[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE Victory for Greens & other Single-payer supporters: Obama invites Single-payer advocates to health care summit

[Green Party of California Updates]

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GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Friday, March 6, 2009


Greens note victory for the universal health care movement after the
White House, in a reversal, invites Single-payer advocates to its March
5 health summit

• Issues & Answers for the media on Single-payer universal health care


WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders called the White House's reversal
on excluding Single-payer advocates from a March 5 health care policy
summit a modest but important victory for universal health care.

The Green Party of the United States is one of several organizations
supporting Single-payer health care that urged its members and the
public to demand an invitation for advocates of Single-payer/Medicare
For All, who until Wednesday evening had been barred from the summit
(http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=188).

"The Obama Administration's reversal proves that if enough Americans
speak out for real universal health care, we won't be ignored.
Unfortunately, President Obama's welcoming remarks on Thursday showed
that he won't stand up to the insurance lobby.  He won't admit that the
private insurance industry adds nothing of value to our health care
system, while greatly increasing health care costs and impeding the
delivery of health care," said Mark Dunlea, former chair of Green Party
of New York State, currently co-chair of Single Payer New York.

"One of our greatest obstacles is the lack of media coverage for
Single-payer, because too many in the media have been subject to
pressure by politicians and the HMO-insurance industry, which exercises
leverage through advertising contracts and underwriting," added Mr. Dunlea.

On Thursday morning, Green Party members learned that the White House
had relented after receiving numerous complaints, and invited two
Single-payer advocates: Dr. Oliver Fein, president of Physicians for a
National Health Program (http://www.pnhp.org) and Rep. John Conyers
(D-Mich.), the author and main sponsor of HR 676, legislation for
Single-payer program (http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc110/h676_ih.xml).

Until Dr. Fein and Rep. Conyers were invited, the 120 guests at the
meeting included lobbyists for the for-profit insurance industry, as
well as members of Congress, including Senate Finance Committee Chair
Max Baucus, who has declared the Single-payer "off the table."
Physicians for a National Health Program, other members of the
Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care, and the National
Single Payer Alliance led the call for President Obama to invite
Single-payer leaders.


Issues & Answers for the media: facts about Single-payer national health
care (also called Medicare For All)

How Single-payer works:

• Everybody in, nobody out: Single-payer covers every American
regardless of employment, income, ability to pay, age, and prior medical
condition.  Right now, about 48 million Americans have no health
coverage at all and millions more have inadequate coverage.  Under
Single-payer, they will all enjoy guaranteed quality health care,
including prescriptions.

• In a Single-payer system, no American will face financial ruin because
of illness or injury.  Private HMOs and health insurance companies raise
their profit margin by denying treatment to people with medical
emergencies and by denying coverage to those they consider 'high-risk'
because of existing health problems, age, low income, etc.  In other
words, private health insurance is designed to fail people who need
health care the most.

• Single-payer will allow Americans to choose which physician, health
care provider, and health care facility will treat them.

• Single-payer will cut national health care costs by as much as a third
and reduce what working Americans pay for health coverage.  Single-payer
will be funded at the federal level and administered at the state level.
  Americans will pay for Single-payer the way we now pay for Social
Security, but the amount working Americans will pay will be far less
than for private health coverage, because Single-payer eliminates the
profit-making insurance and HMO 'middle-men.'

• Single-payer reduces paperwork for physicians and other health
professionals, one reason why thousands of MDs, other people working in
the health care industry, and medical students have endorsed Single-payer.

• Under Single-payer, physicians, hospitals, and other health care
providers would compete to serve the public, raising the quality of
health care.  Single-payer is a health insurance payment mechanism, not
a health care delivery system.

• Health care rationing?  All health care plans ration care to some
extent.  Under private insurance programs, treatment is rationed
according to ability to pay for coverage.  Under Single-payer, the
insurance company profit motive is removed and health care is rationed
according to need, with medical emergencies and serious illnesses
receiving top priority.

Single-payer and the economy:

• Single-payer makes economic sense.  At 3% administrative cost,
Medicare (which would be made universal under Single-payer) is highly
efficient compared to the 15-30% administrative costs of for-profit
insurance.

• Single-payer will boost the ailing US economy and provide relief for
businesses large and small, since it will cancel the high expense and
administrative burden of employer-based health care benefits
(http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=158).

• Single-payer will relieve municipalities and school boards from having
to bear the cost of providing health insurance to employees, allowing
responsible officials to reduce their budgets and lower local property
taxes.

• Single-payer gives government (and therefore taxpayers) a stake in
preventive medicine and promotion of good health habits to keep costs down.

The politics of Single-payer:

• Polls have demonstrated popular support for a national health care
program that guarantees universal coverage
(http://www.wpasinglepayer.org/PollResults.html).  In 2008, the US
Conference of Mayors endorsed Single-payer
(http://www.usmayors.org/resolutions/76th_conference/chhs_03.asp).

• The US is the only industrial democracy that does not guarantee every
citizen health care.  Compared to other nations, America has the best
medical technology but poor access to medical treatment.  Single-payer
will correct this scandal.

• The Center for Responsive Politics has documented the millions in
campaign money that the insurance industry has given to Democrats and
Republicans to maintain their control over health care
(http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=F09), with a total
of $46,002,881 in insurance lobby contributions in 2008.

• The Green Party endorses Single-payer in its national platform.  The
Democratic Party endorsed national health insurance in 1948, but removed
it from the Democratic platform during the Clinton Administration.  The
Democratic and Republican parties continue to embrace failed 'market
solutions.'

• Barack Obama, before he launched his bid for president, supported
Single-payer
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpAyan1fXCE&feature=player_embedded).
Al Gore opposed Single-payer when he ran for president in 2000, but
admitted two years later that Single-payer is the best plan
(http://www.pnhp.org/news/2002/november/gore_favors_single.php).  Dennis
Kucinich was the only Democratic presidential candidate in 2008 to
support Single-payer.

• "Single-payer health care is socialism!"  By the same standard, so are
public streets, sidewalks, parks, schools, libraries, fire departments,
police forces, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and bailouts for
ailing Wall Street firms.  The principle behind Single-payer is that
health care should be a human right, not a commodity that allows
powerful corporations that don't actually provide health care (HMOs and
insurance companies) to make money.

See also "Single-Payer FAQ" at the Physicians for a National Health
Program web site (http://www.pnhp.org/facts/singlepayer_faq.php).


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
• Tally of Green election victories
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/election-results.html
• Green candidate news http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/candidate-news.php
• Green candidate database for 2008 and other campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections

"The First 100 Days: What Would a Green Administration Look Like?"
(video and text) http://www.gp.org/first100

Green Party information page on Single-Payer
http://www.gp.org/organize/sicko.html

"President Obama can either work to enact health care for all Americans
or he can support insurance and HMO industry profits, say Greens"
Green Party press release, January 29, 2009
http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=174

"An International Perspective on Health Care Reform"
By Connecticut Green Party member John R. Battista, MD
http://www.gp.org/first100/?p=119
(Published on the Green Party's web site as part of "The First 100 Days:
What Would a Green Administration Look Like?" http://www.gp.org/first100)

Video clips:
2008 Green presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney speaks on
Single-Player health care and racial health care disparities
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEHd4lRVUuU
More on health care: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEHd4lRVUuU
Health, the environment, and the economy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVNTOa8owQQ

"Talking Points: Why the mandate plans won't work, and why Single-Payer
'Medicare for All' is what we need"
By Len Rodberg, PhD, Physicians for a National Health Program
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/december/talking_points_why_.php

"Albany Med chief [CEO of the Albany Medical Center] calls for hospital
reform and single-payer system"
The Business Review (Albany, New York), September 8, 2006
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2006/september/albany_med_chief_cal.php

Green Pages, Vol. 13, No. 1
The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog


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