Today's single payer post: health insurance is not healthcare

Except for Dennis Kucinich, none of the Presidential candidates proposed universal health care. All the rest offered various ways to extend health insurance.

Health insurance is not healthcare

If you have not seen Sicko, I suggest you rent a copy and see it. Invite some friends over to watch it. The truth is that every time an insurance company pays a claim they have that much less profit. So they cherry pick their customers, trying as best they can to insure only the healthiest, exclude prior conditions, and find pretexts for denying treatment. And for this we pay them big bucks, as opposed to the modest sums of money we pay the civil servants who administer the Medicare program. With a universal health care system everyone is in, no one is left out.

John Conyers and Dennis Kucinich have introduced HR 676, Medicare for All. This bill would extend the Medicare system to every American. The bill has 78 cosponsors. There are also many congressional challengers who support HR 676.

On June 19 there will be demonstrations in seventeen cities in support of HR 676.

In order to build support for HR 676 we need to:

Reward reporters who cover this story by linking to their articles, sending the link to our friends, and writing their editors to tell them we appreciate good reporting

Support all the cosponsors of HR 676

Find out who is running for congress from our district and ask them if they will support HR 676.

Meet with our congressman’s office, get together with a group and ask for a meeting with their district office. There is nothing like seeing people face-to-face to persuade a representative that there is serious interest in an issue.

Write letters to the editor

Get together with a group and arrange an “editorial briefing.” This is where a group meets with the editorial department of a newspaper to explain an issue. It does not have to be a big newspaper, little community newspapers are very important.

Find out if there is a local organization pushing this and help them.

If you are active in a civi association, local Democratic Committee, or any other organization, try to pass a resolution of support for HR 676 and forward copies of that resolution to your senator, congressional representative, local newspaper, TV station, etc.

Participate in the National Day of Action and post about your experience.

Changes such as this come about not by great acts by famous people, but by millions of small acts by obscure individuals.