Reposted from YPP on Tue, 10/21/2008 – 12:13am. I was in the audience at a taping of a program on WHYY TV on health care reform tonight. And now I know how we managed to get PA ABC, Governor Rendell’s program to insure another quarter of million people, through the Senate. Continue reading
Today, at noon, I’m going to be appearing on Labor to Neighbor, the radio show hosted by my friends Pat Eiding and Janet Ryder of the AFL-CIO on WURD 900 am I will be talking about the Health Care For America Now campaign, about the McCain and Obama health care plans, as well as about health care reform efforts in Pennsylvania. You can listen on the web at http://900amwurd.com/2008/. Continue reading
Everyone—except those at the higher reaches of the conservative movement in America—acknowledges that far too many Americans do not have health insurance. And most people understand that this has costs for all of us. Nationwide, about twelve percent of our insurance premiums go to cover the costs of the uninsured. But that problem might not be the most severe problem with health insurance in America today. A deeper issue may be the efforts of insurance companies to deny coverage care to people who actually have insurance. Health Care For America Now (HCAN) is holding a rally tomorrow to address this issue. For more on HCAN see my earlier post. Continue reading
Hope, Change, and Health Care Whatever their party and whatever their preference between one candidate and another, most Americans have been supporting change in this election year. And they have been embracing hope for the future, hope that our government can once again address our deepest problems with innovative solutions that serve us all. We know, however, that real change won’t occur just by electing a new President and Congress. Powerful forces stand in the way of the change we need. A new President and Congress will need a movement of people committed to real change in order to overcome that opposition. So, I’m asking you to join, a new movement for one of the changes we need, Health Care For America Now (HCAN)! Continue reading
Today, July 8, in Washington and about 50 cities around the country, including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Erie, a new movement for health care reform will be born, Health Care for America Now! (HCAN). The Philadelphia HCAN kickoff will be held at 1 pm in the Caucus Room (Room 401), at City Hall. Confirmed speakers include • Liz McElroy, political director, AFL-CIO Central Labor Council. • Randy Barge a Presbyterian minister and board member of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project. • Carolyn Banks, a member of Acorn who has had issues related to access to health care. • David Grande, MD, of National Physician’s Alliance We have invited the members of City Council, and Philadelphia State house and Senate members. HCAN is being created by a large number of organizations nationally and in Pennsylvania. It is co-chaired nationally by SEIU and AFSCME and our Pennsylvania organization is being brought together by SEIU,… Continue reading
I wrote this op-ed for Antoinette Kraus, who signed it when it was published by the Pottsville Mercury on June 30, 2008. Poll and poll shows that, after the economy, health care is the issue of greatest concern to people in our state. It doesn’t really matter whether people have health insurance or don’t have it; whether people are poor or rich; whether they are Democrats or Republicans. So why is the Republican leadership of the State Senate standing in the way of SB 1137 and HB 2005, two bills that would expand health insurance for the uninsured and reduce health insurance costs for those of us who have health insurance? Continue reading
Published in the Morning Call, June 23, 2008 In 1965, Communist China was one of the poorest countries of the world. Chairman Mao Tse-Tung created a program—widely known as the Barefoot Doctors program—to provide health care for his impoverished people. The Barefoot Doctors, who had a minimal level of medical training, offered basic primary care to people for whom no other medical care was available. Continue reading
Originally published in The Harrisburg Post-Gazette, June 17, 2008 In January 2007, Governor Rendell introduced Cover All Pennsylvanians, a plan to provide health insurance coverage for the uninsured. In March 2008, the Democratic House leadership introduced a new plan, called Pennsylvania Access to Better Care, (PA ABC), to insure about 275,000 uninsured adults over the next five years. That plan passed with substantial Republican support soon after. Since March, the Senate Republican leadership has blocked consideration of this legislation. Continue reading
Evidently transparency only goes so far in the Nutter administration. It was widely reported that the budget plan adopted by Council retained the Cohen Wage Tax Rebate but delays implementation of the program for another year until 2014. Now it is itself is a bit of a farce to delay the beginning of the program until after the next election for Mayor or Council. Michael Nutter wouldn’t claim to be serving the interests of the business community by promising a big BPT cut in 2014 but doing nothing now. But now it seems that this farce is the least of our problems. Stan Shapiro recently sent an email that said It turns out that the Cohen rebate has actually been stunted, not just postponed. Under the law as it is now, the rate for low wage workers would go down to 1.5% no matter what, in yearly half percent increments… Continue reading
When I worked for SEIU I was limited in what i could blog. So I wrote this under an assumed name for Young Philly Politics. Before citing it, please read the note at the end. You would think that, with the Nutter administration securing a substantial victory on tax policy, talk of the “job-killing business tax” would be on the decline. Continue reading