Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Elevator Operator For Senators And Congress People Is Bankrupt Due ToLack Of Health Insurance

Just off the senate floor, a gentleman operates the elevator for Senators and Congressman, the people who have 100% health care coverage, while this man lost his home due to an inability to pay for health bills incurred when his mother had inoperable brain cancer.

An aide to Senator Richard J. Derbin of Illonois listened to this man's story and told the Senator about it.

You can read about it here:


Why can't all Americans have the same sort of coverage as our Senators and Congress People?

House Bill 1660 is Pennsylvania's Single Payer Health Care Bill. It would provide the same kind of coverage.

Read about it here:

Kate Loving Shenk
Nursing Career Transformation

Monday, November 19, 2007

Are We A Civil Society If We Don't Give Health Care To Our Children??

Sorry to say, the answer is a resounding "No!!"

Look at other components of a civil society:

1)Zero tolerance about torture under any conditions

2) Health care for all citizens without some corporate
entity making billions by denying health care to people
in order to gain obscene wealth for themselves

3)Equal rights for women and every one else

4) Freedom of speech for all--We have become an America afraid to speak
out for fear of losing our jobs, because the workplace is
now run by corporate greedy philosophies

Children are suffering as a consequence of limited or no access
to health care.

Here's a great article explaining the intricacies of this crisis:

Kate Loving Shenk
Nursing Career Transformation

Friday, November 16, 2007

HB 1660

Pennsylvania is in a unique position. She has a Single Payer
Health care Bill, HB 1660, that has a great chance to eventually
pass in the House.

Of all the State sponsored bills, this one is the strongest.

This is a solid bill, one Pennsylvanians can trust that insurance
companies will be fully exempt from corrupting.

Democracy For America promoted house parties across the country
November 14, where thousands of people watched Sicko, then listened
to a conference call with film maker Michael Moore and DFA President Jim Dean
for more than thirty minutes.

Or if people were watching on the West Coast, they tuned into the
conference call before they watched the DVD.

In any case, a certain percentage of watchers had never seen the
movie before, so Jim Dean, and Michael Moore were
careful not to divulge key movie points.

I saw Sicko for the third time that night and thoroughly enjoyed
watching it with my Progressives 4 Pennsylvania friends, a handful
of union leaders, and a few liberals I grew up with in my hometown.

The conference call itself was inspiring.

Michael Moore was asked about state sponsored versus federally
sponsored bills, and which did he support. For instance, John Conyers
and Dennis Kucinich have a National Single Payer Health Care Bill, H.R.676.

Moore said we need a National Single Payer bill, thus supported the
Conyers/Kucinich bill. John Conyers has said he supports the bill
here in Pennsylvania, HB 1660.

Having said that, and given the current stranglehold on anything good
coming out of Washington these days, I believe we have no choice but to develop
a model Single Payer Health Care Bill that other States and eventually the Country
are free to adopt.

Another point in the call was how the propaganda machines like to stop all
discourse on a real Universal Health Care Plan that covers all Americans
Minus Insurance Companies, by stating that such plans are Socialized Medicine.

Michael Moore said Single Payer is not Socialized Medicine, but rather is
Christianized, Krishna-ized, Mohammad-ized Medicine because of the impetus
for caring for every citizen in America in a true spirit of service.

The question arose about the supposed waits that people have in the Canadian
health care system, (although Canadians in the movie told us that they really
don't have the waits that the propaganda machines in this country want us to believe).

Moore said that when 50,000,000 people are taken out of the health care equation,
obviously our waiting times at the doctors, those of us with Health Insurance,
will obviously be shortened.

When we add the 50,000,000 people back into the system, yes, we will have
longer waiting times.

Isn't this preferable to making Health Care unavailable to so many millions of
citizens?

Governor Rendell of Pennsylvania has a Health Bill before the Pennsylvania
House of Representatives called Prescription for Pennsylvania.

This bill is losing support with only 8 sponsors as of this writing.

HB 1660 currently has 35 sponsors.

Why is HB 1660 superior to Prescription For Pennsylvania?

HB 1660 guarantees health care protection for all Pennsylvanians thus
delivering quality, comprehensive health care.

Rendell's plan does not.

HB 1660 takes Insurance Companies out of the equation.

Rendell's plan does not.

HB 1660 preserves the rights of patients to choose their own doctors with
out deductibles, co-pays or life-time caps.

Rendell's plan does not.

HB 1660 allows for prescription drug and behavioral health care coverage.

The Rendell plan does not.

Alternative Medical Modalities are allowed in the HB 1660 plan.

Not so with Rendell's plan.

A comprehensive comparison between the two plans can be accessed at:
http://www.progressives4pennsylvania.com

Progressives4Pennsylvania plans to create teaching workshops about HB 1660
and present these to Labor affiliated groups, retirement homes, small
businesses and other potential arenas.

Health Care For All Americans started with a vision that Pennsylvania
birthed and now shares with the nation.

John Edwards is the only candidate running for President who has a plan
to deliver health care to all Americans without the interference
of Insurance Companies.

He needs Health Care Reform Activists to work with him.

He cannot do it alone.

And neither can we.

Kate Loving Shenk
Nursing Career Transformation