Guaranteed Healthcare

Whatever happened to “Moving On?”

Perhaps it is just my submersion in the ongoing war to guarantee healthcare for every man, woman, and child in this country, but it seems to me like things have really warmed up over the past year, and that everyone is feeling the heat. Since the release of SiCKO approximately a year ago, everyone has been asking themselves the same questions: Am I covered? What does my policy include? Am I one illness, one surgery, one prescription, or one ER visit away from being branded “uninsurable?”

The news media has been focusing on the dark underbelly of the insurance industry (as if there’s a lighter side to the industry). Everyday there are reports of skyrocketing CEO salaries and parallel policy costs, the increasing numbers of uninsured and underinsured, and patients who have been denied care. The downturn in the economy has meant that an entire nation of working- and middle-class people are walking on eggshells, worried that they are a pink slip away from losing health benefits for them and their families. And of course, we welcome home every day women and men who have been irrevocably damaged by war in the Middle East. Some scars are visible, most are not, and few (if any) of them are receiving the full network of health support they require and deserve.

Clearly, this coverage and outrage are coming to a head. They say things need to get worse before they get better, and it doesn’t get much worse than this. With a major political shift in this country a mere six months away, the caregivers and patients of this country are poised to effect profound healthcare reform.

Which is why it’s so disappointing that a group of enormously influential organizations, including MoveOn.Org, Planned Parenthood, and the National Women’s Law Center, are steering a new organization that follows up a mighty swagger with a whimpering compromise: not to chuck out the insurance industry altogether, but to strictly monitor it. Right.

This year’s extended primary just might be great for healthcare reform as the Clinton campaign's failure may have killed off the terrible idea of insurance mandates.  She ran on it, and lost—-just like Arnold did in California last year.

If so, great news all around.  Working people, already struggling, will not face the prospects of having their wages garnished to pay off Blue Cross’ inflated premiums, overhead, and denials.  Healthcare reformers can focus their work towards enacting genuine solutions, rather than fighting off this insurance marketing scheme masquerading as health care policy.  And all of us can debate the real issues at hand here, like the new report finding the number of underinsured is spiking as our healthcare system continues its death-by-insurer spiral.

We’ll take a look at this and updates from single-payer movement below!

The Wall Street Journal yesterday printed an opinion piece on an "innovative" reform pushed through Florida's state legislature by Governor Charlie Crist. "The Florida Revelation" reported on the "Cover Florida" plan, which makes healthcare affordable for Florida's 3.8 million uninsured.

How, you ask? By lowering and quality and restricting the amount of care received, of course!

The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee put out a simple call for a petition last week, demanding access for our patients to CheneyCare, the guaranteed, non-profit, quality healthcare available to Dick Cheney.  (Sign up if you haven’t already.)

What we didn’t expect was the hundreds of people who would write in with their stories of abuse at the hands of the insurance corporations.  This is a heart-breaking window into the pain and heartache that insurers inflict on America.  Read them…and remember why we fight.

We’ll feature individual stories in coming weeks, and will work to keep you informed on the highlights from the drive for guaranteed healthcare…

From Iowa to California to Massachusetts, the national healthcare debates are finally starting to hit the key point: the problem of the health insurance corporations.  We'll take a look below…