Rally Against Republican Health Care Plans that go Straight for the Jugular and Would Leave Us Hemorrhaging and Fight Like Hell for Medicare for All!


Whether the Republicans pass a version of TrumpCare, or work to sabotage Obamacare one thing is perfectly clear that health care should be a universal right, whether called single-payer or Medicare for all, and that until we implement such a system our lives are in jeopardy.

So, Building Bridges is broadcasting an Emergency Health Care Rally” THIS IS NOT A DRILL which was held in NYC recently sponsored by Metro NY Health Care for All and Local 1199. Tune into the rally and listen to health care professionals and we the people  as we mobilize for all of us to call on our Senators and Representatives to oppose bills in Congress that would gut the Affordable Care Act, decimate Medicaid, place Medicare’s finances in jeopardy, end family planning funding, and weaken or eliminate important consumer protections in health insurance.  Taken as a whole, these bills will blow-up our insurance markets, threaten the viability of many of our hospitals and community health centers, and leave many millions uninsured.

WE CANNOT LET THIS HAPPEN!

Listen as we mobilize for “Medicare for All,” a system in which a single public or quasi-public agency organizes health care financing, but the delivery of care remains largely in private hands. Under a single-payer system, all residents of the U.S. would be covered for all medically necessary services, including doctor, hospital, preventive, long-term care, mental health, dental, reproductive health care, vision, prescription drug and medical supply costs. 
The program would be funded by the savings obtained from replacing today’s inefficient, profit-oriented, multiple insurance payers with a single streamlined, nonprofit, public payer, and by modest new taxes based on ability to pay. Premiums would disappear; 95 % of all households would save money. Patients would no longer face financial barriers to care such as co-pays and
deductibles, and would regain free choice of doctor and hospital. Doctors would regain autonomy over patient care.

Attend our virtual rally and together we’ll fight for the Medicare for All Act, H.R. 676, which would establish an American single-payer health insurance system.

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Medicare for All, A Better Prescription for a Health Care Solution
with
Richard Gottfried, Chair NYS Assembly Health Committee

Bernie Sanders is at the forefront over a national debate on improving our health care system, with his proposal for a “single payer” structure shorthand for “Medicare for All”. Meanwhile, in NYS, Assemblyman Richard Gottfried‘s single payer legislation has  passed the Assembly, with wide support from organized labor as well as multiple community advocacy and healthcare professional organizations.  While discontent arises under Obamacare, as insurance companies increase our out-of-pocket expenses the Gottfried plan would provide a comprehensive universal insurance program for all NYers, without deductibles, co-pays and would eliminate restrictive provider networks. Gottfried’s plan would begin a march to “Medicare for All” nationwide, the same state by state way the Canadians began their successful single payer system.  “Health care reform has done a lot of good, but it still leaves us in the hands of insurance companies.  Single Payer would save the billions of dollars that we now spend on insurance company administrative costs…You and your doctor would work to keep you healthy. New York Health would pay the bill with funding
from broad-based revenue based on ability to pay”. 

Plus Lily Tomlin Comedian/actress Lily Tomlin appeared as her character Ernestine to lambaste the insurance companies at a California rally in support of a Medicare for all single payer system

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Real Health Care Reform
With
Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Cleveland, Ohio

Representative Kucinich is a champion HR 676 the single payer
bill which constitutes real reform which is not a placebo but the
real curative for what ails our health care system. He dissects the
current health care debate talking about the ever shrinking public
option, the role of the insurance companies, the prospects for a
debate on single payer in Congress, his amendment for choice
of single payer by the States and the continuing struggle for real
health care reform.

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Union Buster Rite Aid, Wrongs Workers
wth
Angel Warner, Rite Aid Union Activist, ILWU

Real Health Care Reforms Or More Band Aids?
with
Dr. David Himmelstein, primary care physician, Associate
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, & Co-Founder
Physicians for a National Health Program

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Union Buster Rite Aid, Wrongs Workers
wth
Angel Warner, Rite Aid Union Activist, ILWU

For more than a year, over 500 Rite Aid warehouse workers in
Lancaster, CA have been attempting to negotiate their first union
agreement with management. Rite Aid's massive interference in
the workers efforts to form a union and its failure to bargain in good
faith with employees are prime examples of why efforts to pass the
Employee Free Choice Act are so important. NYC unions held a
rally at Times Square recently to protest Rite Aid union busting and
carried their protest to the company’s shareholder meeting held
nearby.
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Real Health Care Reforms Or More Band Aids?
with
Dr. David Himmelstein, primary care physician, Associate
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, & Co-Founder
Physicians for a National Health Program

House Democrats unveiled a draft bill that they said will bring down
spiraling costs and provide health insurance for most Americans. But
the draft has few details on how to pay for offering expanded insurance,
except by including billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
And in the Senate, the public health care option is in big trouble while
threats continue to the present tax-exempt status of employer health
care contributions. Is Obama’s plan viable? Is single payer the only
solution?

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Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27:13
Produced by Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg
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Band Aid Approach To Hemorrhaging Health Care System Continues To Prevail
with
U.S. Congressman John Conyers

Do You Want To Get Sick To Your Stomach Then Think About The Cost Of Being Sick In America
with
Dr. David Himmelstein, primary care physician, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program

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Band Aid Approach To Hemorrhaging Health Care System Continues To Prevail
with
U.S. Congressman John Conyers

The economic crisis has increased the urgency for real health
care reform now, yet the President and Congress persist in
advocating half measures, ignoring the real problem, the
health insurance industry. But, the voices for comprehensive,
meaningful reform like Rep. Conyers, whose legislation HR 676,
a single payer or Medicare for all bill continue to be raised.
Rep. Conyers makes the case for health care for all at an event
honoring one of the most vocal proponents of single payer,
Marilyn Clement, National Coordinator of Healthcare-Now!
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Do You Want To Get Sick To Your Stomach Then Think About The Cost Of Being Sick In America
with
Dr. David Himmelstein, primary care physician, Associate Professor of Medicine,
Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program

A frightening look at a new Harvard study finds that medical
problems contributed to nearly two-thirds of all bankruptcies.
Surprisingly, most of those bankrupted by medical problems had
health insurance. Covering the uninsured isn’t enough, but
unfortunately, Washington politicians seem all too ready to cave
in to insurance firms. We’ll also examine the highlights of Sen.
Edward Kennedy’s draft health care bill, which some say is the most liberal in Congress, and find out if it is.

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Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27 minutes
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Will President Obama’s Overhaul Of Healthcare Be More Than A Band-Aid?
with
Oliver Fein, President, Physicians for a National Health Program, and
Dr. of Internal Medicine, the Weill Cornell Medical Center
and
David Himmelstein, Assoc. Professor of Medicine, Harvard Univ. and
Co-Founder Physicians for a National Health Program


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President Obama summoned health care figures of all stripes to the White House to debate ideas for overhauling the nation’s costly system and declared, “The status quo is the one option that is not on the table” . He wants healthcare reform within a year. We’ll discuss what’s on the table so far and what is the best way, the simple way, the economical way, the humane way to stop the bleeding with two of the leading voices for universal healthcare.

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