UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE EDUCATION FUND ~ VOLUME 3, NUMBER 2 ~ SPRING 2009

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CommonHealthMass-Care & UHCEF's Challenges for 2009

National health reform is back on the table for the first time in almost a generation, and the Massachusetts reform law of 2006 is already beginning to buckle under the financial pressures of a terrible recession as state legislators have now proposed to make documented immigrants ineligible for the state's subsidy program to save money. Mass-Care and UHCEF, along with our grassroots activists and coalition partners, have our work cut out for us in the coming year! Here are some upcoming and ongoing campaigns that we hope you will get involved with:

• Mass-Care has joined a national movement to have the single-payer perspective heard during national deliberations on health reform, including at President Obama's public forums and Congressional briefings. Here in Massachusetts, Senator Kennedy is leading health reform deliberations in the Senate, while Senator Kerry is a senior member of the Finance Committee that will vote on health reform. Additionally, three of our Representatives - Markey, Neal and Tierney - sit on committees of jurisdiction in the House, which will also vote on health reform. We need to ensure that Congress hears the full range of health reform options available to residents of the US, and bases its deliberations on what will provide the most equitable and comprehensive access to care in an affordable and sustainable manner.

• Mass-Care is attempting to build a network of business people representing small- and medium-sized firms. We know from surveys that a large portion of the business community supports comprehensive reform of the health care system, including single payer, but they are not represented by the dominant business associations. We will be launching a pilot project in Cambridge.

• Mass-Care hopes to develop an online tool allowing Massachusetts residents to publicly tell their stories of being denied care, struggling to access or afford the care they need, fighting through health bureaucracies, and facing the high costs of the care we do receive. We hope to make this web-site a powerful tool for collecting, in a single place, the testimony that virtually all of us hear from our families, our neighbors, our co-workers and others, and to translate this testimony into an effective voice for patients in the health reform process.

• Mass-Care will continue its close collaboration with Physicians for a National Health Program, organizing medical professionals for a national health program, and with the Cape Care Coalition, working towards community-run public health care for all on the Cape. We look forward to building our coalition with every year, and keeping up our education and mobilization-oriented campaign work.

What We Can Do Now to AchieveSingle-Payer Health Care

1. Volunteer for Mass-Care!

• We need office volunteers to make phone calls, write letters, stuff envelopes for special mailings

• We need volunteers who will work on the Legislative Committee of Mass-Care to support the bills we have helped sponsor, organize the districts of key legislators to support our bills, go to the legislature and lobby legislators, develop legislative strategy with the committee

• We need volunteers to work on fundraising: grant writers, event planners, single payer signs, stickers and posters, house parties for “SiCKO”, and any new ideas.

• We need volunteers to help on broadening our access to the media; new contacts with newspapers, TV and radio stations, local access TV, press releases

• We need volunteers to be speakers for Single Payer when groups ask us to come and give a presentation. We are going to have a speaker’s training session soon.

2. Go speak to your legislators and be sure they understand what single payer can do for health care in Massachusetts. Keep them informed about new developments on single payer and cost control bills that need their support.3. Work on the political campaigns of candidates that support single payer4. Host a house party and show “SiCKO” or “Sick Around the World” on DVD. Mass-Care will provide speakers to discuss the movie5. Work with your local Town Democratic Committee to support single payer6. Give generously to support Mass-Care financially because this is a crucial year to elect progressive candidates who will support single payer when Chapter 58 unravels. to volunteer!

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

- Albert Einstein

UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE EDUCATION FUND ~ VOLUME 3, NUMBER 2 ~ SPRING 2009

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Massachusetts Single Payer Health Care Trust BillRevised, Refiled as HB 2127 with 49 Co-sponsors!

Thanks to the hard work of many Mass-Care volunteers before and after the January filing date, 49 legislators became co-sponsors of HB 2127, the Single Payer Massachusetts Health Care Trust bill. The bill, when enacted and implemented, will provide all Massachusetts residents with quality, affordable and accessible health care, end insurance premiums, deductibles and co-pays, and save the Commonwealth about $9 billion per year!

To help guarantee health coverage as a right for all Massachusetts residents, please check our website (www.masscare.org) to see if your State Senator and State Representative have signed on as co-sponsors. If your Representative and/or State Senator is missing from the list, please explain that while the deadline has passed to sign on as co-sponsors  they can still sign on as supporters by calling Peggy Connor in Representative Patrick’s office.  If your Representative or Senator is on our list, please thank them and ask them to please talk to their colleagues about supporting HB 2127.

If you feel you need more information to convince your legislators, please look at our website for supporting facts and excellent articles or contact Mass-Care and one of our volunteers will be glad to go with you to talk to your legislator. Common reasons that legislators have used for not supporting the Health Care Trust bill include “it’s not politically possible”, “we need to continue to support the reform law of 2006”, “it will cost too much”.  The answer is that we are the grassroots political force that will make it possible by making our voices heard.  We can convince the legislature that it is time to dump the 2006 reform law and support Single Payer which costs less than what we have now, is sustainable for the long term, and guarantees coverage for everyone.

HB 2127 was referred to the Joint Committee on Public Health. Co-sponsors of our bill who are on that committee are Senator Susan Fargo (chair) and Representatives Balser, Toomey and Lewis.  Other members of the Joint Committee on Public Health are:  Senators Montigney, Buoniconti, Chandler, Flanagan, Hedlund and Representat ives Sanchez (Chair), Quinn, Murphy, Turner, Aguiar, Brady, Evangelido. It is really important to organize visits to these legislators now and in the coming weeks!

The date of the hearing on HB 2127 will be October 20 at 10:00.  Save the date to support

Business for Single PayerMass-Care has started an outreach project to engage the business community in a Business for Single Payer group. Businesses that have in the past been reluctant to support Single Payer are finding that the high cost of providing health insurance for their employees has left them with the nasty choice of dropping healthcare coverage altogether or losing the business.

Single Payer should appeal to businesses because all employees will have guaranteed health care coverage through the Health Care Trust and won’t need coverage through their employer. Under Single Payer, employers will no longer have to spend money and time selecting and managing health plans for their employees, and health care costs will no longer cause a competitive disadvantage with other companies or countries.

Mass-Care’s new project, Business for Single Payer seeks to engage and organize businesses interested in supporting Single Payer in order to develop an activist business lobby to work with the legislature, the Governor, and other coalition members to adopt a Single Payer system. The first phase of this project will be carried out this spring and involves conducting a survey to assess the views of local small business owners on health care and health insurance as well as to identify businesses we can partner with in the future. Mass-Care is currently in the process of testing and implementing this survey, targeting members of the Cambridge Local First (CLF) business organization. In the future, we will be expanding this network to include other communities around Massachusetts.

If any business owner is interested in joining this project we welcome you! If there are volunteers who would l ike to help by participating in focus group discussions or doing some on the ground interviewing of selected businesses, please contact Ben Day, Director of Mass-Care via email at director@masscare.org. We need to build support from the business community in order to broaden our grassroots effort for Single Payer! - Brett Schmitz

UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE EDUCATION FUND ~ VOLUME 3, NUMBER 2 ~ SPRING 2009

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Spring Fundraiser at Ryles a Huge Success!The Spring Gala/Ben Gill Memorial Event was a rollicking success! First of all $13,200 was added to MassCare/UHEF coffers, the most money raised at the annual event in recent memory. The vibrant atmosphere at Ryles was enhanced by the presence of President Obama (life-size cutout), balloons and a raffle table. Approximately 100 attendees, including state Senators Eldridge and Galluccio and Representatives Toomey and Wolf, munched on a variety of tasty snacks catered by S&S Deli while they listened and danced to the music of the Joe Lillyman Band.

Our keynote speaker, Dr. Gordon Schiff, Past President of Physicians for a National Health Program, gave a riveting presentation, explaining some of the “dirty words” of the health care industry including “pre-existing condition”, “rescinded policies”, and “cherry picking”. He urged us to make our voices heard now to support Single Payer in Massachusetts and in Congress.

Honorees this year were three of Mass-Care’s chapters. Cape Care has designed a “first in the nation” regional Single Payer model to be run by county government. Legislation to establish a Barnstable County Single Payer plan was filed in January to provide comprehensive, affordable care for all county residents. Cape Care has built an unprecedented Single Payer grassroots network. Berkshire Mass-Care/PNHP has been an incredibly successful local chapter by getting all but one of the state legislators in Berkshire county to support Single Payer reform through an active and persistent grassroots campaign. Franklin Hampshire is the oldest chapter of Mass-Care, providing consistent support through organized community events, public forums, lobbying efforts and coalitions. It has organized several non-binding ballot initiatives for Single Payer all of which have passed overwhelmingly. Mass-Care salutes the dedicated volunteers in each of the chapter s who have made such a difference in educating the public and getting Massachusetts closer to true health care reform!

To top off the afternoon, comedian Jimmy Tingle provided everyone with laughs galore. His good-hearted humor ranged from Single Payer reform to the Pilgrims on Cape Cod and proved that a good laugh is the best antidote to insurance industry outrages.

Real Health Care Reform ... Single Payer HR.676Among the many issues President Obama has pledged to address in his first 100 days in office is the battle to reform healthcare. The question is: What defines reform?

Over a warm weekend back in January, I traveled to Saint Louis, courtesy of SEIU 509’s COPE Committee, as one of 150 delegates from 31 states to participate in the “Labor for Single Payer Health Care” conference. I was greeted by brothers and sisters from every labor union imaginable representing a true grassroots gathering of labor activists. The group discussed strategy regarding coordination of efforts across our country to bring the issue of single payer to the table of every working man and woman, to our neighbors, and also to our elected officials, both in government and in our unions.

Dues-paying union members are only too familiar with our constant struggle regarding the cost of our health insurance. The price of health insurance begins to soar and we hear from our union leadership to “lace up your sneakers ‘cause we’re going to Beacon Hill to beat back the attempts to shift the cost increases to the workers!” We have had tremendous success lobbying our state reps and senators in this area, but the real issue - why costs continue to soar - never really gets addressed. We need real Health Care Reform!!

Representative John Conyer’s HR.676 represents real reform. The bill focuses on a single payer health care system through the expansion of our current Medicare system. HR.676 ends deductibles and co-payments while providing necessary medical care for everything from primary care to prescription drugs, vision care, dental, and long term care, to name a few.

Don’t just take my word - please do your own research. Websites where you can read for yourself and decide inc lude www.un ionsfors ing lepayerhr676.org and www.masscare.org, a Massachusetts organization.

UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE EDUCATION FUND ~ VOLUME 3, NUMBER 2 ~ SPRING 2009

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National FocusBoth anticipation and anxiety are running high as Congressional leaders confer with industry “stakeholders” on national health reform, declaring single payer off the table and barring advocates from any meaningful presence within the Beltway. Yet pressure for real healthcare reform intensifies, reflected in civil disobedience in the Senate Finance Committee chambers and increasingly militant demonstrations. Here are a few of the actions Mass-Care has been involved in:

• January 10-11: Labor for Single Payer formed, with Massachusetts represented by a diverse fifteen-member delegation. Marianne Kiely’s write-up for 509 News is reprinted here on Page 3.

• February 7: Teach-In on Single Payer & Chapter 58 at Harvard Medical School sponsored by PNHP & Mass-Care.

• February 25: Congressional briefing on Chapter 58, organized by Ben Day, hosted by Donna Smith, chaired by Representative Eric Massa (D-NY); panelists: David Himmelstein, Sandy Eaton, Senator Jamie Eldridge, Mary Ford, Peter Knowlton & Arthur MacEwan; Representatives John Conyers & Dennis Kucinich came to testify as well. (See photo above.)

• March 17: White House Regional Forum on Health Reform in Burlington, Vermont, co-hosted by Governors Jim Douglas & Deval Patrick; vigorous single-payer rally outside, highly structured format inside; Ben Day, Sandy Eaton, Peter Knowlton & Bill Walczak allowed in, never called upon to present their views.

• March 20: Representative John Conyers visited Northampton, speaking to packed auditorium on prospects for HR.676, Medicare for All. (Photo at right, compliments of Andrea Burns, PDA)

• April 19: Senator John Kerry hosted “stakeholders” forum on healthcare reform at BC Law School; Pat Berger, Benjamin Day, Sandy Eaton and Julie Pinkham raise problems with individual mandate.

• May 20: Fifteen-person delegation met with Representative Ed Markey’s staff at his Medford office, pressing him to endorse HR.676; follow-up demonstrative actions planned at Markey’s Framingham and Medford offices, and at Representative Richard Neal’s Springfield office, if endorsements not forthcoming.

• May 30: Health reform teach-in at Harvard Medical School, cosponsored by Mass-Care, Jobs with Justice and Health Care for America Now.

How to help Mass-Care!Mass-Care and UHCEF need your financial support now to make our voices heard in this extremely important year – the year of healthcare reform!

We want true Single Payer reform, not just more incrementalism. We don’t want our present Massachusetts health reform law to become the “model” for the nation because it doesn’t cover everybody; it isn’t continuous; it is not affordable for individuals, families, municipalities, businesses or the state; it is not sustainable over time; and it is not patient-centered. It is outrageous that there are 50 million uninsured in the US, 22,000 people die each year only because they have no health insurance, and the quality of care is the lowest in the OECD nations. Your financial support is crucial to achieve Single Payer reform here in Massachusetts and nationally.

We are very fortunate that we have matching funds for the first $7000 contributed in this fundraising campaign. Please be as generous as possible and every dollar given up to $7000 will be doubled. Your gifts will save lives and help build a healthier and more humane America! Thank you so much for your support!

Universal Health Care Education Fund c/o Mass-Care33 Harrison Avenue, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02111

P: 617-723-7001, F: 617-723-7002info@masscare.org http://www.masscare.org

CommonHealth, Volume 3, Number 2:Director: Benjamin DayEditor: Sandy EatonProduction: Erin ServaesCopy: Pat Berger, Ben Day, Sandy Eaton, Marianne Kiely, Bea Mikulecky, Brett SchmitzPhotos: Andrea Burns, Ben Day, Sandy Eaton, Rand WilsonPrinting compliments of Massachusetts Nurses Association