we not do our best to tackle these things?” she asked.  As a candidate, Debbie hears her future constituents calling for sensible and meaningful action, and as a seasoned public servant she is ready to oblige.

Bill O’Neill in Ohio’s 14^th Congressional District

WICKLIFFE, Ohio – What in the world is an RN doing in a race like this?  Well, ask Bill O’Neill, and this Vietnam vet, journalist turned judge and finally pediatric emergency department RN will tell you that when he is elected in November, healthcare reform will be center stage in his first term’s work.

O’Neill is running in Ohio’s 14^th Congressional District, which is in the far northeastern corner of the state and borders both Lake Erie and neighboring Pennsylvania.  His candidacy embodies the spirit and energy of Ohio’s citizenry.

And plenty of Bill’s future constituents are hurting for healthcare. 

Join the National Call in Day! Call your Congressional representative! Have your friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors call too! Call toll free: 1-866-338-1015. Find out if your representative is a cosponsor of HR 676 here. If so, thank them! If not, then follow this sample script: "Medicare has worked successfully for 43 years in providing quality health care to residents 65 years and older, while keeping administrative costs down. A single payer, guaranteed healthcare approach to reform is the only answer to the healthcare crisis in this country. Please sign on to HR 676 today!"

Don't be shy or embarrassed -- if you don't know who your representative is, just click here and find out: http://www.votesmart.org/

Join the effort to change America's broken healthcare system.

By Donna Smith, American SiCKO, communications specialist CNA/NNOC 

By Donna Smith, American SiCKO, Communications Specialist, CNA/NNOC

CHICAGO -- If we had a healthcare lifeboat within our sinking system, Patrick Murfin of Crystal Lake, IL, is pretty sure there’s no room on board for him.  I recently attended a hearing in McHenry, IL, on the Illinois state single payer bill, and when I heard Patrick testify, I felt sad and angry for him.

  During a speech from the White House, in October, 2002, President Bush remarked, "Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof the smoking gun - that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud."

  In March, 2003, as WMD inspectors were leaving Iraq, U.N. spokesman Hiro Ueki said, ”I think all the inspectors and support staff have done our best."  Basically, they investigated the hints and allegations, and came up empty-handed.  

  It's been five years since President Bush declared, "mission accomplished" in Iraq, yet the fighting continues.  While he's tilting at windmills, the cost of war has created a sinkhole, with "clear evidence of peril" that is causing our public health and safety infrastructure to implode.  Speaking of shock and awe, how many credible witnesses and how much clear and convincing evidence will it take, before our "pro-life" President and his posse of right-winged politicians recognize the fact that hundreds of thousands of people have died in this country as a result of insurance company WMDs?

  In November of 2007, during his acceptance speech for the Sydney Peace Prize, former WMD Chief Inspector, Dr. Hans Blix, made some compelling remarks worth noting.  "In the case of Iraq much of the evidence invoked was what has been termed ‘faith-based’. Indeed, some of it was even ‘fake-based.’ The inspection reports of the UN inspectors that I headed (UNMOVIC) and the IAEA were ignored. My inspectors carried out some 700 inspections of some 500 different sites, dozens of them proposed by the intelligence organizations, we had reported no finds of WMDs. Quite to the contrary, we had expressed doubts about some of the evidence that had been presented."

  There's no faking this claim: the insurance WMDs comprise the mushroom cloud that hangs menacingly over our healthcare system. The fact is that we are at ground zero, in the people's war for healthcare. The UN inspectors would find evidence and smoking guns all over the place. The perps are not hiding with them in caves in another country, either.  They're right here, out in the open, for all the world to see.     

  On December 19, 2007, a bereft, yet courageous Hilda Sarkysian, made the following exhortation,”Focus on here. The war is here you guys. We have a war here."

By Donna Smith, American SiCKO, communications specialist CNA/NNOC

What a great night of political speeches.  And it was wonderful to hear both the now-presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama, and the presumed runner-up Senator Hillary Clinton cite healthcare as a major concern. (Whew, the titles alone require hip-boots for wading.)

But we need a little retooling...  Both said every American should have health insurance.  Wrong.  Every American should have health care.

The presumptive Republican nominee Senator John McCain has a more outwardly obvious, pro-corporation healthcare strategy.  He wants to make sure he keeps the old insurance giants thriving.

But what did Barack Obama say there towards the end of his speech?  That we'll look back on this moment as the turning point?  That we'll see this moment as the time and place in which we made sure every American had healthcare.  Right on, Senator Obama.  But now we're going to help you see what real change looks like for every American: single payer, universal health care. Everybody in, nobody out. This is the moment.